Eamonn Holmes: GB News presenter forced to apologise after aiming racial slur at Kerry Katona
A daytime TV host has come under fire after making an offensive remark during a live interview.
Eamonn Holmes was discussing cosmetic surgery on GB News with guest Kerry Katona when he used a racial slur to describe the results of her facelift.
Katona, 44, had been explaining that the procedure helped relieve heaviness around her eyes when Holmes interrupted and asked if she looked “oriental.”
The comment left Katona momentarily speechless and co-presenter Ellie Costello visibly uncomfortable.
Holmes later returned to the newsdesk to apologise on air.
The 65-year-old said: “Apparently you’re not allowed to describe someone as looking oriental; I don’t know how I’m going to say does she look like someone from some other country in the eastern of the world.
“The world is ridiculous.”
Police and the Home Office have classified the term as offensive since 2021, when guidance instructed officers to avoid its use in race-hate crime reports.
Following the broadcast, Katona took to Instagram to defend Holmes, calling him “one of my oldest and longest friends” and insisting she had not been offended.
Katona added: “Eamonn Holmes has been one of my oldest and longest friends, and I absolutely adore and love him to bits.
“He said absolutely nothing untoward towards me. I wasn’t offended in any way, shape or form.”
Katona has been open about undergoing multiple cosmetic procedures, including septo-rhinoplasty surgery last year to repair breathing problems linked to her past cocaine abuse.