Fiona Bruce has issued an apology after she was slammed by viewers on social media for a comment she made on Question Time.

The 59-year-old was hosting the political discussion programme when she opened the floor to allow members of the public to ask a question.

However, it was when she was trying to direct the microphone handler to the audience member, she left viewers in shock as she said: "The guy there in the middle, the black guy in the middle, yes" reports the Mirror.

Viewers of the show were quick to slam the TV presenter on X, formerly known as Twitter to express their concern.

On noticing the change, many fans demanded answers from the broadcaster. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one penned: "Dear @BBCNews Why did you cut out Fiona Bruce saying "the black guy" in the BBC One showing of @bbcquestiontime last night?It was audible on the live showing on @BBCiPlayer. Why edit it if you think she said nothing wrong? #bbcqt #Wolverhampton #FionaBruce."

Following the complaints, a BBC Spokesperson said: “We regret the choice of words used to identify the audience member. The intent was to ensure his voice was heard, however we recognise we should not have identified him in this way and apologise for any offence caused. As such the recorded version on iPlayer has been edited to remove this.”

After the social media furore, viewers noticed that the comment had been removed from the iPlayer catch-up episode.

The star has now apologised in a statement, she said: "I totally understand why my words last night caused offence and I apologise.

"I have spoken to the audience member directly and explained that usually I can see and describe an item of clothing or otherwise to help sound engineers with a microphone find people in the audience.

"Last night that was not the case as my view was obscured. In the split second I had, the easiest thing to do would have been to ignore the audience member and move on, but I felt strongly that his voice should be heard. Nonetheless, I feel it was wrong to identify him as I did and that’s why it was removed from the later edited programme.”

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