ITV's chief executive Carolyn McCall has given a public display of support to under fire presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, branding the backlash against them 'horrible' and claiming the hosts are the victims of 'misinformation'. The channel boss has also hit out at pizza firm Domino's for their online dig at the pair.
It's now been close to two weeks since Phillip and Holly were accused of 'jumping the queue' to get into Westminster Hall, where the Queen's body was lying in state at the time. The second they were clocked on the BBC live feed, angry Twitter users hit out the pair, given that members of the public and stars like David Beckham, had queued for over 12 hours to pay their respects.
As their actions sparked a social media storm, This Morning issued a statement refuting the allegations, saying that the hosts hadn't been given the same opportunity to pay their respects as those who'd lined up, explaining the they were there as 'members of the media. Days later Holly echoed those sentiments in a pre-recorded statement played out on the show, adding that she and Phillip 'would never jump a queue.'
READ MORE: This Morning's Holly Willoughby hit with 'regret' after chaotic start to show
And now, ITV chief exec Carolyn has given them her very public backing, whilst taking questions at Royal Television Society (RTS) annual convention in London.
When asked by one journalist what exactly Holly and Phillip did wrong, she replied: “Well, honestly, nothing. Honestly. They did have accreditation. Lots of people saying they didn’t. They were sent by ‘This Morning’ to do a piece for September 20th, which ran. They were to interview people inside and outside. They didn’t displace anyone in the queue."
She added: And actually, they’ve been very misrepresented and that’s why we made a statement – unusually we made a statement to say all of those things – but it does show you how kinds of things spread and how misinformation just spreads and it is really horrible for them.”
Carolyn then focused in on what Domino's Pizza posted on their social media accounts in light of the accusations faced by Phillip and Holly. Taking to Twitter, the world famous brand wrote: "anyone waiting on their pizza, we’ve just received an order from Holly and Phil."
Failing to see the funny side, Carolyn said ITV had spoken with Domino's, commenting: "They thought that was really funny because they didn’t realize. We just said to them ‘What are you doing?’ because we work with Domino’s, right
"They didn’t think of the impact that would have on how people would pick that up; I think that’s what happens with these things – they did not do anything wrong. They were with loads of other broadcasters, many of whom who you know and they were with lots of press journalists, right.”
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