ITV Good Morning Britain fans dub Ed Balls ‘rude’ as he admits he’s never heard of Usher

Ed Balls has been blasted by Good Morning Britain viewers after he admitted he had no clue who pop legend Usher was. Usher, 45, has had a successful global career topping the charts over two decades.

He is one of the world’s most recognisable stars and on Sunday was the performer of the iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show, this year held in Las Vegas and watched by over 123 million viewers live.

While Usher, who follows in the footsteps of every notable pop act from Michael Jackson and Prince to Beyonce and Lady Gaga, to grace the Halftime stage, Ed, 56, seemed to be proud to declare that he’d never heard of him.

While hosting the morning show alongside Charlotte Hawkins, the entertainment section kicked off with the weekend’s biggest story – the Super Bowl show – with resident entertainment reporter Richard Arnold.

Richard told viewers that GMB was able to speak exclusively to RnB star Usher, following his performance on Sunday and proceeded to play a clip in which the star explained that he was getting ready for a new project and a new phase of his career.

“To be able to style the Super Bowl and be able to offer my artistic taste, it was really amazing,” he said. “This is the next chapter that I’m talking about, so I hope that you guys are ready to put your hammers down and get ready to skate.”

Skating played a major part in Usher’s show, but as Richard gushed over the recording artist, Ed appeared confused.

Responding to co-host Charlotte telling him to bust out the skates himself for a bit of fun, he said: “Who was that?” A stunned Richard explained that he was a big superstar and revealed that Usher had also married his long-term girlfriend Jennifer Goicoechea in a secret ceremony before the show.

But Ed shrugged the information off by saying: “Whoever he is, I wish him well,” as he turned his attention to other stories.

But viewers were not having it. One said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Ed you got told who Usher was yesterday! You do now know who he is – not a funny joke really; it’s just rude.”

Another said: “Of course, the fossil didn’t know! And his privilege told him he didn’t need to research even though the Super Bowl would obvs be a topic.”

A third added: “Ed Balls doesn’t know who Usher is, but knows every single person on Love Island?” Whilst another viewer said: “Ed Balls seems proud he doesn’t know who the legendary Usher is, like he’s above it but knows who the Love Island nonentities are. What an a**.”

Elsewhere on the show, Ed also spoke about receiving questions about accidentally kicking Susanna Reid in the back of the head. The incident took place during a live simulated flight segment last month and has been previously addressed by the pair.

On Wednesday, January 17, Ed and Susanna, 53, were live on Good Morning Britain and were debating aeroplane etiquette. However, the discussion erupted into chaos as the former decided to put his feet up on his co-star’s chair.

When swinging his legs up, Ed accidentally kicked the mum-of-three in the back of the head.

Luckily, Susanna soon admitted that she had “no lasting damage” from the kick but had felt “dizzy” for around 20 minutes. Following the conclusion of the ITV show, Ed took to social media and issued a public apology.

The former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer said on Tuesday’s show: “Things can go wrong on live TV.

“Everywhere I go people say, ‘Did you really kick [Susanna Reid] in the head?’ “I can’t get beyond it.”