Good Morning Britain apologises for omitting the word ‘Jews’ in Holocaust Memorial Day segment
Substitution of the word "Jews" for "people" sparked widespread indignation
Good Morning Britain (GMB) has apologised for omitting the word ‘Jews’ in its live coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day.
The ITV breakfast programme faced widespread outrage after presenter Ranvir Singh, introducing a segment on King Charles paying tribute at Auschwitz, said: “Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group.”
The substitution of the word “Jews” for “people” sparked indignation, with historians Simon Schama and Simon Sebag Montefiore calling the incident “staggering but not surprising” and an “idotic blunder”, amid widespread calls for the programme to be reported to broadcast regulator Ofcom.
Writing on Twitter/X, Sebag Montefiore added: “I find it extraordinary that this happened on Holocaust Memorial Day. I still don’t quite understand how anyone @gmb @itv – presenters writers producers – did not notice & protest that a report specifically on the day to commemorate the Holocaust – the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazis & allies – actually totally erased the Jews from the history in a TV package devoted to this subject. Nor was it ‘forgetfulness’ since both presenter @ranvir01 & reporter @NickDixonITV did the same. I literally wrote a post about Holocaust, the erasure & abuse of history in the afternoon and then saw this. Today rightly @ranvir01 has apologised.”
The script omitting the word ‘Jews’ was repeated on subsequent bulletins.
On Tuesday, Singh issued an on-air apology, saying: “In yesterday’s news when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust, but crucially failed to say they were Jewish. That was our mistake, for which we apologise.”
A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies told Jewish News: “We note that ITN have apologised for this deeply concerning omission. We will be writing to ITN to ask how this happened and what is being done to educate in order to ensure this does not occur again.”
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said: “We are deeply disappointed and saddened by Good Morning Britain’s omission of the word ‘Jews’ in their live coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day. This oversight undermines the core historical truth of the Holocaust – the systematic murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children. Such omissions, whether intentional or not, contribute to a dangerous dilution of the Holocaust’s lessons and significance, particularly at a time when antisemitism is alarmingly on the rise. At the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, we remain steadfast in putting the six million Jewish lives destroyed by Nazis at the centre of our work.”
A ITV customer and viewer department email to Jewish News said: “In our studio introduction to the report on the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz we failed to acknowledge the Jewish community which we have since apologised for live on air in today’s programme.
“This failure was done in error, however clear reference to Jewish people in the correspondent news report from Auschwitz immediately followed, as well as a further extended programme report referencing the six million Jewish victims. Yesterday’s programme also included a live studio interview with a survivor of Auschwitz, Rachel Levy alongside Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust, both of whom talked candidly about their own experiences as Jewish people.”
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