Samantha Armytage, a presenter on Seven’s morning show Sunrise, has been slammed for a “racist comment” during an interview that aired early March.
The segment was an interview with two non-identical twins who have different skin tones, one taking after the mother and one taking after the father.
Before beginning the interview Armytage said: “…Maria has taken after her half Jamaican mum with dark skin and brown eyes and curly dark hair but Lucy got her dads fair skins, good on her, along with straight red hair and blue eyes.”
https://youtu.be/nPYODY6KOww
It’s the “good on her” comment that is causing controversy with a Change.org petition with more than four thousand signatures calling for her to apologise.
The petition states: “The ‘good on her’ comment was inappropriate, extremely offensive and very racist. This comment segregates sisters by favoritism base on skin colour and give the impression that Lucy is better or luckier for being fair skinned or as if Samantha can relate more to her solely because she is fair skinned which is by definition, racist.”
The petition also slammed the press for not reporting on it at the time, “currently this has just been swept under the rug which is appalling”.
Armytage has apologised for the comment, saying: “I would be mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist. It’s not in my nature. To anyone who I might have offended, I’m sorry.”
Sunrise’s executive producer Michael Pell has also issued a statement to clear up any misunderstanding: “We are making this statement to avoid further misunderstanding about Sam’s comment on Sunrise. Sam has always admitted that her own fair complexion was a disadvantage in the Australian environment. We apologise if anyone misunderstood or if they were offended.”
Lead image via Change.org.
