Controversies
In 1998, in his review published in the Daily Mirror, Wright referred to the play The Dead Monkey featuring David Soul as "without doubt the worst West End show I have ever seen", despite not having seen it. Wright also made several other inaccurate claims about the play in his article. In 2001, Soul won £20,000 in a libel case against Wright and the Daily Mirror, stating that Wright was "using the play as an excuse to attack me personally".
In October 2011, Wright caused a controversy when he asked male viewers of The Wright Stuff if they would have sexual intercourse with Amanda Knox, who had just been acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher. Wright introduced a debate on Knox's future with an on-screen caption headed "Foxy Knoxy: Would Ya?" and told viewers: "She's entirely innocent. She's also undeniably fit and loves wild sex. Or did. So if you were a guy who'd met her in a bar and she invited you back to hers, would you go?" Wright apologised for the segment the following day, stating: "While I'm not going to apologise for discussing Amanda Knox's future after all the terrible things the media has said about her these past four years, I do want to say sorry for the way I framed the debate. The on-screen title was wrong, no doubt about it. I only wish all those mouthing off about it on Twitter had seen the whole 20-minute debate and not just reacted to the 10-second introduction. But nevertheless, I am sorry."
In December 2011, Wright made a joke during a discussion on his show of the murder of Scottish teenager Liam Aitchison, resulting in more than 2,000 viewer complaints and an investigation by Ofcom. This edition of The Wright Stuff resulted in more complaints being made to Ofcom than any other programme in 2011. Wright's subsequent on-air apology: ("'I know that some of you have been upset by some comments... and I would like to apologise if that was the case") was followed by news that he had personally written to the family of the murder victim by way of further apology.
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