This Morning's Georgina Burnett has expressed regret after her "insensitive" April Fool's Day gag backfired, causing quite a stir on social media. The experienced presenter publicly apologised to her gobsmacked followers and delved into what inspired the prank that didn't quite hit the mark. The 46-year-old Aussie favourite arguably pushed the boundaries too far this time when she seemingly shared news of an unexpected third pregnancy on April Fools' Day, joining her daughter and son.
On Instagram, Georgina posted a monochrome image of herself cosied up at home, tenderly holding what appeared to be a baby bump. She captioned it with a concise "News!". While some fans were quick to offer their well wishes, thinking Georgina truly had a bun in the oven, the savvier ones spotted the date and held out for confirmation. Georgina coyly responded with winking emojis to those calling out the jest. However, not everyone took kindly to the Grand Designs Live presenter's attempt at humour. Followers swiftly took to the comments section to chastise her for making light of pregnancy, a subject often drenched in emotional complexities for many women.
One comment sternly reminded her: "This is deeply hurtful to the huge number of women suffering with infertility... You would do well to consider this before making 'jokes' about such sensitive topics in the future." Another bluntly dismissed the stunt as embarrassing: "As a grown adult you actually think this is funny? Embarrassing," while yet another emphasised their discontent with: "I'm sure you meant no offence but this is in incredibly poor taste," reports the Mirror.
As a result of the backlash, Georgina took the feedback on board and issued an apology, making it clear her intention was never to cause upset. She explained: "Yesterday I posted a picture of me holding a cat in a blanket as part of a lighthearted April Fool's joke, I was going to reveal my cat was becoming a teenager but some people thought my 'news' was that I was pregnant."
Acknowledging the joke was not funny and short-sighted, she went on: "It was never my intention to make a joke about pregnancy and I am very sorry if that's how it came across. I can see now that the photo was ill-judged and poorly thought through." The mum clarified that as someone who had struggled with fertility and who had loved ones in the same position, she would never have intended to mock the situation.
She wrote: "As a mum of two and having suffered infertility issues of my own, and had many friends go through the same, this would be the last thing I would make fun of and I'm horrified if this was taken the wrong way and I'm sorry if I have caused offence or hurt." Although comments were disabled, Georgina went ahead and published the original joke with pictures of her cat on his birthday and declaring "News... my first bundle of joy became a teenager today! Happy birthday Dexter - dreamies for tea!"
