Capital Breakfast presenters Siân Welby, Roman Kemp and Chris Stark sparked more than 100 Ofcom complaints after they ridiculed a small business on their show.
The trio were discussing Chocolate Moments, a business owned by Maria Antoniou which sells chocolate bars filled with crisps for £4,99. They claimed the website looks “like a child’s made it”, while Siân, who made her debut on This Morning on Monday (January 22) joked it could be “some sort of con”.
The 37-year-old pointed out that a number of flavours were out of stock, swiping: “Has it already failed? Is it bankruptcy already? I was quite excited. It’s not maybe been as popular.”
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She added: “Oops I tell you why, some of the flavours lamb and mint… with chocolate, that’s a bit off. Look it says it’s all out of stock. Do you think it’s ever been in stock?” Roman, 30, weighed in: “The contact number at the bottom is a mobile number and the email is just a person name”.
(Image: WireImage)
“They are probably running a business out of their garage,” Siân declared. Maria received an abundance of support from listeners after she shared a clip of the trio online, accusing them of bullying. Sharing their support on Maria’s post, one wrote: “Oh wow. A lot of respect lost for @capitalofficial, @romankemp, @chrisstark and @sianwelby. Clearly just trying to pull in listeners with absolute garbage.”
“I’ve sent complaints to all 3 presenters and @capitalofficial to express my disgust for their treatment of your small business…on live radio! How unfair and inconsiderate x,” added another. A third fumed: “Maria, I am literally in tears having listened to the link you uploaded. I absolutely cannot believe that anybody would belittle a business in this way, especially not a national radio station. I really think you should contact a solicitor, this is abhorrent and I am so sorry that you are experiencing this.”
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Another said: “What the actual f**k. I think I’m most shocked by @romankemp. What did they do that for? What did they think was going to happen?” Someone else echoed: “They went way too far and it was just so uncalled for. Anything in the name of ‘entertainment’ and now she is being given a platform like @thismorning I certainly won’t be watching her!”
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom revealed the episode, broadcast on 15th January, received 107 complaints. Maria later issued an update, revealing that two of the three presenters had contacted her to apologise.
(Image: capitaloffical/Instagram)
She wrote: “Two out of the three presenters have contacted me. I’ll be really honest, the ‘apology’ I got was very flippant and not meaningful so that’s very disappointing. I really don’t care for people who hold privilege and don’t use it correctly.
“I don’t care for people that don’t care for others. I care about myself, my product, my life. I pay my bills no one else. If I choose to use a mobile number for my business, I will.” Maria continued: “Every single one of you helped me. I’ve said it before, working alone is hard. It’s lonely.
(Image: ITV)
“Last night I had to switch off, it got too much. But don’t ever think I don’t appreciate you and your support. It means everything. You all had my back and I can’t express fully what that means to me. I said I’d reply to each and everyone of you but right now, I’m overwhelmed and emotional and a tad stressed. So I’m saying a collective thank you. Every comment I read, I could feel your anger for what they’d said and I could feel your support and positivity through your words.”
She signed off the post with: “And this is the point… words. They are powerful. You don’t know what a person has experienced, what they’re struggling with, how they’re feeling. One single, careless word can be the last straw.” This will likely be a blow to Siân, who has been tipped to permanently replace Holly Willoughby.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
