Graham Norton said Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were "foolish" to accept an invitation to avoid the public queue to see the Queen lying in state.
The This Morning presenters were scrutinised when people believed they had "skipped the queue" at Westminster Hall. Members of the public were forced to endure waiting time of hours with the minimum stretching to an entire day in some instances.
Celebrities, television personalities and sporting stars were all spotted in the queue including David Beckham who waited for 12 hours to pay his respects. Holly and Phil however say they did not "jump" the queue but were instead given special permission to attend the hall in the interest of reporting.
READ MORE: Holly Willoughby sends message of support to fellow ITV star
According to Mirror Online, speaking on Radio 5 Live on Monday, Graham Norton said he too had been offered the opportunity to enter the hall without waiting in the public queue but he turned it down. He said Holly and Phil should have done the same.
Nihal Arthanayake said: "You do read the room, right? You’d be very good at that. Without question, you would go: 'What are the optics of this?"
Explaining his stance on the situation, Graham said: "Well, for instance, okay recently, Phil and Holly…. The Queue. So, as far as I’m concerned, they did nothing wrong. There was a two-tier system. You could queue jump.
"I got offered a queue jump ticket by a friend of mine – he’s an MP and he said “do you wanna come?” And I didn’t say yes – because I thought if anybody sees me I’ll get it in the neck.
"I suppose what Phil and Holly got wrong was they thought people wouldn’t care. I guess that that’s their crime. The actual queue jumping? They did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong. But foolish of them to not think that people would be annoyed."
Speaking on their daytime show on Tuesday, the duo issued a lengthy statement about the pictures of them at Westminster Hall.
"We were given official permission to access the hall, it was strictly for reporting on the event for millions of people in the UK who haven't been able to visit Westminster in person," Holly said in a pre-recorded voice over.
She added: "The rules were, that we would be quickly escorted around the edges to a platform at the back.
"In contrast, those paying respect stood on a carpeted area beside the coffin and were given time to pause. None of the broadcasters or journalists there took anyone's place in the queue and no one filed past the Queen."
Holly admitted they understood the backlash surrounding them being at the lying in state.
"We, of course, respected those rules. However, we realised it may have looked like something else and therefore totally understand the reaction.
"Please know we would never jump the queue," Holly concluded.
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