Rob Rinder calls out Daily Mail journalist for 'deeply stupid' comment about Black communities

Watch: Rob Rinder calls out Daily Mail editor for 'deeply stupid' comment

Rob Rinder has reprimanded Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce for making a "deeply stupid" comment about the links between gang violence and the Black community.

The journalist made his regular appearance on Good Morning Britain to discuss the daily news headlines and brought up the issue of race while talking about the death of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in a shooting in Liverpool.

Pierce said: "It is an issue in the Black community in many of our inner cities and it has to be addressed and people have to be not afraid to say so... I'm not saying in this specific case."

The identity of the shooter is currently unknown.

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Rinder told him: "No offence, but that's a deeply stupid thing to say."

Interrupting Pierce's attempts to defend his comment, Rinder continued: "I'm afraid it is. No, if I'm going to say it's stupid, I'm going to support it.

"You go to different parts of the community, it's different ethnic minorities, it's white people. There are gangs depending on whether you go to the North East, you know, where you want to talk about fathers not present... there's a whole range and a whole complexion."

The practising barrister went on: "Let me tell you, the cases I dealt with in Liverpool – Kevin Parle, Lucy Hargreaves, Daniel Breaks – those were not involved with people of colour, right? And those gangs are some of the most terrifying in the UK. It's a national issue regardless of the complexion of people."

TV presenter Marverine Cole, who was also in the studio as part of the discussion, said: "I take offence at 'the Black community' – we're not a monolith, alright? It's not just African people and Afro Caribbean heritage communities at all, by any stretch of the imagination."

Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel suffered a gunshot injury to the chest when a man chased by a gunman forced his way into her home in Liverpool at around 10pm on Monday 22 August.

She was taken in a critical condition to hospital, where she later died.

Her mother, Cheryl Korbel, 46, was shot in the wrist as she tried to close the door while Olivia stood behind her.

Criminals in the city are being urged to turn in a masked gunman.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told a press conference on Tuesday: “This is a shocking and appalling attack which will reverberate around our communities, and I want to take this opportunity again to appeal to anybody who knows who was responsible for this attack to please come forward and give us those names.

“We need to find all who are responsible for – not just the gunman, we need to find who supplied the weapon and who arranged this terrible incident.”

Riner is a qualified lawyer, who rose to fame as the star of reality courtroom show Judge Rinder in 2014.

The 44-year-old TV presenter competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 partnered with Oksana Platero.

He is a close friend of the actor Benedict Cumberbatch and was best man at his wedding.

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He began co-hosting Good Morning Britain earlier this year, as part of a rosta of rotating co-hosts since Piers Morgan quit the show.