Good Morning Britain debated whether or not 'bottom slapping' is sexual assault. Yes, really

Good Morning Britain's topic of discussion was ‘Is Bottom Slapping Assault?’

The debate comes after Navy Commander Steven Heap was cleared of sexual assault when he was accused of slapping a female colleague’s bottom during a Christmas party. He had called it an "amusing not sexual [act of] drunken buffoonery".

A panel of five senior male officers had cleared him of two counts of sexual assault in just 57 minutes.

In the GMB segment, former Big Brother star Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace argued that it shouldn’t be classed as sexual assault, whereas journalist Radhika Sanghani argued that it should.

Horgan-Wallace said:

If a man slapped me on the bottom and I didn’t like it, I would slap him in the face. That’s what I’d do. If you don’t like it, deal with it head on.

Viewers took to Twitter to disagree: There shouldn’t have been such a debate to begin with, because touching a part of someone, male or female, deemed a sexual part of the body is sexual assault.

"Are they actually debating whether it’s OK to slap someone on the bum?" one Twitter user wrote

Some thought the opposite.

I think it depends how friendly you are tbh. I’m always slapping my friend’s bums ha ha oh no maybe they will have me done for assault now.

Susanna Reid had had to remind both women that they were live on TV before the watershed after they both dropped the a-bomb.

After some back-and-forth, it was Sanghani who shut the debate down with a simple analogy: "To me that is assault."

To me, the difference is touching someone’s bum is a sexual area. It’s considered a sexual area. So that’s when it becomes sexual assault.

I mean, for a lot of people I think it’s easier to visualise it in the workplace.

If your boss… if somebody - a junior… your boss - suddenly grabs your arse, I’m sorry but that’s definitely… [sexual assault].

Hear, hear.

ITV has been contacted for comment.

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