ITV Deny Eamonn Holmes Was Reprimanded For Calling Meghan Markle ‘Uppity’ After Viewer Complained The Word Is Racist

Eamonn made the remark on the ITV daytime show in July, during a discussion about the Duchess’s requests for privacy with reporter Lainey Lui who was in Canada. 

The TV host said: “If you have an uppity attitude, you’re only through the door two minutes and suddenly you’re sitting at Wimbledon and your royal protection are saying, ‘No photographs, no photographs!’ You do know. If that was somebody in Canada, you would be writing [that] they’re right up their own backside.”

The Cambridge English Dictionary’s definition of un ‘uppity person’ is someone who “behaves in an unpleasant way because they think that they are more important than they really are”.

However, historically the word was used in the US in the 19th Century as an insult to black people who ‘didn’t know their place’.

According to the Daily Mail, following the broadcast the complainant also wrote to ITV’s Head of Diversity, Ade Rawcliffe, who responded to the viewer explaining that Eamonn “was unaware of the history of the term ‘uppity’ and how it could be interpreted”.