The Good Morning Britain presenter was trying to clarify whether a certain word could be said on TV before the watershed, and as his co-host Susanna Reid explained it couldn’t, he went on to utter the banned word anyway. Ed went on to apologise to ITV viewers, insisting he “didn’t know” he couldn’t repeat the word.
Whilst talking to entertainment reporter Richard Arnold, Ed claimed of someone: “He used the T-word.”
“He did use it, yes,” Susanna confirmed before Ed asked her: “Am I allowed to say that this early?”
“No, it’s on the Ofcom list,” the broadcaster warned him. However, Ed immediately repeated the word.
“So you can’t say t*** – just checking?” Susanna seemed mortified as she remarked: “No, you know we’re on air!”
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“You can say trotters, though,” joked Richard as the presenters tried to move on from the awkward moment.
“Yes, that’s the T word that you meant, wasn’t it?” Susanna tried to insist.
“I apologise for that, I didn’t mean to say that – I didn’t know,” Ed stated to the cameras.
Susanna simply shook her head in disbelief following her colleague’s slip-up.
It came as Ed was quoting former EastEnders star Danny Dyer while speaking to Richard.
The actor is known to drop a few swear words during interviews, and as the entertainment correspondent spoke about Danny’s new projects since leaving the soap, his use of language was mentioned.
Fans took to social media to call the moment “bizarre” as Ed seemed to be aware he couldn’t say the word.
Twitter user @vicsmcd wrote: “Bizarre swearing by Ed Balls on purpose – saying the “T***”. Weird #GMB.”
@admant1534 penned: “Ed quoting Danny Dyer calling the Tories t***s…… ‘What you can’t say t**t on telly!’ #gmb TV gold.”
“Susanna just had a proper mum reaction to Ed saying t*** on #gmb, ” @vanessahodgesd shared while posting a clip of Susanna’s response.
@theo_samuels added: “I am dead. Ed Balls dropped the T-bomb when he knew what the word was but said it anyway!! Gold! #GMB.”
@DrDublin1 posted: “#GMB Ed “so you can’t use the ‘T’ word?”, ‘No’ responds Suzanna, “So I can’t say T**t?”, responds Ed. Oh, Edmond.”
