Rylan Clark’s controversial claims on This Morning about immigration to the UK sparked hundreds of Ofcom complaints.
The ITV programme received 576 complaints about Clark’s rant, which he made during the 27 August live show.
Critics accused the host of repeating false narratives about immigrants receiving free iPads and being accommodated in four-star hotels.
During the episode, the 36-year-old, who was standing in for regular hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, noted how doctors and nurses from “other countries” saved his mother Linda’s life when she fell ill earlier this year.
“They’re living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system, they’re helping this country thrive,” he said.
But he added that there is “something wrong” with the way refugees are welcomed. “Here’s the iPad. Here’s the NHS in reception of your hotel. Here’s three meals a day. Here’s a games room in the hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome,” he said.
Clark continued: "How can it be that if I turn up at Heathrow Airport as a British citizen and I’ve left my passport in Spain, I’ve got to stand at that airport and won’t be let in. But if I arrive on a boat from Calais, I get taken to a four-star hotel?”
An Ofcom spokesperson told The Independent: “We're assessing these complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
Following backlash to his rant, Clark told his critics you can be “pro immigration and against illegal routes” after he said it was “absolutely insane” that asylum seekers are risking their lives to come to the UK.
“Stop with this putting everyone in a box and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter,” Clark wrote on Instagram hours after his opinion was condemned online.
“You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women. You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. This list continues.”
On Tuesday (2 September), Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid stepped in when correspondent Kevin Maguire hit out at Clark for “regurgitating terrible myths” about migrants.
Interrupting Maguire, Reid replied: “Hang on. He pointed out that this country is built on immigration and he was grateful to all of the migrants who have come to the NHS for helping support his mum.
“He was actually concerned, though, that we’ve got a sort of welcome to the UK, and we don’t know who all of these people are.”
Reid said she thinks “it is the duty of the government, as the government itself would acknowledge, that we control borders and we do not just welcome everybody if we don’t know who they are”, adding that Clark did not want to share an anti-migration message.
Maguire replied: “He also regurgitated a load of myths and lies. Let’s not ignore that. Myths and lies have gone mainstream, and we’ve got to challenge that, we’ve got to push back on that.”
Clark rose to fame on the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012. The following year, he appeared on and won the 11th series of Celebrity Big Brother. He has gone on to present various television shows including This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.
