Richard Madeley horrifies after asking Sandy Hook dad about ‘revenge fantasies’
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Richard Madeley stunned Good Morning Britain viewers when he asked the grieving father of a Sandy Hook victim whether he’s had ‘revenge fantasies.
Robbie Parker appeared on the ITV breakfast programme to discuss the recent defamation trial against Infowars founder Alex Jones, who was ordered to pay nearly $1billion to the families of the school shooting victims after he spread conspiracy theories that the massacre was a hoax.
Parker’s six-year-old daughter Emilie was among the 26 students and teachers who were shot dead by gunman Adam Lanza at the Connecticut school in 2012.
During the GMB interview, Madeley asked Parker if he’d thought about getting revenge on Jones for spreading the false narrative about the incident, which forced the devastated father and his family to move home due to being bombarded with abuse from those who believed the conspiracy theories.
Madeley asked his guest: ‘From one father to another, I know that I would be unable to control revenge fantasies going way beyond damages in a court of law. How do you cope with them because you must have them?’
Parker replied: ‘Yeah, I’m a human being where my mind can wander into those places but those are the same realms that Alex Jones and Alex Jones’ listeners go into so I really try not to spend so much time there.
‘I try and focus on what’s best for my family and our healing and really get back to just focusing on our grief and just being someone who can actually bring a lot of good in this world.
‘Emilie’s life touched so many people and only brought love and joy and goodness and as her parents we want to continue that, and that’s what we’re going to do.’
Some viewers felt Madeley’s line of questioning was inappropriate, with one tweeting: ‘Oh my god Richard Madeley is awful. Asking a poor bereaved dad what revenge fantasies he had?! Luckily the dad put him in his place.’
Another weighed in: ‘Richard talks about revenge fantasies at f*****g 7:30.’
‘Richard asking the man if he’d fantasised about murdering Alex Jones. How do you even respond to that?’ one viewer questioned.
One commented: ‘Is this news? A court case in America with Madeley talking about revenge fantasies? (Weird).’
Speaking to Madeley and Susanna Reid, Parker detailed how the harassment began to ramp up in the hours after the shooting.
He recalled: ‘Less than 48 hours after Emilie was killed, there was already rumours and things going on the internet, comments being made, videos being posted about me and false statements saying that I was indeed a crisis actor, that I was part of a Government conspiracy to try and take people’s guns away in the United States, so within 48 hours Iw was already starting to be attacked.’
Madeley was visibly shocked by Parker’s ordeal and gasped while burying his face in his hand and saying: ‘I didn’t realise it was that soon to be honest with you. Two days? I can’t even begin to imagine your suffering to that point anyway and what you knew then in front of you in terms of trying to recover from this terrible blow.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
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