Ant and Dec have apologised for a segment of Saturday Night Takeaway in which they impersonated people of other ethnicities using blackface and said they would not make such sketches today. The presenters darkened their skin and wore prosthetics during a segment in which they pranked famous faces while in disguise. They said they had requested ITV, which broadcasts the show, to remove the offending sketches from 2003 and 2004 from its streaming catch-up service. A statement on their Instagram and Twitter accounts said: “During past episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway we impersonated people of colour in the Undercover segment of the show. “We realise that this was wrong and want to say that we are sincerely sorry to everyone that we offended. “We purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today. “We had already taken steps to ensure footage was taken down and have again recently confirmed with ITV that these segments, and any other historical content that could cause offence, does not appear on either the ITV Hub or the Saturday Night Takeaway YouTube Channel.” The pair wore blackface in 2003 as they dressed up as two fictional Jamaican women, Patty and Bernice, to prank Emmerdale cast members. And in 2004 they dressed up as two Japanese girls, Suki and Keiko, using make-up and exaggerated accents. It comes after Little Britain was removed from iPlayer and The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen were removed from Netflix after all three came under fire because of the use of blackface in some sketches. Last week, the comedian Leigh Francis issued a tearful apology for portraying black celebrities on sketch show Bo’ Selecta. The recently launched service HBO Max has removed Gone With the Wind after criticism of the American civil war romance epic’s positive depiction of slavery, but confirmed it will eventually return to the service with a “discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions”. Black Lives Matter protests have taken place around the world following the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in the US after a police officer knelt on his neck, prompting greater scrutiny over the use of blackface in the media.