ITV has been hit with over one thousand Ofcom complaints after Vanessa Feltz made controversial comments about Coeliac disease on This Morning.
The media regulator confirmed on Wednesday (December 20) that it had received 1, 092 complaints about This Morning following the broadcast on Monday (December 18). It said the majority of complaints related to comments made by Feltz about Coeliac disease.
This Morning’s guest presenter Vanessa upset viewers with her remarks to a viewer called Alison during a live phone-in segment on the daytime show. Alison complained that she was being forced to have a gluten-free Christmas dinner as her daughter is a fussy eater and her mother-in-law’s guest suffers with Coeliac disease, which causes the immune system to attack bodily tissues when gluten is eaten.
(Image: ITV)
Vanessa, 61, simply wasn’t having it, telling hosts Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle: “When Alison said, ‘Can we bring our own food then? Can we bring food in a snack box?’ She said, ‘No.’ So she’s treating Coeliac disease as if it’s a kind of fatal, potentially fatal peanut allergy and that they can’t have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable.”
“That is not reasonable Alison at all. The thing is though, if you say to her, ‘Look, he can have gluten-free, we don’t have to, it’s not catching.” What will she say? How will she respond?
(Image: ITV)
Alison replied: “She’ll tell me that I’m ignorant to the facts and tell me to read up on it.” Vanessa insisted: “But you’re not and she’s wrong, I mean she’s just unequivocally wrong about that. Completely wrong.”
Viewers on X slammed Vanessa’s comments. One fumed: “This is what happens when you have ill informed and ignorant presenters like Vanessa Feltz spreading misinformation. She needs to be held accountable for her dangerous words!”
Coeliac UK also complained on the platform, writing: “Today on ITV’s @thismorning, coeliac disease was discussed during a phone in segment on the show. We are deeply concerned about the content and advice given to a caller attending a Christmas family event where all of the food will be gluten free to protect the health of a person with coeliac disease.”
They told viewers they were “following up” with ITV and displayed an open letter to the broadcaster, asking for an apology. Dr Zoe Williams seemed to address the backlash on Tuesday by discussing the disease in more depth.
“Some people with coeliac disease can be very sensitive, so even a trace of gluten can actually damage, in the long term, their small intestine, and cause really severe sickness and illness,” she said. “So I think especially around Christmas time, for some people, it can be a time where they need to ask their relatives and loved ones who are going to be spending time with to make a few changes to accommodate them.”
(Image: E4)
Vanessa apologised for her comments on live on TalkTV, but insisted she didn’t feel she did anything wrong. “If anyone is upset, then I am very sorry. All I ever want is clarity and compassion and I am certainly not trying to play down Coeliac disease. The last thing I wanted to do was upset anyone and I hope that I have made amends.”
She had told the caller to snack before she visits her mother-in-law and then eat on the way home. Josie then explained that people who suffer with Coeliac disease shouldn’t have to worry about cross-contamination of gluten food.
Vanessa responded: “But they don’t have to have any cross-contamination, especially if they bring their own food from home and her 15-year-old has what he actually likes which he brings in the snackbox, would be perfectly fine. But I just think is it worth falling out with her, digging your heels in, making a big mountain out of it when it’s only one day, pretty much one meal?”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
