Cat Deeley has apologised for joking that she was "having a seizure" live on air.
Cat Deeley has apologised for a joke that she made live on This Morning
The 47-year-old presenter currently hosts 'This Morning' with Ben Shephard and on Monday's (17.06,24) edition of the ITV1 magazine show, the pair were dancing around the studio as they prepared to interview pop singer Meghan Trainor but likened her dodgy moves to that of an epileptic fit.
Speaking on Tuesday's episode, she said: "First of all, I just wanted to apologise to anyone who was offended yesterday when I made a light-hearted comment about my dancing style.
"It really wasn't supposed to cause any upset to anybody. But I can see why that might have been the case. So I do apologise, I'm very sorry ."
Her co-star noted that it "never would have been their intention" to offend anyone, and former 'SMTV' presenter Cat insisted that the joke "didn't come from that place at all".
Shortly after Cat made the controversial comment, the Epilepsy Society shared a clip of the moment onto X and reached out to her directly via the social media site to remind her that seizures are "no laughing matter" and others to "educate themselves" on the neurological condition, which causes sudden bursts of electrical activity in the brain.
They wrote on X: "Seizures are no laughing matter for people with #epilepsy
@catdeeley.
"Please do better and educated yourselves about this difficult and poorly understood condition."
Meanwhile, the charity's chief executive Clare Pelham insisted that the organisation did not want to "become the thought police" over the incident and was sure the TV star did not mean to cause any harm with her joke, but hoped that she would spend some time issuing an apology on air.
She said: "At the Epilepsy Society we do not wish to become some sort of grim 'thought police' patrolling the borders of acceptable language.
"We understand that all of us – even professional broadcasters – make impromptu remarks that we regret. And we are sure that Cat did not intend to be unkind.
"But one of the biggest challenges that the 1 in 100 people with epilepsy face is everyday stigma. People literally walking by on the other side of the road when they see us having a seizure. Or worse, sometimes shouting abuse.
"We would love to see Cat make amends by taking 3 minutes to explain seizure first aid to This Morning viewers. It's really simple: Calm, Cushion, Call. Now that would be something to dance about!""
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