TV host accused of racism after 'good on her' comment to fair-skinned twin in resurfaced video

A resurfaced video of an Australian television host making a "racist" remark when interviewing a set of twins – one of whom is black, and the other white – has resurfaced in light of Black Lives Matter protests across the world after the death of George Floyd.

In 2015, Samantha Armytage of Channel 7's Sunrise show was introducing British twins Lucy and Maria Alymer – who have mixed-race parents – before a planned interview.

She said:

Maria has taken after her half-Jamaican mum, with dark skin and brown eyes, and curly, dark hair; but Lucy got her dad's fair skin - good on her - along with straight, red hair and blue eyes.

Viewers at the time were outraged at Armytage's "good on her" quip, claiming it was "inappropriate", "offensive" and "racist".

The resurfaced video now has more than 80,000 likes on Twitter and over 25,000 retweets, with many calling it out:

At the time, it also sparked a Change.org petition, which stated:

This comment segregates sisters by favoritism based on skin colour and gives the impression that Lucy is better or luckier for being fair skinned or as if Samantha can relate more to her solely because she is fair skinned which is by definition, racist.

In a statement to News Corp Australia, Armytage said in 2015:

I would be mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist. It’s not in my nature. To anyone who I might have offended, I’m sorry.

Meanwhile, Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell added at the time:

Sam has always admitted that her own fair complexion was a disadvantage in the Australian environment. We apologise if anyone misunderstood or if they were offended.

Samantha Armytage is yet to publicly comment on the resurfaced video.