Ray Martin uses offensive racial slur during live Royal Wedding coverage

Ray Martin is a five-time Gold Logie winning Australian television journalist and entertainment personality. Photo / Getty Images

While the world was bombarded with Royal Wedding coverage last Saturday, a horrifying faux pas by veteran broadcaster Ray Martin on the SBS live coverage almost went unnoticed.

During a discussion with co-hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey about how Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle signifies a shift in racial attitudes by the British royal family, Martin used the 'n-word' twice.

He repeated the racial slur while telling a historical anecdote about Prince Philip, known for making racist remarks and other inappropriate comments, using such language while touring Nigeria, reports news.com.au.

The comments were removed from the SBS On Demand recorded version of the coverage, following an "editorial judgment", according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Ray Martin just dropped the N bomb on national television. That’s it, I’m out, goodnight.

— warwickfilm (@warwickfilm) May 19, 2018

But it didn't get past some live viewers, who took to Twitter to express their shock.

The Gold Logie award-winning presenter also reportedly called the outstanding young cellist a "black boy".

Myf looks panicked trying to steer the bus back on course after Ray Martin drops the n-bomb twice on #sbsroyalwedding

— Dylan Levey (@DylanJLevey) May 19, 2018

In a statement provided to the Sydney Morning Herald, an SBS spokeswoman said the discussion about Prince Philip's use of the word "highlighted the positive cultural changes that have occurred, with the commentary that immediately followed from both presenters indicating that these terms are unacceptable."

She added that the broadcaster had not received any formal complaints, and defended Martin's use of the term as presented "within its reported historical context".