David Walliams was booed by the National Television Awards crowd after making a quip about Caroline Flack during the show.
The former Love Island presenter is currently awaiting trial after being charged with assaulting her boyfriend last month.
Having stepped down from her TV roles, Caroline was the butt of one of NTAs host David’s jokes after Emmerdale was crowned the winner of Best Serial Drama.
After he thanked Joel Dommett, who appeared on stage with Hedgehog from The Masked Singer to present the award, David said: “So nice to see Caroline Flack back on TV as well.”
It was somewhat unclear whether David was referencing Hedgehog or indeed a clip from Emmerdale that was played as the nominations were read out, which featured a fight.
Either way, the remark was met with a frosty reception from the audience, with boos audibly heard.
David’s joke was also negatively received online – most notably from one of his critics, Piers Morgan, who branded the comment “nasty”.
Caroline was arrested charged with assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December, with a court later hearing that she allegedly hit him over the head with a lamp as he slept at her north London home.
She has entered a not guilty plea and will face trial on 4 March.
While Caroline previously revealed she had been advised to stay off social media as she awaits trial, she sent some good luck wishes to the Love Island team ahead of the ceremony.
Posting on her Instagram Story, she wrote: “Good luck to all the team and cast at tonight’s NTAs… it’s such a fun night… cmon Love Island.”
The ITV2 reality show was nominated for Best Challenge Show, but lost out to The Great British Bake Off.
Caroline has been replaced by Laura Whitmore for the current series of Love Island, and previously broke her social media silence to wish her well ahead of the show’s launch earlier this month.
