Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley has come under fire once again as viewers criticised a segment in which the presenter talked about the late Olivia Newton-John. Grease star Olivia died aged 73 on Monday, August 8, surrounded by her friends and family, leading to an outpouring of tributes fronted by former co-worker John Travolta.
But as Richard paid tribute to Olivia on the ITV breakfast show, some watching at home were left less than impressed by his remarks. “I wish I’d met her, I wish I’d interviewed her - it never happened. I always regretted it actually, as the years went by,” Richard started off by saying, before going on to comment on an iconic 70s poster of Olivia, reports The Chronicle.
"She’s just looking at the camera, she’s backlit by sunshine, her hair’s down, she’s wearing a denim shirt,” Richard explained. “That poster was on the wall of a radio station I used to work in back in the 1970s and, I’m not exaggerating, it basically stopped traffic in the corridors.”
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The presenter went on: “It was up there for months and even after months, the guys would just stop and look at it, and just get lost in her beauty. I would have loved to have told her that.”
As guests appeared via video link on the show to share their own touching tributes to Olivia, including actress Jane Seymour and Channel 9 Australia entertainment editor Richard Wilkins, the presenter asked both of them if Olivia was aware of her beauty. The line of questioning coupled with Richard’s bizarre anecdote led to some viewers blasting him on Twitter.
“Richard asking if Olivia knew how beautiful she was. What a ridiculous question,” one person fumed.
“Does Madeley genuinely not know how crass he is, going on about [Olivia’s] beauty?” another asked. “Yes she was beautiful but she was so much more than that.” Others drew the inevitable comparisons to Alan Partridge. “Richard Madeley explaining how he and male colleagues used to just stare at a poster of Olivia Newton John is the most Partridge I’ve ever seen him,” one Twitter user wrote.
While another joked: “If I’m ever famous and I die, and Richard Madeley is still about, don’t let him chat about me please.”
It’s not the only time the GMB presenter has come under criticism for his interview skills lately - Richard was slammed by viewers just last week for a comment he made to England Lioness Chloe Kelly. He referred to the football star as Coco, explaining that it was the nickname he uses for his own daughter also called Chloe, leading to viewers branding the moment “inappropriate” and “cringe”.
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