Lord Sugar criticised GB News interviewer Dan Wootton for asking a “stupid bloody question” during the channel’s launch.
The news channel began on Sunday (13 June) with a special show hosted by its chairman, the broadcaster Andrew Neil.
He said the channel would cover “the stories that matter to you and those that have been neglected”.
Following Neil’s introduction, Wootton made his debut and interviewed Sugar, the business tycoon and Apprentice TV personality.
Things got awkward when Wootoon asked Sugar about football players getting booed for taking the knee.
The act of kneeling ahead of a sports event began in 2016 when NFL quarter-back Colin Kaepernick did so in the US to protest racial inequality. The gesture has since found its way into football, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sugar, who said he thinks the booing is “ridiculous”, said: “If the players want to take the knee and want to make the statement, let them do it.”
Wootoon then asked Sugar: “Have you taken the knee?”
Sugar didn’t hold back in criticising Wootton for the question, stating: “Where would I take the knee?! In Sainsbury’s?
He then added: “What a stupid bloody question.”
Sugar himself has been criticised for “shoehorning” a negative comment about Meghan Markle into the interview, which has been described by viewers as a “car crash”.
The arrival of GB News follows months of speculation over its potential impact on the British political discourse.
