Channel 4 apologises for Boris ‘people of colour’ video

Oh dear. Channel 4 News is in hot water this morning after posting a video clip of Boris Johnson speaking at a campaign rally. In the clip, the broadcaster added subtitles claiming Boris Johnson said:

‘I’m in favour of having people of colour come to this country, but I think we should have it democratically controlled’

Predictably, the subtitled video spread like wildfire on social media, with various left-wing pundits piling in to say it was incontrovertible evidence that Boris Johnson was beyond the pale. But when you listen to the clip, it is clear Boris says ‘people of talent’ not ‘people of colour’. Which explains why Channel 4 pulled the video shortly afterwards and issued an apology:

Boris Johnson says “people of talent” not “people of colour.”

Our earlier tweet was a mistake. We misheard and we apologise.

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) December 6, 2019

Still, that hasn’t prevented the smear spreading halfway around the world, with Boris critics such as Chuka Umunna apparently refusing to accept that they’d heard wrong.