Commander Steven Heap told the hearing his actions were an "amusing not sexual" act of "drunken buffoonery" and asked the court not to ruin his career over a "schoolboy prank."
The 48-year-old said he had been drinking and when he slapped his colleague's bum on the dancefloor, it was nothing more than a "prank."
Two GMB guests presented varying opinions on the matter, with a reality TV star Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace suggesting bum slapping doesn't constitute a sexual assault, while journalist Radhika Sanghani argued that it should be regarded as such.
Reactions to the discussion poured in online, where commentators expressed various points of view on whether bum slapping should be viewed as a form of sexual harassment.