UK network apologises after misquoting Boris Johnson on Twitter

A broadcaster has apologised after staffers “misheard” Prime Minister Boris Johnson – and broadcast an offensive caption on Twitter.

A UK broadcaster was accused of racism and bias over an embarrassing social media blunder.

The mistake took place recently when free-to-air network Channel 4 posted a clip of a speech by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Twitter.

The clip included subtitles of the leader’s words – but at one point, there was an error with Channel 4’s caption.

It claimed Mr Johnson said: “I’m in favour of having people of colour come to this country, but I think we should have it democratically controlled”.

But he actually said, “I’m in favour of having people of talent come to this country …”

Channel 4’s tweet sparked fierce backlash from social media users who accused the Prime Minister of racism.

Channel 4 has apologised over the error. Picture: Channel 4

The British broadcaster eventually apologised and corrected the statement on Twitter.

“Boris Johnson says ‘people of talent’ not ‘people of colour’. Our earlier tweet was a mistake. We misheard and we apologise,” Channel 4 said in a tweet.

The slip-up caused fury online, with Twitter users accusing the network of spreading “fake news”.

“You are so biased you can’t help it now,” one person said, while another posted: “Will the head of Channel 4 News resign or be sacked for this smear?”

“You did it deliberately and hoped it would cause a storm, it did and you are the ones in trouble,” another said.

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

A senior Conservative Party source told UK publication The Sun the error was an example of why the party found it “impossible to co-operate with Channel 4 News”.

“They are campaigners in this election – inventing the most damaging things possible to further their campaign against Brexit,” the source said.

“This sort of thing is why so many media organisations have collapsing audiences.

“We sadly do not expect the senior management at Channel 4 to take this terrible mistake seriously, and we expect more of the same.”

The scandal comes as UK residents prepare to head to the polls for a general election on December 12.

It will be their fourth major vote in less than five years and has been billed as the most critical vote in a generation, due at least in part to it being designed to end the Brexit paralysis in Westminster.

Sitting Conservative PM Mr Johnson, who took over from Theresa May in July, will be up against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn