Black GB News presenter who called Suella Braverman racist disappears from screens

The right-wing broadcaster, which prides itself on being the ‘home of free speech’, issued an apology to the former home secretary

A Black presenter has disappeared from his slot on GB News after he called former home secretary Suella Braverman a racist.

Albie Amankona, 30, co-hosted GB News’s flagship debate programme The Saturday Five on 20 July and expressed his opinion during a discussion about Ms Braverman.

The presenter described the Conservative politician as “divisive”, adding “I believe she is actually racist and a thoroughly bigoted woman.

“People like that should not be in the Conservative Party. She said British Pakistani men had a problem with grooming. She basically said that child grooming was a problem with the British Pakistani community,” he continued.

“That is a racist comment and many Pakistani people in this country thought it was a racist comment and I agree with them.”

Mr Amankona hasn’t presented his show since then, sparking concerns among social media users that he has been sacked. GB News declined to comment when approached by The Independent, as did Mr Amankona.

Co-host Darren Grimes interrupted Mr Amankona numerous times, saying, “we absolutely have to strongly deny that Suella Braverman is a racist”, “that is your opinion”, “you cannot sit on this show and call someone a racist” and “we are not getting into this”.

Mr Amankona proceeded to ask guest panellist Quesha Nicholls, who is of Pakistani heritage, if she thought the comments were racist and she agreed.

“I do,” she replied. “When you group everyone together, based on their skin colour or heritage, then it is,” she said, adding that “a lot” of Ms Braverman’s rhetoric is “racist”.

The broadcaster issued a swift apology to Ms Braverman, saying that the comment “crossed a line between robust debate and causing unnecessary offence.”

“On last week’s edition of The Saturday Five, one of our commentators stated in very strong terms that he considered Suella Braverman to be a racist and in doing so, in our view, crossed a line between robust debate and causing unnecessary offence,” the station said in a Twitter/X statement published on 27 July.

“GB News is and will always be the home of free speech, but free speech – as our editorial charter makes clear – does not mean causing unjustifiable offence, and in this case we feel a line was crossed, for which we apologise to Mrs Braverman who was understandably upset by the comment made about her.”

Around this time, Mr Amankona removed all reference to GB News from his social media biographies and has not been on air since.

He first appeared on the station as a commentator in June 2021 and regularly contributed to various shows before becoming a permanent anchor on The Saturday Five, which was launched in March 2023.

Mr Amankona is also the co-founder of Conservatives Against Racism for Equality (CARFE).

Some online commentators have suggested that the host has been dismissed from his role and criticised GB News’s decision.

“Personally I wholeheartedly believe that Suella Braverman isn’t a racist person at all, but at the same time I strongly believe that it was also entirely the wrong decision for this man to lose his job over it,” one person wrote.

Moreover, campaigners have drawn a link between Ms Braverman’s “divisive” comments on race, such as the politician calling migration an “invasion”, with the recent riots.

Suella Braverman was ‘understandably upset’ by being called a racist, according to GB News (PA)

Questions have been raised about the approach of GB News to other commentators who have expressed strong opinions on race.

Last year, GB News commentator Carole Malone called Labour MP Diane Abbott a “bigot” during an on-air discussion about the politician’s suspension from the Labour Party at the time, following her comments suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.

The broadcaster did not issue an apology to Ms Abbott or suspend Ms Malone from its platform.

“She is a bigot, she is what a bigot looks like,” Ms Malone said. “She has pulled the race card many times in her career.”