Sunrise host Sam Armytage labelled ‘racist’ as 2015 interview with mixed-race siblings resurfaces
Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has sparked outrage after an American journalist posted an old video from 2015 showing Armytage interviewing mixed race twin sisters and making a bizarre comment. SEE THE VIDEO
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Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has sparked outrage after an old video resurfaced on social media last week.
The TV host began trending on Twitter after American journalist Soledad O’Brien posted the 2015 clip of Armytage interviewing mixed race twin sisters and bizarrely commending one of them for having fair skin.
Former CNN anchor O’Brien criticised Armytage’s co-host David Koch for not saying anything and the video prompted some critics to label Armytage as “racist” which she has previously denied.
“He could have SAID something — ‘let me stop you there.’ is a pretty powerful phrase,” the esteemed journalist tweeted.
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In the video, Armytage and Koch interviewed British siblings Lucy and Maria Aylmer, who have completely different skin colours.
“Maria has taken after her half-Jamaican mum with dark skin, brown eyes and curly, dark hair but Lucy got her dad’s fair skin — good on her — along with straight red hair and blue eyes,” Armytage said in the viral video.
The eyebrow-raising video comes amid ongoing racial tensions in the US following the death of African-American man George Floyd, which has sparked global protests against police brutality.
“Lucy got her dad’s fair skin—good on her!...†https://t.co/IVeZfx3NEe
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) June 6, 2020
“Ms. Armytage’s racism is showing,” one user tweeted.
“Are you kidding me?? She’s basically saying one option was better than the other, the fair skin was somehow better,” another wrote.
A Change.org petition was launched at the time, calling for Armytage to apologise which she eventually did.
“I would be mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist. It’s not in my nature. To anyone who I might have offended, I’m sorry,” she said.
Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell also apologised.
“Sam has always admitted that her own fair complexion was a disadvantage in the Australian environment,” he said.
In 2018 Armytage faced criticism after hosting a controversial segment on Sunrise about Aboriginal children that featured an all-white panel.
Commentator Prue MacSween was included on the panel and said at the time, “we need to do (the Stolen Generation) again, perhaps”.
Armytage began the segment by saying, “Post-Stolen Generation, there’s been a huge move to leave Aboriginal children where they are, even if they’re being neglected in their own families”.
Activists gathered outside Sunrise’s Martin Place studios demanding an apology.
Media watchdog The Australian Communications and Media Authority later ruled that Seven had breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice 2015 because the segment “provoked serious contempt on the basis of race”.
Originally published as Sunrise host Sam Armytage labelled ‘racist’ as 2015 interview with mixed-race siblings resurfaces