Comedian defends controversial cartoon mocking Prince George in Good Morning Britain debate: ‘Excuse me while I find a violin’

Good Morning Britain got tense today as guest Leo Kearse suggested stealing Prince George’s lunch money would be a ‘good idea’ during a heated debate about HBO’s new cartoon The Prince.

Some people have already branded the show ‘inappropriate’ and ‘disrespectful’ following the release of the trailer, however comedian Leo argued the people behind it aren’t doing anything wrong.

‘If this is a future head of state, somebody who is born into the royal family, then it’s not really punching down to mock him,’ he said. ‘Also, he’s not going to see the cartoon, it’s for adults. He’s eight-years-old.’

Presenters Charlotte Hawkins and Alex Beresford argued that Prince George will be made aware of the programme by his peers in the playground.

Making light of the situation, Leo fired back: ‘He’s going to hear about it at his £50,000 a year school? Excuse me while I find a little Stradivarius (violin) to play for this kid born into huge privilege.

‘It’s not bullying, bullying would be taking his dinner money off him, which is actually a great idea because he probably gets £500 for his lunch.’

Prince George is mocked in HBO’s The Prince (Picture: HBO/AP)

Luckily, fellow guest, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu was on hand to defend Prince George.

‘I respectfully disagree with Leo, Let’s understand the bottom line, children are off-limits,’ she retorted.

‘Creating a parody to poke fun at an eight-year-old is not funny. It’s uncalled for and goes against our collective sense of responsibility.’

Viewers largely sided with Shola and said it was ‘wrong’ for The Prince to mock Prince George.

‘Personally, I think it’s wrong to make fun out of children,’ wrote one. ‘Imagine if it was Archie, all hell would break loose.’

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‘He is a child, teasing, taking the mickey, call it what you want, it’s wrong,’ another added. ‘As a mum, if someone did that to my young child, I would go ballistic.’

The Prince is produced by 20th Television Animation, with all 12 episodes being made available to watch on HBO Max.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.

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