A US morning television host has apologised for comments she made about six-year-old Prince George taking ballet lessons, which have been condemned as sexist and insensitive.
Good Morning America host Lara Spencer came under fire after she laughed while mentioning the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's son would take up ballet and poetry as part of his upcoming school curriculum.
"In addition to the usual first or second grade things like maths, science and history, the future King of England will be putting down the play-dough to take on religious studies, computer programming, poetry and ballet, among other things," she said to laughter from the Good Morning America audience.
"Prince William says George absolutely loves ballet. I have news for Prince William — we'll see how long that lasts."
Ms Spencer's reaction was widely criticised on Twitter, with US actor Rosie O'Donnell describing her laughter as "like bullying on national TV".
American dancer and Fame star Debbie Allen said Ms Spencer owed "not just the Royal Family but the dance world an apology", citing men who had become "great contributors to the world and society" who had studied dance, such as Steve Jobs, Christopher Walken and Dustin Hoffman.
"Darling you're not on Saturday Night Live, you're a respected media journalist. And we expect to get our news, information and ideas from you, so poking fun at the dance world, the ballet and young boys, this is just not cool," Ms Allen said.
"We'd get more Steve Jobs if we had more ballet — less bullying."
Responding to the uproar on Instagram, Ms Spencer apologised for her "insensitive comment" and encouraged the Prince to pursue his passions.
"My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday," she wrote.
"From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions.
"Go climb your mountain —and love every minute of it."
Prince George, the oldest child of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, is a great-grandson of Queen Elizabeth II.
He is third in line for the throne behind his grandfather, Prince Charles, and his father.
