Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have apologised for "impersonating people of colour" in historic episodes of ‘Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’.
The presenting duo have come forward to offer their apologies for the past sketches which appeared on their popular ITV entertainment show, in light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests which began in the US in May and have since started taking place across the UK.
In a statement shared to Twitter, the duo wrote: "During past episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway we impersonated people of colour in the undercover segment of the show.
"We realise that this was wrong and want to say that we are sincerely sorry to everyone that was offended."
Ant and Dec went on to say they "purposely stopped" impersonating people of colour "several years ago", and have made sure all clips involving the sketches have been taken down from services including the ITV Hub and the show’s YouTube channel.
They added: "We purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today.
"We had already taken steps to ensure footage was taken down, and have again recently confirmed with ITV that these segments, and any other historical content that could cause offence, does not appear on either the ITV Hub or the Saturday Night Takeaway YouTube channel."
The statement comes after it was recently revealed comedy sketch show ‘Little Britain’ – which starred David Walliams and Matt Lucas – has been removed from the BBC iPlayer, BritBox, and Netflix, due to sketches involving blackface.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: "There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review. Times have changed since ‘Little Britain’ first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer."
Since the show began in 2003, ‘Little Britain’ has long been the subject of controversy surrounding its sketches, including its depiction of "portly Thai bride" Ting Tong – played by Matt Lucas – and of Desiree DeVere, a black woman played by David Walliams in full blackface.
And following renewed focus on issues of race and representation amid the current Black Lives Matter protests, the show has come under fire again, prompting streaming services to cut ties with the series.