Dame Prue Leith has insisted Great British Bake Off did not mean to cause offence with its controversial Mexican-themed week, which was accused of cultural appropriation.
The Channel 4 series ignited global backlash with an episode featuring challenges inspired by the food of the Central American country, with the contestants tasked with making sweet bread pan dulce, tacos, and milk-soaked tres leches cake.
The episode began with presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas dressed in sombreros and colourful ponchos, making a ‘distasteful’ joke that many said perpetuated harmful stereotypes.
Fielding quipped that he did not feel they should make Mexican jokes ‘because people will get upset’, with Lucas adding: ‘What, not even Juan?’
During an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Dame Prue said: ‘There would have been absolutely no intention to offend.