This Morning viewers have shared their disappointment on Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield as they failed to correct Sir Bob Geldof's error when he spoke about Sam Smith. The singer-songwriter and political activist joined the presenters live in the studio as he appeared on the ITV daytime show on Wednesday (February 22).
Sir Bob was on the show to remember his late the Boomtown Rats bandmate and childhood friend Garry Roberts who died in November, aged 72. The Irish rock group announced the news in a statement at the time which described Gary, a founding member of the iconic band, which formed in Dublin in 1975 with Sir Bob as frontman, as "the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are".
He also shared how the Boomtown Rats are paying tribute to him with their remastered single, ‘No Tomorrow Like Today.’ Sir Bob was also asked if he has any plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of 'Do They Know It’s Christmas' which became the fastest-selling single of all time, raising millions for charity in 1984.
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Also during the conversation, singer Sam Smith was brought up as they recalled re-recording of the hit song in 2014, re-titled Band Aid 30 Do They Know It's Christmas?, to help the fight against Ebola.
However, Bob referred to the Stay With Me and Unholy hitmaker as 'he' when Sam used they/them pronouns as they identify as non-binary. "Sam Smith, I remember at the microphone he had his eyes closed and he was singing away the song and I said, 'Sam, they're not the words'. And he goes, 'Oh yeah, sorry,' as we had rewritten the words for the Ebola crisis in West Africa."
The 71-year-old continued to share how Sam had continued to sing the wrong words, despite Sir Bob's comments, and recalled Sam saying: "Sorry, every year in school I had to sing the song."
But Sir Bob, who was not corrected for his misgendering blunder by hosts Holly and Phillip, came in for some criticism for his mistake on social media.
@hayleyw_journo tweeted: "Not Bob Geldof repeatedly misgendering Sam Smith on live telly and Holly and Phil not correcting him…" @ells_worthy replied: "Ugh. It's so easy not to do." But @petewo89 argued: "Probably was he/him when working with Bob. It's not like he's doing it maliciously." and @RachEvans_107 added: "Maybe Holly and Phil were told not to correct Bob Geldof on the misgendering of Sam Smith... It's rude yes but there may be reasoning behind it #ThisMorning."
Others were happy with Sir Bob's appearance on the show and his tribute to Gary. @LisaDominic said: "Sir Bob Geldof being honest about his bandmate who died is so genuine, to say he was angry and had his problems rather than the usual 'they were beautiful inside and out' or 'they lit up a room' #thismorning." @RStanleyM added: "Bob Geldof comes across really down to earth and a decent guy. He's went up in my estimations #ThisMorning."
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