ITV GMB embroiled in Ofcom storm as viewers lodge complaints over failure to say Jews in Holocaust report
ITV has sparked floods of complaints over a recent report of the horrors of the Holocaust as presenter Ranvir Singh failed to mention Jewish people as she listed off the groups affected by the atrocities.
Ofcom has since received almost 80 complaints, with The Campaign Against Antisemitism having also released a statement in response.
Good Morning Britain host Singh made the remarks on Monday while covering the Holocaust Memorial Day.
The 47-year-old stated: “Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group.”
The introduction noticeably left out the word “Jews,” with the ITV host seemingly replacing the word with “people”.
A spokesperson for the campaign group commented: “Jews. The word you’re looking for is ‘Jews,’ not ‘people.’
“This truly beggars belief. This dire reporting is not only factually incorrect but erases Jews from a genocide in which six million Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered specifically because they were Jews.”
The following day, Good Morning Britain issued an apology, with Singh commenting: “In yesterday’s news when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust, but crucially failed to say they were Jewish.
“That was our mistake, for which we apologise.”
A spokesperson for the programme also stated: “In our studio introduction to the report on the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz we failed to acknowledge the Jewish community which we have since apologised for live on air in today’s programme.”
Speaking to Express Online, they continued: “This failure was done in error, however clear reference to Jewish people in the correspondent news report from Auschwitz immediately followed, as well as a further extended programme report referencing the six million Jewish victims.
“Yesterday’s programme also included a live studio interview with a survivor of Auschwitz, Rachel Levy alongside Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust, both of whom talked candidly about their own experiences as Jewish people.”
GB News has contacted ITV for a comment on the news report.
Regulator Ofcom has received a total of 77 complaints over the morning programme this week.
The controversy continues to cause outrage on social media, with many blasting ITV and Singh over the incident.
One X user wrote: “This was deliberate and, frankly, nauseating. #antisemitism.”
“Goodbye Good morning Britain! Standards have dropped too far. Either she read from the cue or she chose to omit to mention the Jews. Both are appalling,” a second shared.
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A third added: “Ranvir Singh @ ranvir01 Are these the people you deliberately avoided mentioning when we all remembered the Holocaust? The Jews targeted and murdered by the nazis?”
“I’d love to know if Ranvir Singh omitted the word Jews or GMB left it off the autocue. It was 2.22 minutes into the piece that the word Jewish was mentioned,” another wrote.
“Ranvir Singh just couldn’t honor them and say ‘Jews’. We see you, Ranvir Singh,” someone else commented.
Another remarked: “A ten second apology. While an apology is welcomed. Is that all the 6 million Jews that were systematically exterminated are worth to you @itv?” (sic)