GB News has faced widespread criticism after a panellist on its late show suggested the UK preemptively castrate anyone seeking asylum in the country. The comments aired on The Late Show Live, hosted by Ben Leo, and came from Hilary Fordwich, a businessperson and media commentator.
During a discussion about migration, Fordwich said she believed there were too many pull factors attracting refugees to the UK, and suggested that castrating asylum seekers would deter people from settling there.
Fordwich's remarks spark outrage
'I've said this before,' she explained. 'Why on Earth do we have the pull factors, and we need to have more deterrents? Actually, given the precedents of a lot of these men and what they've done in our nation, what if instead of the pull factors, what if we were to say that anyone seeking asylum needs to be castrated due to all the rapes that are being committed? That certainly would be a mass deterrent.'
Leo asked if she meant all asylum seekers, to which she replied: 'Yes, because that's a deterrent.' When Leo pointed out that not every asylum seeker is a sex offender, she admitted that was true but explained, 'If you did something like that, they certainly would not be coming.'
Panel reaction and online backlash
'That sounds a bit bonkers,' replied Leo. 'I'm sorry, I love you, but you can't preemptively castrate asylum seekers.' Undeterred, Fordwich questioned: 'Why not?' The panel then sat in stunned, awkward silence, and Leo attempted to throw to Matthew Stadlen, who refused to entertain the conversation. 'I'm sorry,' he began. 'I'll leave that to you, Ben. I've never seen you shocked by something someone on your 'side of the argument' has said. I have nothing to say.'
At this point, Leo claimed that he believed Fordwich was 'joking around'. Once off the show, however, Stadlen shared a post on X where he branded Fordwich's comments 'a contender for the most shocking and revolting comment ever expressed on British television'. That tweet has now been liked more than 2,000 times on X, where people are criticising Fordwich and GB News.
Calls for Ofcom investigation
Political commentator Don McGowan wrote: 'Ben Leo immediately realised that Ofcom will be investigating this, and panicked. A contender for the most shocking and revolting comment ever expressed on British television pic.twitter.com/UYaKrbkVNt— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) September 25, 2026. GB News strive for controversial views to attract their audience, but Hilary Fordwich [no, me either] was so unbelievably out of line, she should be removed from broadcast line-ups forever.'
'If Ben Leo is lost for words, you know just how bad the comments was (sic),' added @deanbegley1. 'When GB News no longer exists, we will wonder how it got away with so much for so long.' While @David__Osland aded: 'Only GB News would host a commentator who thinks we need to defend British values by the mandatory mass castration of tens of thousands of people accused of no offence.' A number of people also decided to tag Ofcom in their tweets, demanding an investigation into Fordwich's remarks. Metro has contacted GB News and Ms Fordwich for comment.
