23 August 2023 , 10:17
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Sky News has received 192 complaints to the regulator Ofcom over remarks made by panelist Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE about the England women's football team.
In a televised debated, hosted by presenter Kimberley Leonard, about the front pages on Sunday morning Wilfred, who claims to be one of Britain's only black commercial farmers, argued the Lionesses were 'not representative' of Britain.
As Wilfred discussed the front page of the Daily Mirror, which showed a collection of images of the Lionesses with the headline 'Lionesses We Can', he was asked by host Kimberley if he thinks 'we can' win the World Cup.
The British farmer then said: "This is quite an interesting front cover and I don't want to pour boiling water on it but it isn’t that diverse. It really sticks out at you that they're all sort of look blonde, blue eyed.
"If it was the men's World Cup it would be very representative of the Britain we're in – very diverse. So I'm going to be watching it."
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Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones' comments on Sky News have sparked Ofcom complaints (Sky)He was then pressed if he meant the image shown or the whole team to which he said: "The whole team. I'm going to be watching it and I'm going to be supporting it and I don't want to be seen as pouring cold water on but there is something we need to look at."
Wilfred's comments have since sparked 192 comments to Ofcom while he also received criticism on social media.
One viewer wrote: "I was amazed and the @skynews anchor didn’t even challenge him. The team is white, black, straight and gay. How more diverse should it be? @SkyNews is a bloody disgrace."
Another added: "“This doesn’t represent diverse Britain. It’s all these blonde, blue-eyed girls.” What a predictable, miserable, divisive comment - made on Sky News, of course." And a third wrote: "It's disappointing but predictable to see comments like this about the Women's England team. Could it not be possible that the best have been chosen? Other countries have football teams with similar levels of diversity but aren't criticised for it."
He said the Lioness team 'isn’t that diverse' (Future Publishing via Getty Imag)Following the TV appearance, Wilfred posted a video on his social media channel in which he discussed making "mistakes" but didn't address the backlash directly.
Wilfred said: "How do you know whether you're living your life to a max? There's a very, very simple measurement; the number of mistakes that you make.
"If you are living a life thinking the whole purpose in life is not to make mistakes you're absolutely wrong. The only way to know whether you're living life to the full is by the number of mistakes you make because mistakes are the great teacher in life. But, make sure that you actually learn from those mistakes."