Phillip Schofield steps down from ITV after affair with "much younger male"

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120652318#Comment_120652318

That clip backs up what Holly was saying. She was lied to. Back to the drawing board with you.

Oscar_Madison

My god he’s incredibly deluded -if he thinks there’s “just a few” people

“Phillip Schofield has slammed 'a handful of people' with 'persistently loud voices' in a statement days after leaving This Morning - and refuted claims of a 'toxic' culture.”

“I hope you have noticed that it's the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.”

What does he think such statements will do for him? The public now hate him- his career is in the dumpster fast making its way to the dump- even Channel 5 won’t touch him. No company who value profit and their reputation will ever sponsor a show with him as presenter.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12135681/Phillip-Schofield-issues-statement-loud-voices-days-quitting-Morning.html

cap.in.hand.

I see 'this morning' main sponsor will not be renewing it's sponsorship when and if it returns in the autumn after its summer break.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120652351#Comment_120652351

I’ve seen a show reel on YouTube produced by the person in question, in 2020. It’s short clips of interviews with PS and others and behind the scenes look at This Morning studios. He would have been about 24 at that stage - he actually appears like a lovely chap- in fact it’s he that should be put forward to present This Morning- a radical view I know but it would sort a lot of issues. I do hope he’s coping well as he’s done nothing wrong except get caught up in this whole mess.

valoren

The reality is that money talks and if the money walks then the show will end and people will lose their jobs here. The most recent statement from Schofield about saying the show is a family is him being magnanimous. He is the hero trying to save the show but he is, at the same time, the victim from the people with the loudest voices having the audacity to criticize him and his behavior, behavior which is actually what is threatening the show with closure. The delusion from him admitting he lied multiple times but then expecting to be believed when he states that it wasn’t a toxic environment.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653157#Comment_120653157

I watched the opening clip from the show and Christ almighty it was hard to see the two presenters bullshit about how the show is a happy one to work on. I felt very sorry for them having to carry on after the **** show phillip Schofield has left that show in. He’s an admitted lier so anything he says is tainted.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653178#Comment_120653178

At least 6 years of lying - the person in question was 18 in 2014 when pictured with Philip and Holly in This Morning studio so I’m being quite generous here assuming the relationship could have started aged 20 and a year after he started work on This Morning considering Philips statement said

“That relationship was unwise, but not illegal.”

Not sure why this is any kind of news anyway. A closeted gay man had secret affairs when married to a woman.

strange to me lying to his wife and family about being gay was a non issue by comparison to having affairs?

they’re both as bad as each other surely?

Calling him a pedophile or similar is just sad also. So what your man was younger than him. They were both adults, grow up honestly.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653449#Comment_120653449

I honestly can not see how this has caused so much outrage. Seems a strange mix of cancel culture and intense pearl clutching.

Was there this much outrage when Ant could have killed a young family píssed off his head?

If it was Holly they would be all congratulating the young man.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653449#Comment_120653449

I think the issue is not that black and white.

PS has built his whole career on being a family man, good clean living , purer that pure.

Everything he hosts is geared towards family audiences.

Pretty much every gay person has figured out that they are gay by the time they hit their 20's .....so him suddenly turning around in his 50's saying he's gay is a bit of a stretch. Now on that point....that really is between him and his wife and family and no one else's business. .....however the general consensus is he only came out as some one had something on him.....so how many years has this purer than pure image been a total sham....he's an adulterer, so the whole wholesome family man is an act.

That said, if he started stepping out with the likes of , I don't know Stephen fry (if he wasn't married) or someone else of the same generation no one would bat an eyelid. Again however, he is linked to an extremely younger guy, one of whom he was in a position of power. So again the purer than pure image is getting extremely tarnished.

Not only that, the majority of us have a clause in our contract that states " do not bring company name into disrepute" I think we can all agree that he has most certainly done that! So you can see why his employers are less than happy and why everyone who worked with him is running to the hills as they don't want to be guilty by association.

So it's not really as simple as "man had an affair"

I do think if it was the likes of Russell Brand this wouldn't really be a story as Russells whole persona is completely out there, so you kinda expect it.

However PS has cultivated a whole sham of a persona and could be fairly sanctimonious, so I do think alot of people are relishing his quite spectacular fall from grace.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120652379#Comment_120652379

I find it extremely unlikely that Holly was not aware of this relationship. Doesn't seem possible. Particularly if the story about the young man declaring his live for Phil in front of a large crowd at an awards ceremony is true.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653674#Comment_120653674

Don’t think it really matters now anyway- she’ll be gone as the show will be gone - it will be interesting what roles she gets in the future- if working for a commercial TV station it wouldn’t be at all certain she’d get anything right now - BBC might also avoid her- probably not fair but there’s too much blaaaa going on right now for want of a better word and advertisers like their family show hosts clean as a whistle

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653545#Comment_120653545

Going out with someone from the time they were 13 certainly didn't hurt Bill Wyman career wise or financially unless you count when they eventually divorced. I don't know anyone who is a rolling stones fan who suddenly stopped being a fan once the news broke.

I don't have a TV so didn't know who PS was until the news about him coming out broke, and hadn't heard of him again before this story.

Personally I'll wait and see what comes out of this, if I even bother to follow it. But at the moment feel the same as I do about one of the neighbours 17yr old sons moving in with a woman in her 30s, they are making a big mistake.

@Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653642#Comment_120653642

No I get that what I am saying is I do not understand why this is news because surely to Christ anyone could’ve put 2+2 together and figured a guy who was married to someone for years, being gay as they are, did not have any sexual encounters (or any encounters) with other men in that time?

Just seems altogether a bit silly. “TV man pretended to be good man but he’s actually a bit of a bastard” it’s very overplayed I guess.

But as @Boggles said and they are dead right, if it was holly who had sex with the young fella there would be a choir of niiiiiiiice rather than outrage.

I suspect (and it’s just my suspicion) the outrage is largely because he is gay.

valoren

People are surprised that this is getting coverage? Consider all the flak they copped for the egregious crime of *gulp* jumping the queue after the Queen died. Of course this would create headlines not to mention speculation. The allegations now are also that it was a toxic working environment (akin to the Ellen DeGeneres show) as well. It is also a show which covers the daily news/papers but the show itself is in the news but they don’t mention that elephant in the room which is insulting. The show must go on attitude seems to be akin to that meme of the dog sitting at a table in a burning room saying “This is fine”.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653545#Comment_120653545

It’s more soap-opera than outrage- these events are better than Eastenders or Coronation St because they’re real - besides people have been baying for blood since the Roman times.

Albatross anyone?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653545#Comment_120653545

exactly

its like that South Park skit where the kindergarten teacher is having sex with the kid but it’s ok because it’s a woman and she’s attractive

but a man (and especially a gay one) makes it wrong, oh very wrong indeed.

”Ya know what actually? I think he’s a pedo. Yeah, that’s what I think. He must be sure. He’s gay isn’t he? Sure all them gays are pedos.”

That’s effectively what this outrage comes across to me as.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653760#Comment_120653760

I honestly don't think it's to do with him being gay tbh.

I think it's the lies and cover ups that are the issue.

Take for example JFK he had numerous high profile affairs no issues. Then in contrast Clinton categorically denied having "sexual relations with that woman" out pops a semen stained dress....well actually....had he come clean at the beginning would his presidency have survived...who knows...it was "only" a BJ but he was a person in power over an intern and barefaced lied about it.

The general public don't like being lied to.

So again PS having and affair coming out as gay I don't think anyone would have cared, but for the fact that he was forced to come out...he was quite happy lying to the general public (it could be argued that it wasn't the publics business anyway) But that was strike one.

Then you have the Queen fiasco skipping the queue.....oh look he thinks he's better than us....Strike 2!

Then it transpires the person he was having the affair with was extremely young* ....Strike 3!

*Now I'll be honest the age gap doesn't overly bother me, as if Tom Selleck (probably same age gap) came to me when I was in my 20's I'd be riding him like shergar , position of power or not.

However the optics here really don't look great especially in today's post Harvey Weinstein climate.

I also do think if holly had an affair and lied about it and was subsequently caught out she'd be cancelled too. It's the barefaced lying that gets up people's noses.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653777#Comment_120653777

While I don’t agree with “all gays are pedos “ or any variation of that, and I also don’t agree with calling PS that term that some posters have done here on the thread, there’s a huge age difference between the two both now obviously but especially when the relationship was presumed to have commenced.

The person in question knew PS at age 15- he was working for Phil aged 18 ir 18. We don’t know when the relationship started but indications are it’s around this time or just before -As Phil said, “it’s not illegal”- and he’s right- but I think people have a right to call. PS a creep- and while I’ve reported posts calling him that other word above, , I can also understand why some people might jump to that conclusion- if you’re going to have a relationship with someone just over or a couple of years over the age of consent while you’re in your 50s, don’t come crying when some members of the public think you’re a creep or worse.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653760#Comment_120653760

It's not just "other men", in this case it is specifically to do with his relationship with Matthew McGreevy. It's someone he was instrumental in getting hired, appears to have in a position of authority over - witness how McGreevy's career was boosted by Schofield, then shunted aside and now he is out of that business altogether it appears.

Someone he made contact with over social media when they were 15, following up contact Schofield had through his role as patron of theatre group the other party was a member of. They were member of that group since they were 12, Schofield is a patron of it.

You don't think that is "news" in the MeToo era even if Schofield's affair was with a young woman???

You don't seem to be engaging with this aspect to it at all - allowing you to keep your suspicions unexamined. You are arguing with a strawman - oh he had an affair with a much younger guy, ignoring the history with this particular guy.

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653777#Comment_120653777

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653545#Comment_120653545

I take it you two missed the bit about the potential grooming considering his access to the child from a very young age?

The 15 years of age number is due to him following him on twitter when he was 15, its not definitely the start of when PS was in contact with the child.

Curse These Metal Hands

Extremely creepy, if nothing else, to become involved with someone that you've known since they were underage. Especially if you were giving them career advice. Classic case of grooming as far as I can see.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653945#Comment_120653945

Take for example JFK he had numerous high profile affairs no issues. Then in contrast Clinton categorically denied having "sexual relations with that woman" out pops a semen stained dress....well actually....had he come clean at the beginning would his presidency have survived...who knows...it was "only" a BJ but he was a person in power over an intern and barefaced lied about it.

The general public don't like being lied to.

After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point at 73% approval. He finished with a Gallup poll approval rating of 65%, higher than that of every other departing president measured since Harry Truman.

It would seem the general public didn't really care, 'economy stupid'.

Also I wouldn't be using A. America or B. US presidents as a moral barometer.

We currently have a sex offender leading by 30 points who seems to be a shoe in for the GOP nomination if he isn't in prisons for it.

I also do think if holly had an affair and lied about it and was subsequently caught out she'd be cancelled too. It's the barefaced lying that gets up people's noses.

Nah, he would be seen as a legend not a victim.

Fine lines. 🤷‍♂️

DeadHand

This seems to me like a thing that would have been an outrage 50 years ago, but really shouldn't be now.

Rothko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653951#Comment_120653951

No, no, no. Obviously anyone that has a problem with Scofield did must be a homophobe. There is no other possible explanation.

Faugheen

I have said, and will always say, that anyone of a certain age that feels the need to have a sexual relationship with someone who is barely an adult is an absolute creep.

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's not weird.

Odhinn

Am I the only one that thinks Holmes statement (its in the OP) implies there was more than one lad involved?

Faugheen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120654209#Comment_120654209

I'm very wary of anything Eamonn Holmes is saying. He was all loved-up and cuddly with Schofield when he came out and now he's banging on about being outraged and knowing about it for four years.

If he knew four years ago, why did he not say anything until he left his job?

valoren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120654225#Comment_120654225

I would imagine that when the presenters sign up for the gig part of the contract is to not bring the company into disrepute. Like any job I suppose. For example, when the lead presenter comes out on national TV then you don’t bring the company into disrepute by asking awkward questions either on the show or in public such as asking about the rumours about the nature of his relationship with his 18/19 year old PA/runner while under contract.