ITV has been forced to issue an apology after I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! host, Joel Dommett, made a comment referencing knife crime
ITV I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! has been compelled to issue an apology after viewers were left furious following its spin-off programme last week.
Fans were stunned after presenter Joel Dommett made a remark about shanking – a slang expression for stabbing – during Tuesday night’s episode of Unpacked.
Speaking about campmate Ruby Wax pinching a bag of Liquorice Allsorts whilst the other celebrities distributed sweets, Joel, 40, said, chuckling: “If someone stole my Haribo, I’d shank them”, before asking: “Is that alright to say on telly? Is that too much?”
I’m A Celeb presenter Declan Donnelly, 50, responded: “It was a little too much, you’ve overstepped the mark”, with Joel replying: “I’m sorry about that,” reports the Mirror.
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He subsequently expanded on his apology saying he regretted his choice of words, posting in a statement: “I would like to once again apologise to anyone offended by the language used in Tuesday’s show.
“I realised the error in the moment and immediately apologised live on air.
“This was not a pre-written joke and I would never make light of such a serious issue as knife crime.”
ITV added: “We would apologise to anyone offended by the language used in Tuesday’s show.
“Joel recognised this unfortunate choice of language in the moment and immediately apologised to viewers.”
Patrick Green, CEO of The Ben Kinsella Trust, a charity educating young people about the dangers of knife crime, referred to the “unfortunate choice of language” and urged Joel to be more cautious in his future remarks.
He stated: “I am sure that when Joel made this comment, he was not intending to cause offence or trivialise knife crime, as indicated by his immediate apology.
“However, it does highlight how knife crime has become so ingrained in our society that it has entered everyday language, when in reality it is something we should strongly oppose and never joke about.
“Knife crime is not a trivial matter-it takes young lives and leaves families and communities devastated.”
Meanwhile, Martin Crosser, who tragically lost his son, Charlie, in 2023 when he was stabbed at a party, emphasised there was “nothing to joke about with knife crime”, telling The Sun: “Charlie died by losing every milligram of blood in his body – a ruptured bowel, ruptured spleen, he’d been stabbed in the heart.
“He had two traumatic cardiac arrests and died of irreversible brain damage.
“There’s nothing to joke about with knife crime. There really isn’t.”
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! is on ITV1 and ITVX
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