'That was pretty crap': Waleed Aly's on-air apology after insensitive joke

The Project host Waleed Aly, 40, has issued an on-air apology to his co-panellist, Steve Price after making a “crap” joke at his expense.

Waleed shocked viewers by interrupting the show on Monday night to say a heartfelt sorry to Steve, 64, following an earlier jab about his height.

After presenting a story about an American toddler who’d taken his toy tractor on a joy ride, Waleed - who stands 1.87 metres tall - took a swipe at the considerably shorter radio host, saying that the two-year-old’s tractor “looks like your tractor.”

The one-time I’m A Celebrity star, who is a good 15 centimetres shorter than Waleed, at first appeared to see the funny side of the quip, saying, “Aw, short jokes so early!”

My bad

But after their co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and Peter Helliar erupted in laughter at Steve’s expense, Waleed seemingly realised that he’d taken a step too far.

About ten minutes later, the Gold Logie winner interrupted the panel to extend an olive branch to Steve.

“Before I made a joke at your expense, it was a short joke you’re right … not good enough by me, sorry about that,” he said by way of apology.

“No, that’s okay,” Steve replied, adding, “I’ve been putting up with it my whole life.”

A contrite Waleed admitted that the dig was “pretty crap.”

There’s no bad blood between the two men, however, as Steve went on to thank Waleed for clearing the air.

Slamming Steve

The pair have come to verbal blows before, with Waleed abruptly dismissing Steve, who was a guest on the program, during a discussion about Queensland’s Adani coal mines in 2015.

Radio shock-jock John Laws has also mocked Steve’s height, accusing him of having “Small Man Syndrome” back in 2017.

“He’s very small. Well, vertically very small,” John told Fitzy and Wippa on their radio show.

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