Eamonn Holmes ‘ruined’ Phillip Schofield’s coming out with ‘sleazy’ joke about Holly Willoughby in a hot tub
Eamonn Holmes has accused ITV executives of knowing about Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male employee. (ITV)
This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes was criticised after responding to Phillip Schofield coming out as gay with a poor attempt at humour.
Phillip Schofield appeared on This Morning shortly after announcing he is gay in a heartfelt Instagram post for an emotional interview with his co-host Holly Willoughby.
Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, who present the show on Fridays, joined the pair on the sofa and shared a few words of support.
Holmes then attempted to lighten the mood with an ill-considered joke.
“I’m disappointed in a couple of ways,” he said.
“First of all I thought you were going to come in and announce you had resigned and I could have your job, but that wasn’t to be.
“And the second thing, there is this great imponderable in life that has always bothered me, I thought how come he can sit in a hot tub with Holly Willoughby and [your wife] Steph doesn’t have a problem and [Willoughby’s husband] Dan doesn’t have a problem.”
Schofield shrugged off the joke, laughing: “Holly’s the sister I never had.” But viewers at home were far from impressed.
But honestly Eamonn, that was disgusting. Using his moment to be a creep about “sitting in a hot tub with Holly”, and how now he knows why his wife was okay with it. You ruined this sweet moment by turning it into something sleazy. You should be ashamed. #ThisMorning
— ⧗ vee-money ⧗ (@dametokillfor) February 7, 2020
Eamon Holmes comments about Phillip Scofield being in a hottub with Holly Willoughby, is embarrassingly unhelpful ??♂️
— Archie Ratcliffe (@RatcliffeAr) February 7, 2020
Good to see big Eamonn Holmes treating Philip Schofield coming out with the sensitivity it deserves by saying that he wondered why Philip was allowed in a hot tub with Holly
— STILL No1 For Feminism. And Horse Racing (@JoeStephenson96) February 7, 2020
Schofield came out after years of grappling with his sexuality, thanking his wife of 27 years and his two daughters for their “strength and support”.
“You never know what’s going on in someone’s seemingly perfect life, what issues they are struggling with, or the state of their wellbeing,” he wrote on Instagram.
“And so you won’t know what has been consuming me for the last few years.”
Schofield’s bravery was widely applauded online, with LGBT+ celebrities including John Barrowman and Ian ‘H’ Watkins welcoming him to the community.
Elsewhere The Daily Mirror was forced to apologise after describing the presenter’s announcement as “bizarre”.
