Vanessa Feltz ‘horrified’ over reaction to comments about gluten-free Christmas
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Vanessa Feltz has apologised after telling a caller it was ‘completely unreasonable’ they couldn’t bring their own food to a gluten-free Christmas dinner
More than 2,000 complaints were made to Ofcom over her comments during a segment on This Morning last month.
A caller to the ITV daytime programme said their mother-in-law was making a gluten-free Christmas meal because one of the guests had coeliac disease.
They said they had asked if they could bring their own food but were told not to bring anything.
Feltz responded: “So she’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a potentially fatal peanut allergy and they can’t have anything with gluten in the house which is completely unreasonable.”
The remarks initially received 1,092 complaints, according to an Ofcom report released on December 20, making it the ninth most-complained about programme in 2023.
The media watchdog said in its report on January 3 that a further 1,177 complaints have been made, bringing the total to 2,269.
This raised the programme to the fifth most complained about last year, just behind a discussion on the junior doctors’ pay dispute on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show which came in fourth with 2,302 complaints.
Ofcom confirmed it is still assessing the complaints before deciding whether to investigate.
“I did not nor would I for a second suggest they should put the coeliac guest at risk.
“Nor did I intend to show any disrespect or misunderstanding of how unpleasant it can be leading your life as a coeliac."
Vanessa Feltz speaks out after her comments about coeliac disease. pic.twitter.com/ePlOdFQPyg— TalkTV (@TalkTV) December 19, 2023
Feltz, 61, later apologised on her TalkTV show for the comments, saying: “If anyone misunderstood or felt that I did, I am very sorry.”
She showed a clip of herself making the remarks before discussing them with Dr Saleyha Ahsan and a viewer named Jason, who suffers from coeliac disease.
Feltz recalled: “I said what I said there, and then I said, but I’ve been thinking about it, and in the spirit of Christmas I think you should go, I think you should eat the gluten-free meal that your mother-in-law is kindly preparing.”
Feltz continued: “I did not, nor would I for a second, suggest that they should put the coeliac guest at risk in any way, nor did I suggest that they bring their own food and shove it in their mother-in-law’s oven or put it on the table, I wouldn’t dream of that.
“And nor did I intend in any shape or form to show any disrespect or misunderstanding of how unpleasant it can be leading your life as a coeliac, partly because some of my best friends are coeliacs.
“So I know how horrible it is as a coeliac if, by any mistake, you should find yourself eating something with gluten in it.
“I am astounded by the reaction and horrified that anyone’s upset, I would never want to upset anyone.”
She claimed she checked her language before and after the show with professionals, adding: “I don’t think I said anything wrong, but if anyone misunderstood or felt that I did, I am very sorry.”
