Good Morning Britain Ofcom complaints over ITV presenters soar to over 16,000

After the episode, 8,201 initially complained, with a further 8,419 contacting Ofcom the following week, and 163 contacting the watchdog organisation between 13 and 19 August, meaning the total is now 16,783.

A spokesperson for Ofcom said: ‘We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.’

Viewers have questioned whether their marital relationship had an impact on the interview, and as well as taking their grievances to Ofcom, they also expressed their thoughts on social media.

‘I happen to like both Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper but they shouldn’t be interviewing each other about serious public policy issues on national television,’ added Duncan Flynn on X.

Others called the interview ‘ridiculous’, ‘insane’ and a ‘stupid editorial decision’.

Some believed that this was part of a bigger issue and that Balls should step away from GMB.

‘Now that Yvette Cooper is now a government minister (Home Secretary),@GMB should 100% stand Ed Balls (her husband) down. That’s a massive conflict of interest. @GMB @ITV …do what is right and resolve this issue immediately,’ typed account Mr Smooth EMT.

Mark Oosterveen expressed concerns Balls varied his interview tactics: ‘This morning, Ed Balls interviewed a Muslim MP, interrupting her and disputing everything. He then had the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on and gave her the softest interview you could imagine. Balls and Cooper are husband and wife by the way. This is part of the problem.’

‘We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial.’

‘There kind of isn’t really a defence for this though is there,’ said Elle Hunt in response to ITV’s statement.

Metro.co.uk has contacted ITV for further comment in light of the increasing amount of Ofcom complaints.

At the start of the aforementioned episode, Sultana also spoke on the current violence and shared why it was so important that the attacks were called Islamophobic amongst other issues.

Balls repeatedly asked Sultana if she believed immigration should be controlled, sometimes interrupting her. He then said Prime Minister Keir Stermer and Cooper, have condemned the attacks on mosques and racism.

‘I don’t know if they’ve used the term Islamophobia,’ he added. ‘They haven’t,’ Sultana interjected.

Ed was asked by Kate how much he’d been able to speak to Yvette about the situation before the interview, he explained it had been minimal due to her busy schedule.

Once the interview was underway, Balls said: ‘Can I ask, because we’ve talked about this a few times in the last few days – like many of our viewers will have done at home since those terrible killings in Southport – there have been identifiable individuals on social media who have been inciting not just riots but violence.’

He then asked if social media companies, the police, and the government need to do more to stop the use of racist language and falsehoods.

‘Well you’re right, Ed,’ she responded. ‘We have seen things appearing online that are clearly criminal. Social media has put rocket boosters under far-right extremist organisations and also some of the violence we have seen. Things that are criminal offline are also criminal online.’

Balls and Cooper married in 1998 and have three children together.

This is Cooper’s first time in government for 14 years, having been part of the Opposition while the Conservatives were in charge.