Loose Women host Andrea McLean was forced to issue an apology on Thursday’s show after the panel appeared to joke about guns.
Andrea and her co-stars were talking to X Factor star Matt Terry about a frightening incident where he was confronted by armed police in the US.
But minutes after laughing about the anecdote, Andrea issued an apology on behalf of the show, telling viewers: ‘We’re in no way making light of the fact that there are guns in America.’
Apology: Loose Women host Andrea McLean was forced to issue an apology on Thursday’s show after the panel appeared to joke about guns
The Loose Women episode aired the day after Nikolas Cruz shot 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday.
Matt, who won the 2016 series of The X Factor, told the Loose Women that he was met by armed police when the alarm went off at his US studio recently.
‘I was writing for my album and they’re really late there with their studio sessions, I put in the code, the alarms went off and there were sirens,’ he explained.
‘Police came round the corner, and held their guns at me. They held me at gunpoint and I shouted out, “I’m from London” – I don’t know why, it was the first thing to come into my head.’
Held at gunpoint: Andrea and her co-stars were talking to X Factor star Matt Terry about a frightening incident where he was confronted by armed police in the US
‘It was very scary. One finger on the trigger and it could have been bang – what if a bee had stung them and they shot me?’ he joked.
As Coleen Nolan told Matt ‘that would be very very bad luck,’ the group started laughing.
Matt added: ‘I was thinking I’m going to look so cool when I come back and talk about this.;
Minutes later though Andrea issued an apology to camera, saying: ‘We’re in no way making light of the fact that there are guns in America.’
Matt also used his time on Loose Women to speak about being body shamed for his weight when he returned to the X Factor last autumn for a performance.
The 24-year-old singer stripped down to just a shirt and pants in a brief Instagram video after his performance, before defending his weight in a lengthy Instagram post.
‘I went on X Factor, it was like going back to school and it was such a great performance and I was over the moon but then I went on Twitter and I saw my fans defending me,’ he explained on Loose Women.
‘And I thought I’m not having this. I’ve had the best night of my life and you’re not taking it away from me.’
‘I stripped down to my pants and said this is me. Women go through this every day. no matter what you’ve done, with all the good, people always focus on the negative.