Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray sparked a Twitter debate after he made comments about tennis player Emma Raducanu's background.
The TV host tweeted about the sports star's Romanian heritage, which caused a stir with some internet users.
Adil, 47, tweeted: "If you play in a tennis final you're British if you're a builder/delivery man/waitress etc you're Romanian."
The comments sparked a debate with some Twitter fans agreeing with his comments while others were left unimpressed.
One person replied: "That's a good point. I had to Google her because I didn't understand. I havent heard her family background mentioned."
Another added: "Very true. And the people who say this forget that the same builders/waitresses/delivery people are the bedrock of this society."
However, not everyone agreed.
"As usual Mr Ray yet gain trying to make a race row where one doesn't exist!" one Twitter user commented.
Another added: "Adil I’m supportive of a lot of what you do, but that’s a really poorly thought out nonsense tweet purely designed to invite a negative reaction. Why?""That's a sweeping generalisation, we don't all think like that- surely fighting prejudice is about not making generalisations?" one confused user asked, to which Adil responded: "Who was I generalising about?"
The user continued: "Suggesting that's how people think- it doesn't apply to everyone. I don't, some do," before Adil answered: "I didn’t say it did. Well done for not being those that do."
Emma was born in Toronto, Canada, before she and her family moved to London - where they settled in Kent - when she was two-years-old.
Her father, Ian, is originally from Romania while her mother, Renee, is Chinese.
Adil later tweeted: "How many news reports have referred to #EmmaRaducanu as an immigrant/child of immigrants, or Romanian/Chinese.
"Its important we do. Incredibly powerful. Let’s not just leave those labels for when we are doing “wrong” “lagging behind” or “disadvantaged”. It is us. Our British us."
Get all the biggest showbiz news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror Showbiz newsletter.
"Not only are Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez both teenage grand slam finalists, but they're also both multilingual," read a post that Adil retweeted.
He added: "So are many children of immigrants: multiskilled, unique perspectives, incredibly driven, punching up but many of us never say the same about them.
"They’re not integrating, surveyed about their Britishness, talk a bit funny and should feel lucky despite their poverty."
On Saturday, Emma became the first British woman to win a tennis grand slam in 44 years as she completed a remarkable success at the US Open in New York.
The 18-year-old qualifier beat Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 to secure a barely believable victory.
Emma, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this year, didn't drop a set en route to winning the tournament.
The teenager made history as she becomes the first qualifier to win the Grand Slam, beating 17th seed Fernandez in the process.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
