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Good Morning Britain host Ed Balls had to ‘sit out’ of an interview with his wife Yvette Cooper, after sparking immense backlash last time.
The former politician interviewed the home secretary in August alongside ITV co-host Kate Garraway.
However, viewers were outraged by the segment, questioning whether the fact they were married had an impact on the interview.
In total, Good Morning Britain that day received a total of 16,783 Ofcom complaints over Balls interviewing Cooper and over his comments to Labour MP Zarah Sultana following the Islamophobic and racist UK riots.
Several argued that Balls, 57, would be unable to remain impartial and that it would be a ‘conflict of interest’ to remain on the ITV programme while his wife was a cabinet member.
He’s now stepped back from another interview, before risking similar outrage.
Ahead of Cooper’s interview on the programme today, Balls declared that he would ‘sit this one out’, with Susanna Reid questioning the politician alone.
Ed Balls was forced to ‘sit out’ an interview after backlash (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Balls’ previous interview with wife Yvette Cooper sparked immense backlash (Picture: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)
Susanna Reid interviewed Cooper alone (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Introducing the segment after the break, Susanna began: ‘We’re joined by the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, next.’
Balls added: ‘Who, as you know, is my wife, so I’ll sit this one out.
‘Susanna and I will be joined by Andrew Pierce and Kevin Maguire right after that.’
Following the complaints from viewers when the show aired in August, ITV issued a response, saying: ‘Following a weekend of rioting and national unrest, GMB featured a range of interviews and discussion around this national emergency on today’s programme which included James Cleverly, shadow home secretary, and Yvette Cooper, home secretary.
‘We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial.’
Viewers questioned whether Balls could remain impartial interviewing his wife (Picture: ITV)
The episode sparked 16,000 complaints (Picture: ITV / Good Morning Britain)
Balls had been accused of giving Cooper the ‘softest interview you could imagine’, especially in comparison to the way in which he probed Sultana, with viewers claiming he interrupted and disputed her.
Actor Mark Oosterveen fumed: ‘This morning, Ed Balls interviewed a Muslim MP, interrupting her and disputing everything. He then had the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on and gave her the softest interview you could imagine. Balls and Cooper are husband and wife by the way. This is part of the problem.’
‘Now that Yvette Cooper is now a government minister (Home Secretary),@GMB should 100% stand Ed Balls (her husband) down. That’s a massive conflict of interest. @GMB @ITV …do what is right and resolve this issue immediately,’ viewers Mr Smooth EMT added on X.
Balls and Cooper married in 1998 (Picture: James Gourley/Shutterstock)
Cooper is now Home Secretary (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Balls later announced he was taking a break from the show, after joining the rotating roster three …read more
Source:: Metro
