ITV This Morning's Sian Welby and Roman Kemp in Ofcom 'bullying' storm after 'mocking' small business
Roman Kemp, Sian Welby and Chris Stark present Capital Breakfast
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The One Show presenter Roman Kemp, new This Morning star Sian Welby and former Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark have prompted 107 Ofcom complaints after the trio appeared to ridicule a small business on a radio show.
The trio work together on Capital Breakfast and on January 15, they angered listeners when discussing a small chocolate business live on air.
The company, Chocolate Moments, had gone viral for their product Bar of Crisps which involved a range of flavoured potato snacks covered in chocolate.
After Welby spotted it on Instagram, she questioned whether or not Chocolate Moments was a real business or set up as a "scam".
The new This Morning star read aloud on air a notice from Chocolate Moments that stated the "production of Bar of Crisps is now on hold" which prompted raucous laughter from Kemp and Stark.
"So what? It's already failed? It's gone into bankruptcy already? Oh no!" Welby mocked.
She later added: "Oh dear, so it's not maybe been as popular... It says it's all out of stock. Do you think it's ever been in stock?"
Stark chipped in to agree with Welby as he argued it "was something from nothing" before he mocked the quality of the website as "like a child made it".
The trio then ridiculed the fact owner Maria Antoniou listed her mobile number as the main contact on the website as well as her name in the business' email address.
Welby went on to mock that the business was being run "out of a garage" before laughing as she joked that Chocolate Moments was out of stock because the owner "had left the country".
Sian Welby and Dermot O'Leary have been presenting This Morning this week
ITV/SHUTTERSTOCK
Business owner Antoniou shared a clip of the moment on TikTok and Instagram where she was quickly flooded with support.
"Bullies," one TikTok user wrote with a broken hearted emoji while a second echoed: "What a horrible way to talk about a small business. So sorry they did this."
"Vile words," a third added as a fourth similarly blasted the trio: "This is disgusting...shameful behaviour."
Antoniou said last week that she'd received apologies from two out of the three hosts but blasted their attempts to make amends as "flippant" and "not meaningful".
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Roman Kemp, Sian Welby and Chris Stark have been hit with over 100 Ofcom complaints
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She penned: "When I shared the Capital FM recording, I did not expect so much support, love and validation that I got from you.
"I've turned comments off now as I really didn't want to start a war with the radio station or its presenters.
"As much as their words hurt, I just want to focus on finding a manufacturer.
"Two out of the three presenters have contacted me. I'll be really honest, the 'apology' I got was very flippant and not meaningful so that's very disappointing."
Global has been contacted by GB News for comment.