Andi Peters responds after Miriam Margolyes uses racist term to describe him

Andi Peters has responded after Miriam Margolyes used an offensive and outdated term to describe his skin colour during an extraordinary live television exchange.

The This Morning presenter, 56, found himself having to navigate an increasingly uncomfortable conversation when the Harry Potter actor, 85, began questioning his ethnicity before referring to him as ‘high yalla’.

The term, also spelled ‘high yellow’ or ‘high yaller’, is a historically derogatory American expression for a Black person with a lighter complexion.

The segment has since been removed from the version of Thursday’s episode available on ITVX, but footage quickly spread across social media and sparked a fierce backlash.

Now Peters has briefly addressed the incident after fellow broadcaster Jeremy Vine praised the way he dealt with Margolyes live on air. Sharing the footage on social media, Vine wrote: ‘This is seriously nerve-wracking. No filter.

‘@andipeters dealt with it brilliantly but note at the end – “they’re getting nervous” [the producers].’

Peters responded by acknowledging the unpredictability that comes with live broadcasting.

‘Thanks JV. As you know we have to be ready for ANYTHING!!!’ he wrote.

Margolyes had appeared on This Morning alongside Peters and Christine Lampard to promote her new book, Miriam’s Full English: A Grand Tour of All Our Best Bits.

Towards the end of their interview, however, she turned the questions onto her hosts.

After impersonating Lampard’s Northern Irish accent, Margolyes asked Peters: ‘But what accent would be normal for you?’

‘This is normal. This is what I am,’ he replied.

Margolyes then said: ‘Oh, you’re a mix, aren’t you? You’ve got a black daddy and a white mummy.’

Peters corrected her, explaining that both of his parents are Black. Attempting to make light of the situation, he joked about whether his makeup had made him appear ‘a lighter shade than normal’.

Margolyes nevertheless continued: ‘Both parents are? I think you’re what I would call a “high yalla”. That’s what they call it in America. Oh, when someone isn’t deeply black, right?’

Peters responded that he ‘didn’t even know there were shades’, to which she replied: ‘There are shades.’

At that point, Peters appeared to receive communication from producers through his earpiece and revealed on air: ‘Oh, okay. They’re getting nervous now. They’re getting nervous now.’

‘Don’t be nervous,’ Margolyes responded. ‘We welcome everybody. That’s what I want to write about in my book. It’s about inclusion.’

The exchange was subsequently edited out of the programme on ITVX, although ITV has not publicly explained the decision.

It didn’t take long for the original footage to take on a life of its own online, where many viewers condemned both Margolyes’ questioning of Peters’ ethnicity and her choice of language.

One viewer described the exchange as ‘very uncomfortable viewing’, while another pointed out that the term Margolyes used is far from commonplace contemporary American language.

Others argued that while her comments demonstrated ignorance, they did not believe she had intended to be racist.

Peters, meanwhile, hasn’t offered a lengthy verdict on Margolyes’ comments himself.

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