After a petition calling for Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield to be axed from This Morning reached 75k signatures, the woman behind the campaign has said it’s “kind of destroying me”.
The Change.org petition was launched after the TV duo were accused of jumping the queue to see the Queen lying in state earlier this month.
Petition to axe Holly Willoughby and Phil ‘destroying’ its creator
Laura Harrison, who created the petition, alleged that Holly and Phil were “given privileges that deprived others” as thousands waited in the queue to pay their respects for up to 24 hours.
As of writing, the petition has surpassed over 76,000 signatures.
ITV responded to the claims and backed the duo, saying: “They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state.
“But instead were there in a professional capacity as part of the world’s media to report on the event.”
Holly and Phil also addressed the misunderstanding during an episode of This Morning.
They explained they were there for solely journalistic purposes to report on the event.
‘I want nothing more than for this topic to end’
However, in an update, the petition’s creator has said she is now taking a step back because it’s “kind of destroying me”.
The woman wrote an update on the page and explained: “I’ve asked ITV to deliver any responses relating to this to the public and not to me, as I won’t be following the news, or watching the programme, or sharing anything online, or through social media.
“I want nothing more than for this topic to end.”
The update ended with: “I want positivity, not hostility and negativity. The concerns raised by this have been shared with Ofcom and ITV, and that’s all I can do.”
This Morning viewers accuse show of ‘using’ Alison Hammond
It comes as This Morning viewers on Monday (September 26) accused the show of “using” Alison Hammond to distract from the “queue-jumping” scandal.
This Morning bosses decided to celebrate Alison’s two decades on the show by surprising her live on-air during Monday’s episode.
A video of the moment was also shared on the ITV show’s Twitter account.
She may have thought it was a normal Dosh day… but the surprise was on @AlisonHammond today!
Happy 20th anniversary Alison!#ThisMorning #HappyAnniversaryAlison pic.twitter.com/V0QHVUlWBX
— This Morning (@thismorning) September 26, 2022
However, while plenty of viewers were happy to see Alison being celebrated, others claimed there was an ulterior motive.
Some ITV viewers suggested the show was busy trying to distract them from Holly and Phil’s “queue-jumping” scandal.
“Just forget about our queue jumping skills – concentrate on the funny, please concentrate on the funny,” commented one sarcastic viewer.
A second fan said: “What can we do to take the focus of attention away from us? We’ll dedicate the whole show to Alison.”
“I wonder who came up with this bit of deflection #ThisMorning,” joked a third.
A fourth tweeted: “They’ve done this to try and distract us from these two [bleep]heads #thismorning.”
Read more: Decision made over future of This Morning presenters Holly and Phil as ITV boss breaks silence
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