This Morning has been slapped with a total of 195 Ofcom complaints for episodes which aired earlier this month, the watchdog has confirmed.
On Monday morning, presenter Cat Deeley started awkwardly dancing and joked she was “having a seizure” to viewers at home, but her comment created a wave of backlash online.
The moment sparked 66 Ofcom complaints, with the watchdog stating: “[The] complaints related to a comment made by Cat Deeley, that complainants alleged was offensive to those affected by seizures.”
In addition to this, another episode on June 12 caused 129 complaints to be lodged about a discussion about chronic urinary tract infections.
The latest figures were released by Ofcom earlier today (Wednesday, June 19) while Cat and her co-host Ben Shephard were hosting the latest instalment of This Morning,
On Tuesday, Cat issued an apology during the start of the show, saying: “I just wanted to apologise to anyone who was offended yesterday when I made a light-hearted comment about my dancing style.
“It really wasn’t supposed to cause any upset to anybody. But I can see why that might have been the case. So I do apologise and am very sorry for the upset.”
Co-host Ben added: “It would never have been our intention.” Cat lamented in response: “It didn’t come from that place at all.”
However, the charity Young Epilepsy posted on X after Cat’s comments: “We’re extremely disappointed to hear @catdeeley on @ThisMorning making a joke of seizures.
“There are more than 100,000 children and young people who live with epilepsy in the UK.
“Seizures significantly impact their life – they are not something to be ridiculed or joked about.”
One viewer wrote: “Cat Deeley’s non-apology for her epilepsy ‘joke’ on #thismorning was not good enough. Still calling it a ‘light-hearted comment’. Having an epilepsy charity criticize you should be enough of a hint that you’ve said something more than just a ‘light-hearted comment.'”
A second added: “I thought the apology from @catdeeley on @thismorning regarding her seizure comment yesterday was truly genuine. I do hope now that it will stop the mob from constantly attacking her character. Jury by social media can go too far and we’ve seen that in the past.”
This Morning airs on weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITVX.