Mo Gilligan appeared to take a pointed dig at Miriam Margolyes while presenting an award at the National Television Awards in London last night.
The 85-year-old actress sparked controversy last week after using an offensive term while referring to ITV presenter Andi Peters’s skin colour during an appearance on This Morning.
Alluding to the row, Gilligan, 38, opened his segment with a sharp one-liner, telling the audience: “If you know me, I’m Mo Gilligan. And if you don’t know me, then I’m Andi Peters.”
The remark prompted a mix of gasps and uneasy laughter inside the venue before Gilligan moved on to reveal that Channel 4’s Gogglebox had won the Factual Entertainment award.
His reference to the racism row quickly divided viewers on social media, with some praising the joke as “funny” while others argued it had “fell as flat as a pancake”.
Last Thursday ITV bosses were forced to intervene after the actress referred to Peters, 56, as ‘high yalla’.
The clip, which was removed from the ITVX recording of the show, has since gone viral, with many viewers taking to X to express their outrage over Miriam’s comments.
Mo Gilligan took a swipe at Miriam Margolyes as he presented an award at the National Television Awards in London
Outspoken Margolyes, 85, used an offensive term to describe ITV presenter Andi Peter’s skin colour during an appearance on This Morning last week
The term, which can also be spelled ‘high yaller’ or ‘high yellow’ is an outdated and offensive slang term used in the US to describe a black person with a light complexion.
After first impersonating presenter Christine Lampard’s Northern Irish accent, Miriam turned to Peters and asked: ‘But what accent would be normal for you?’
‘This is normal. This is what I am,’ replied Peters, as Miriam continued: ‘Oh, you’re a mix, aren’t you? You’ve got a black daddy and a white mummy.’
‘No, no, no. Both my parents are black,’ confirmed Peters, before he joked: ‘What have they put on me, am I a lighter shade than normal?’
Miriam continued: ‘Both parents are I think you’re what I would call a “high yalla.” That’s what they call it in America. Oh, when someone isn’t deeply black, right?’
‘I didn’t even know there were shades,’ said Peters, as Miriam added: ‘There are shades.’
Worried about the direction of the conversation, producers are thought to have issued a warning to Peters through his earpiece – with him then saying out loud: ‘Oh, okay. They’re getting nervous now. They’re getting nervous now.’
Join the discussion
Did Mo Gilligan’s NTA joke make you laugh or leave you cringing?
The reference to the ‘racism’ row sparked debate on social media, with some branding the joke ‘funny’ while others said it ‘fell as flat as a pancake’
‘Don’t be nervous,’ reassured Miriam, ‘We welcome everybody. That’s what I want to write about in my book. It’s about inclusion.’
Miriam later addressed the backlash as she said: ‘I didn’t want to embarrass or hurt Andi because he seems very nice.
‘I’d never met him before; I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t know he was black until I saw him. When you see someone, of course you know they’re black.
‘I wanted to know what he thought about it because that’s what interests me.’
Miriam then used an offensive term for disabled people as she continued: ‘How do black people feel? How do brown people feel? How do cripples feel? How do fat people feel?
‘You see what I mean? All of us feel something about who we are and how people see us, what they think of us.’
The host interjected to clarify that ‘in other words you wanted to discuss his identity with him’, to which the actress was in full agreement.
‘I am fascinated by other people,’ she continued. ‘They are the people that interest me, not the celebrities so much. It’s everybody. What their story is, what made them who they are, why you are the way you are.’