EastEnders viewers angered after hearing Danny Dyer’s character use offensive slur

EastEnders viewers were very unimpressed to hear Danny Dyer use an offensive slur in last night's episode.

During a conversation with Shirley about an upcoming Italian night he's planning to hold at the Queen Vic, Mick Carter was heard to say:

"I’m talking about this eyetie night we’re meant to be having, you know, Johnny giving it all the ‘live like a native' spiel."

The word eyetie is an offensive term for Italian people, which emerged in the Second World War. And EastEnders viewers were very quick to pick up on the slur. https://twitter.com/LFitz3/status/818910435583950848 https://twitter.com/Tim_A_Roberts/status/818907146440019968 https://twitter.com/SoozUK/status/818906967909474307 https://twitter.com/MatthewV_ENG/status/818907661261541376 Today the BBC issued a statement saying:

“The character is well-known for using slang – or in this case an old-fashioned term that has fallen out of general use – but it was not aimed at anyone and never intended to offend.”