Former This Morning host Phillip Schofield courted controversy back in September after he and Holly were accused of “queue-jumping”.
It’s now emerged that Phillip warned ITV about the backlash – but was ignored by the broadcaster at the time…
This Morning host Phillip Schofield warned ITV about queue-gate backlash
Back in September, Holly and Phillip were spotted seemingly jumping the queue to see the Queen lying in state.
Their “queue-jumping” sparked backlash – with Brits furious that they hadn’t queued up with everyone else. ITV later clarified that they had been in the media queue – meaning they were essentially fast-tracked to see the Queen lying in state.
However, it’s since been reported that Phillip did try and warn ITV there would be backlash over them “skipping the queue”. However, the broadcaster reportedly ignored his fears.
The former star is believed to have emailed This Morning bosses expressing fears that the images of him and Holly in the queue would spark backlash. However, he was reportedly told there was “nothing to worry about”.
ITV ignored This Morning star Phillip Schofield
However, there was certainly something to worry about, as 80,000 people signed a petition calling for Holly and Phil to be sacked from This Morning.
Holly issued a statement on This Morning apologising for the incident. However, Phillip wasn’t happy, according to a source.
“It played out exactly as Phil feared. He felt he and Holly had been thrown under a bus,” a source told The Sun.
“This is why he didn’t want to apologise on air though and he was livid when Holly agreed to issue a statement on behalf of them both,” they then said.
“In effect, this was the real beginning of the end of their friendship — and the turning point. It was an appalling spell for them both and, to be fair, much of the backlash was deeply unfair,” they then added.
ED! has contacted ITV for comment.
Eamonn Holmes slams Phillip
In other Phillip-related news, the former This Morning host was slammed by Eamonn Holmes in a bombshell interview last night (Monday, May 29).
In the interview, which aired on GB News, Eamonn accused Phillip of being “deluded” with regard to his comments about there being no “toxicity” on This Morning.
“This nonsense that he wrote today about toxicity, about how [This Morning] is a happy place or whatever, holy God, what planet does this man live on?” he fumed. “He created an atmosphere where people hated him,” he then added.
Eamonn then added: “People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, didn’t know anybody’s name. Holly [Willoughby] doesn’t know people’s names either. This is legendary within the production team, how distant they are, and how they just don’t care.”
Read more: Phillip Schofield’s most controversial This Morning moments
This Morning airs on weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
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