Fiona Bruce apologises for calling Question Time viewers member ‘the black man’

Fiona Bruce has apologised for referring to an viewers member as “the black guy” throughout an episode of Question Time.

The presenter, 59, was making an attempt to decide on somebody to contribute to Thursday’s debate, when she mentioned: “The guy there in the middle, the black guy in the middle. Yes, you sir.”

The remark has been faraway from the BBC iPlayer model of the episode.

The BBC additionally apologised for her selection of phrases.

In a press release, Bruce apologised and mentioned she was “wrong to identify him [the man] as I did”.

“I totally understand why my words last night caused offence, and I apologise,” she mentioned within the assertion, launched via the BBC.

She mentioned she had since spoken to the viewers member straight.

“[I] explained that usually I can see and describe an item of clothing or otherwise to help sound engineers with a microphone find people in the audience.

“Last night time that was not the case as my view was obscured.

“In the split second I had, the easiest thing to do would have been to ignore the audience member and move on, but I felt strongly that his voice should be heard.”

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A BBC spokesperson mentioned: “The intent was to ensure his voice was heard, however we recognise we should not have identified him in this way and apologise for any offence caused.

“As such the recorded model on iPlayer has been edited to take away this.”

Bruce has hosted Question Time since 2019.

The newsreader, who has been with the BBC since 1989, took over the role from long-serving presenter and journalist David Dimbleby.

Earlier this year, Bruce was also accused by some of trivialising domestic violence during a debate on the show.

She said she was “required to legally contextualise” a press release about Boris Johnson’s father Stanley and that her feedback weren’t reflective of her personal opinions.

Nevertheless, she later introduced she was stepping down as ambassador for home violence charity Refuge .