Overview
- During last Tuesday's ITV2 Unpacked, Joel Dommett joked about 'shanking' over sweets, prompting Declan Donnelly to say he had overstepped the mark and an immediate on-air apology.
- Dommett later issued a statement saying he regretted his wording, reiterated his live apology, and insisted he would never make light of knife crime.
- ITV apologized to viewers, describing the wording as an unfortunate choice that Dommett recognized and addressed in the moment.
- Ben Kinsella Trust CEO Patrick Green urged greater care with language, warning that such slang normalizes knife crime and undermines its seriousness.
- Bereaved father Martin Cosser condemned the comment as reckless, while some viewers on social media renewed calls to cancel the Unpacked spin-off.