ITV This Morning boss Martin Frizell "made a mistake" in his comments after Phillip Schofield's dramatic exit from the popular daytime programme.
Mr Frizell was approached by Sky News on Monday, June 5, ahead of Holly Willoughby's return to the show for the first time since her former co-host quit. When asked if there is a "toxic" work environment at This Morning, Mr Frizell told the reporter: "I'll tell you what's toxic and I've always found it toxic.
"Aubergine. Do you like aubergine? Do you? Do you like aubergine because I don't like aubergine. It's just a personal thing."
READ MORE: ITV boss confirms when she first knew about Phillip Schofield affair
Dame Carolyn McCall was questioned about the show by MP John Nicolson at a Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing on Wednesday. The ITV boss said: "I think Martin has made a mistake, I think he knows he made a mistake, I don't think he intended to say that.
"Kevin (Lygo, ITV director) has spoken to him, I don't believe anything Martin said in the heat of the moment is reflective of our culture. It was a foolish comment; an ill-advised comment, I absolutely agree."
Dame Carolyn also told MPs the "imbalance of power, the imbalance of dynamics" made the relationship Mr Schofield had with a This Morning colleague "deeply inappropriate", and ITV would have taken action, but no evidence of the relationship appeared during on-going reviews.
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