'This is disgraceful': Sam Armytage comment sparks global 'racism' fury

A clip of a Sunrise segment from 2015 has resurfaced online sparking global outrage, amid Black Lives Matter protests around the world, in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody in the US.

Twitter user Wolverine reshared the controversial clip, which saw Samantha Armytage criticised for a comment during an interview with British non-identical twins Lucy and Maria Aylmer. The post has now been shared more than 32K times, even making news in the UK.

“The Aylmer twins come from a mixed race family in the UK,” Sam said introducing the live cross at the time.

“Maria has taken after her half-Jamaican mum with dark skin, brown eyes and curly, dark hair but Lucy got her dad's fair skin – good on her – along with straight red hair and blue eyes.”

The ‘good on her’ comment immediately prompted a glance from co-host David Koch and quickly sparked a furore on social media.

Samantha Armytage did apologise for the comment in April 2015, saying she would be “mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist”.

“It's not in my nature. To anyone who I might have offended, I'm sorry,” she said.

However, that hasn’t stopped the seasoned presenter from copping a barrage of renewed criticism online, with people slamming the comment as “racist” and “offensive”.

“What in God’s name did I just hear?!? Sam Armytage are you serious??? Wow,” one person wrote on Twitter.

“This is disgraceful. you should be ashamed of yourself,” another wrote.

“Omg. I literally froze like wtf when she said “good on her”. That’s like deep rooted embedded racism,” was another comment.

While a fourth wrote: “What a tremendously STUPID thing to say! You insulted BOTH these girls (& the entire Black community) with that ridiculous statement!”

Some did try and defend the TV host, pointing out the clip itself was old and she had apologised for the comment at the time.

“Nothing wrong with Sam Armytage. She is a successful journalist/TV presenter who has worked hard to get where she is,” one supportive fan wrote.

Channel Seven and Sam Armytage have been contacted for comment.

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