GMA’s Amy Robach sorry for remark

NEW YORK — Good Morning America co-anchor Amy Robach has apologized for saying “coloured people” on Monday’s broadcast of the ABC program.

Her use of the term sparked criticism on social media. “Offensive,” tweeted one viewer. Another said Robach “gets a pass this time” but vowed to ditch GMA for a rival morning program if it happened again.

During a segment on diversity in Hollywood, Robach, who was substituting for Robin Roberts, noted recent criticism for casting white actors “in what one might assume should be a role reserved for coloured people.”

After the broadcast, Robach released a statement explaining she had meant to say “people of colour.”

She called the incident “a mistake” and “not at all a reflection of how I feel or speak in my everyday life.”

The words used to describe African-Americans have evolved over time from words such as Negro, coloured, Afro-American to the current black, African-American and people of colour, said Deborah E. McDowell, director of the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for AfricanAmerican and African Studies.