Phillip Schofield breaks silence on queue gate scandal

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This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield, 60, has claimed he was “unfairly targeted” for not queuing up to see the late Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall. Phillip stated he had nothing to apologise for during a frosty exchange with GB News about the queue gate scandal. He made the comments hours after he and This Morning missed out on a TV Choice Award for the first time in six years.

Holly and Phillip received a huge backlash for skipping the queue to see the Queen’s coffin in September.

Other celebrities, including Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid and former England footballer David Beckham, patiently waited for hours with the public to pay their respects to the late monarch.

A petition on Change.org to get Phillip and co-host Holly axed from This Morning following the scandal reached almost 79,000 signatures.  

ITV claimed in an official statement at the time the pair were in Westminster Hall to film a segment for an upcoming episode of This Morning. 

However, Phillip admitted to Dan Wootton Tonight’s senior producer Ben Leo that they never broadcast anything on air because “they weren’t allowed to film inside”.

When probed by GB News after the filming of This Morning concluded on Tuesday, Phillip claimed more than 700 journalists from other broadcasters and newspapers also skipped the queue.

Referring to the reports, GB News asked: “Do you feel vindicated?’”

Phillip replied: “I think that it was a shame that what happened, happened.”

He was also asked by GB News if he would now own the situation and issue an apology. 

However, he said: “Why would I apologise? You’ve already seen that 700 other journalists did exactly the same thing.”

Leo said: “But they were accredited. And you never actually filmed anything. Nothing was ever broadcast.”

Phillip claimed: “We weren’t allowed to film inside.”

This Morning failed to win a TV Choice award this year, despite having won one every year since 2016. 

After being criticised for jumping the queue, Holly read a statement on This Morning on September 20.

Holly explained: “Like hundreds of accredited broadcasters and journalists, we were given official permission to access the hall.

“It was strictly for the purposes of reporting on the event for millions of people in the UK who haven’t been able to visit Westminster in person.

“The rules were we would be quickly escorted around the edges to a platform at the back.”

She also said: “We, of course, respected those rules, however, we realise it may have looked like something else.”

Many viewers took to Twitter as they felt the apology read by Holly was “half-hearted”. 

This Morning have been approached by Express.co.uk for comment. 

The full interview with Phillip is available to watch on Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News.

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