Good Morning Britain viewers were left gobsmacked this morning as the studio descended into chaos.
Things got heated between guests Ayesha Hazarika and Quentin Letts during a discussion about Prince Andrew ’s legal battle with accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard hosted the debate with ex-Labour advisor Ayesha Hazarika and The Times journalist Quentin Letts - and the pair appeared to clash over the allegations.
The fiery argument comes as Prince Andrew's legal team filed court documents in New York as part of a sex case brought against him by 38-year-old mum-of-three Giuffre, according to The Mirror.
Despite the allegations, the 61-year-old Duke has denied them all and the court documents state he “demands a trial by jury”.
Ayesha called Quentin “out of touch” as he disputed the significance of the ongoing Prince Andrew scandal to public life.
Ayesha described the claims made by Giuffre - which include saying billionaire Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to have sex with the Duke in London when she was 17 - as “pretty serious allegations of sexual abuse”.
She said to Quentin: “You’re batting it off saying you don’t think it's that serious?”
Quentin stayed firm and said: “I think there's a hyperbolised scandal around it.”
Ayesha replied: “You don’t think it's serious that he was involved with one of the most prolific paedophiles of our generation?”
Quentin said no and then was cut off in his response as Ayesha exclaimed: “So you don’t think Jeffrey Epstein was a prolific paedophile?”
Quentin replied: “I do think that - ", when Ayesha interrupted saying: “Prince Andrew was friends with him and hanging out with him.”
Quentin exclaimed: “Ayesha, let me say something. For goodness sake, you’re screaming at me.”
He went on: “I think what you’re failing to prove here is that there is a connection between Prince Andrew and what that man was getting up to.”
Ayesha said: “They were friends. They were hanging out," and Quentin replied, saying: “They were acquaintances.”
ITV host Kate Garraway weighed in on the spat, saying: “We haven’t had the case yet, have we? So there is no proven connection and Prince Andrew denies it.
“I think what Ayesha is reacting to is that you seem to think the whole issue wasn’t important and didn’t have impact on the British people."
Co-host Ben said: “It’s on the front page of most of the newspapers today, Quentin. The editors of these newspapers feel it's big enough news and important enough for them to lead on their newspapers.”
Quentin quipped: “It’s why I would make a terrible editor of a newspaper. The story bores me rigid.”
Kate replied: “Is that because you’re not particularly concerned about the image of the royal family?”
Quentin replied saying “not madly”, saying he’s a monarchist, but not a “gushing royalist”.
Ayesha asked in response: “And you don;’t feel at all bothered about all the women and the girls that have been abused by Jeffrey Epstein and many other powerful men?”
Quentin concluded: “I think some of the claims have been overwritten.”
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