Can someone explain the Philip Schofield "Scandal" to me?

Start here, OP:

Then here to fall into the rabbit hole:

Is there a succinct summary of what he did wrong?

Schofield has a reputation for being TV's Mr Nice Guy - he's been a huge star since the 80s when he started off in kids TV.

He clearly has an injunction out to stop the media reporting a particular story about a much younger man he had some kind of relationship with who he first met as a child. There are also stories about his behaviour on the TV show which other presenters have hinted at, but they will have signed NDAs and be aware that their future employment with ITV could be at risk if they speak out.

Schofield's brother was recently convicted of sexual abuse of a teenager boy. Schofield told the court he was aware of the abuse but didn't do anything with the information, such as tell the police his brother is a nonce.

So it's not a case of the public being told to hate someone, it's a case of the media being stopped from reporting certain facts.

I think there are a lot of chickens coming home to roost. He is well known as a tyrannical bully on the show, undermining co-presenters to promote himself, and being hostile towards guests. When he interviewed the then Prime Minister David Cameron and showed him a list of people alleged to be paedophiles within the Conservative Party, he did so without warning the programme’s producers. It was all designed to shock.

The swift removal of the young studio runner he was fucking was covered up. Presumably he was becoming a problem to the publicly very married Philip Schofield. The queue jumping at the late Queen’s lying in state was the first opportunity for any criticism to stick. It seems to have snowballed from there. His coming out on air was unnecessary, and merely showed what a narcissist he is.

There is a story circulating that the celebrities that appear on this drivel were organising themselves and planning to confront him live on air. That is when the execs panicked and fired him.

[quote]There is a story circulating that the celebrities that appear on this drivel were organising themselves and planning to confront him live on air. That is when the execs panicked and fired him.

That story was started by Dan Wootton, a man despised as much as Schofield.

Wootton named Dr Ranj Singh as one of the anti Schofield celebrities, which led to Dr Ranj pointing out that he'd not appeared on This Morning for two years.

^ If Dan Wootton's lips are moving, he's lying

The public do not want a gay man on their screens when they are eating breakfast.

It isn’t a breakfast show, it’s mid- morning. It’s brainless entertainment for the kind of women who sit about all day in their pyjamas.

^^ This isn’t about you

He's a fucking self-absorbed closet case who'll be deservedly forgotten in five years.

Brits are big babies. There was no scandal here. They just couldn’t accept that maybe he and his co-presenter weren’t friends irl.

^

I don’t think most people give a flying fuck.

Ludicrous amount of attention being devoted to this glossy lightweight. The press will though keep it going, as they see an injunction as a game-on challenge; and all the subtext as noted above is an energy they can both feed off and revive. TV + sex = tabloid heaven.

PS's ego asserts he'll be back soon. Doubtful. Maybe in due course a tearful interview with that other media paragon Piers Morgan.

Such a pattern.

Someone…anyone…makes it big. And it goes to their heads…& they lose their minds….

And they do themselves in.

Why is it so hard to just be rich, famous, happy & sane?

Is show business so cut throat that celebrities can’t just relax?

I saw two seconds of a clip to get an idea of who he was: How the fuck did anyone think he was hetero?

It’s a familiarity breeds contempt kind of thing and a cumulation of bad personal choices, bad PR and bad press.

It goes to show how easily led the British public is. They’re against him and don’t even know why. This is why they live under a Nanny State.

[quote] There are also stories about his behaviour on the TV show which other presenters have hinted at, but they will have signed NDAs and be aware that their future employment with ITV could be at risk if they speak out.

NDAs are not legally binding nor enforceable on U.K. soil. Likewise, pre-nuptial agreements.

Are you thinking of a press gagging order?

There is supposedly a super injunction in place stopping the press reporting on Schofs behaviour. The main allegations are he’s been shagging an (of age) teenager who he first met when the kid was 13. It’s said his coming out was never something he intended to do but he did it because this boy went to the papers & was about to publicly out him as both gay & sleeping with a teenager. Coming out on TV was always really obviously a massive deflection & very obvious he’d been backed into a corner & felt forced to do it before someone did it for him.

The reason he was thought to be straight was because he’s been married to a woman for about 30 years & has two kids. He’s always been a Hugh Jackman type - apparently straight but makes you scratch your head.

For me, the main scandal here is that he knew his brother was sexually abusing a teenager & he did nothing about it. I find that completely unforgivable and frankly disgusting.

What's the evidence he knew his brother was sexually abusing a teenager? This feels like the usual conflation of homosexuality with paedophilia.

It was revealed in the court case, r21.

It's homophobia. Just stop to think what it would have taken to force someone of his status, rank, seniority and position out if we were talking about a straight counterpart. Stop to think what some of the reactionary UK tv pundits (Clarkson, Morgan etc) have gotten away with over the years that has only increased their power, deals and earnings.

[quote]It's homophobia. Just stop to think what it would have taken to force someone of his status, rank, seniority and position out if we were talking about a straight counterpart. Stop to think what some of the reactionary UK tv pundits (Clarkson, Morgan etc) have gotten away with over the years that has only increased their power, deals and earnings.

Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson have both been sacked from jobs during their long careers.

But let's put your idea to the test.

Imagine Huw Edwards is revealed to have been cheating on his wife with a woman he started dating when he was 50 and she was 17, a woman he met when she was a child. Huw put her up in a flat and got her a job at the BBC where she accompanied him to award shows and after the relationship went sour she moved to BBC Breakfast and then left the BBC. Upon trying to sell her story Huw Edwards won an injunction to stop the story.

There are a flurry of stories about how other newsreaders at the BBC dislike Huw based on how he treats staff.

Then it's revealed that Huw's younger brother is a paedophile and that during the criminal trial Huw testifies that his brother told him he was having sexual relations with an under age girl, and that Huw didn't tell the police.

There is no way that the media would go soft on someone in that situation because he was straight.

In fact the media have gone easy on Schofield after the "I'm gay! confession that was a response to rumours 3 years ago. Until then no one outside of the media had a real clue that he liked fucking teenager boys.

@r19, "NDAs are not legally binding nor enforceable on U.K. soil."

Then how come anyone who works for the Royals has to sign one? 🤔

^ The reaction to his coming out was largely positive. He was too powerful in the industry for the usual suspects to say what they were really thinking. Even Piers Morgan says that Schofield deserved a better sendoff. The shitty behaviour is more of a factor than his sexuality.

And if homophobia is such a potent force in British tv, why was John Barrowman repeatedly given work presenting ITV shows when there were countless stories of sexual misconduct floating around for years. He was still presenting on ITV a year ago.

Clue: a gay man getting his cock out and touching people with it is "funny", a straight man getting his cock out and touching people with it is "indecent exposure" and "sexual assault".

^ You win! 🙄

Schof has admitted to fucking the teenager

How does one pronounce, "Huw"?

It's the Welsh spelling of Hugh, as in Hugh Janus

Ugh. Admittedly I'm "across the pond," but everything I hear about this guy suggests he's insufferable. Today's Daily Fail "admission" was cringeworthy and disingenuous in the extreme. I'd link to it but would then suffer the boilerplate pop-up nonsense that such links generate, which means that you'd all miss out on my gilded assessment.

R30, It’s the Welsh spelling of “Hugh”. It’s pronounced the same.

MARY!

Gay from space tv presenter comes out on tv show.

Oh, and he’s sorry for cheating on his wife.

Hilarity ensues.

Seriously though that pic at OP - where are the cookies?

Schofield is a nasty piece of work but he's been a nasty piece of work for decades and been successful throughout. He hosts several shows besides the morning chat fest. Dancing on Ice, Brit-Soap Awards, all kinds of stuff, he's an institution on ITV.

After he got all that bad press for jumping the queue at the Queen's lying in state (with Holly Twatforbrains right there with him) things started to go downhill PR-wise. The forever-ingenue-in-her-mind Holly Willoughby blamed Phil and became unhappy co-hosting with him all of a sudden. Her own popularity had taken a hit and she turned on him.

The thing with his brother became a big deal. Lurking in the background, the really big deal has been this young man whom Phil helped to find a job and sugar-daddy'd for a while although I believe they waited until he was of age to actually fuck. The younger man had parlayed meeting Phil when he was younger into being promoted and kept by Phil when he was older. Unsavory, to be sure, but there was no crime here and the young man was no innocent angel, let's be real.

I'd just as soon they get rid of that hag Holly while they're cleaning house. She's awful and dumb and fake. Phil's always been mean bastard and I'd be glad to see the last of both of them.

Eamonn fucking whatsisname is a huge piece of shit, too.

I'm not sure I understand the big scandal, still. Straight men have consensual workplace affairs with younger women all the time and its swept under the rug. Obviously, if the younger man had been underage, that would be unacceptable, but, apparently, that was not the case. Maybe if he'd admitted it from the start it would have been a leave of absence vs. a total bridge burning. Oh, well, hopefully he saved well. His salary was less than what I assumed it would be for someone who earned this level of attention. It was apparently between 600,000-700,000 pounds a year.

The issue was that he met the guy when the guy was underage. He didn't move to London and get involved with Phil until he was of age. The "met him earlier" seems to loom large in the pearl-clutcher's imaginations.

Phil came out and that was fine. The younger man thing lurked around in the shadows for a long, long time. Years.

What really did Phil in was when he jumped that fucking queue at the Queen's lying in state. Holly the Git did it too. The public was FURIOUS with the both of them. Then Holly started blaming Phil and complaining about Phil. She's been doing it for months and his brother being convicted on a molestation charge was all she needed.

Granted - Phil's a complete fucking asshole, everyone hates him but "butter wouldn't melt" Holly is a piece of work too. She's the one who pushed him out and portrayed him as "the problem" to the higher ups. No doubt Holly will be gone too before too long, couldn't happen to a more deserving backstabber.

So tired of seeing Holly pop up everywhere. She'd go to the opening of an envelope.

R41 I see Ruth has found this thread

Nah, she can fuck off with Eamonn, too. Can't stand the lot of them. British media is a cesspool.

[quote] She'd go to the opening of an envelope.

Hello there!

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

This "groomer" shit is a homophobic attack.

Breakfast TV-exit

He’s a nasty shit of a man, and it’s all caught up with him. I don’t believe there is homophobia involved.

Homophobia is involved in calling him a groomer and attacking him for having a consensual sexual relationship with a legal adult, albeit one who is considerably younger than Schofield himself.

It's always the ones with a nice and clean image. (Oh well, never mind, sometimes they give creepy fuck vibes right from the start like Saville.)

[quote] Homophobia is involved in calling him a groomer…

Schofield is reported to have met this young man when he was a ten-year-old kid, and then (he says) entered into a relationship with him when he was barely legal. There is no world in which that looks good, and I think most people would find it grim. This is especially true of the audience who have until recently been Schofield’s main supporters: stay-at-home mums, the elderly. He spent decades cultivating a blandly warm, friendly persona and now those people (who stuck with him when he came out) are wondering who the hell he actually is. Throw in a paedophile brother (who he didn’t even mention to his co-host until the brother was on trial), a whole host of former colleagues who genuinely detest him, the queue-jumping and his position was untenable. His dalliance with a teenager would never have looked good, but to someone who was so genuinely disliked by his colleagues, it became terminal. He had no supporters left.

It was always unrealistic that he would perform his next ITV gig, which was presenting the Soap Awards. It’s the type of event where extremely minor TV personalities get pissed and they could have said anything.

R46 probably agrees with Peter Tatchell that children can enjoy sex with adults.

[quote] This "groomer" shit is a homophobic attack.

The standard defense for the indefensible. Wave the flag calling something homophobic, racist, ableist, classist, sexist, or any of the other code words designated to forbid any further conversation.

A reminder that straight men are also judged for their behaviour towards teenage girls

No, you vicious evil cunt, the younger partner of Schofield's was OF AGE when they began having sex. Of age is perfectly acceptable. This "groomer" shit has got to stop. It's evil and only the vilest cunts in the world would perpetrate that cheap bullshit.

I think Phil Schofield is a CUNT and a nasty piece of work. I've always thought so, I think the same thing about Holly Whatsherface. CUNT. I thought jumping the Queen's lying in state queue was appalling, lying about it made it even worse. They should have sacked them both right then.

I don't care what he did or didn't tell that cunt Holly about his brother and his brother's issues.

People can have affairs with much younger partners. People can meet someone when they're a child and fuck them years later as an adult without any "grooming" going on at all. I'm ancient now. I've known kids, seen them get older and become fuckable when they are OF AGE. So what? Lesbians do it all the time. Are all those women GROOMING girls or did they just meet them 10 years before they fucked them? Do you hate ALL relationships where there's an age disparity? How about Sarah Paulson and that old lady she's fucking? Did they old lady GROOM her? Did Cherry Jones GROOM Sarah first?

It's a sick homophobe's fantasy that all gay men are out there "grooming" children to be their sexual partners. You're a sicker fuck than usual if you come here to the Datalounge, a gay men's website, and throw that nasty shit around here. You should be banned from this site forever for doing that. I hope that Muriel does ban you soon.

So there, you fucking cunts.

Strong nonce vibes there from R55

And the word ‘groomer’ is used in the UK in a very different way to the US.

More details are going to come out over the next few days.

And most likely more guys who Phillip ‘met’ as teenagers

There is a very distinct sense that one is waiting for the other shoe to drop. The story so far just doesn't add up.

[quote] It goes to show how easily led the British public is.

R18, ever hung out in the U.S.?

[quote]his brother is a nonce

Huh?

R60 Look it up, fool.

Ephebophilia is gross.

R62 Wow, insightful contribution

Oh fuck off, R63. Gay men need to confront the issue. It's disgusting how acceptable it is amongst gay men to be into adolescents.

[quote] ITV has said it investigated “rumours” of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and a younger employee in 2020 - but both “repeatedly denied” it.

R64 No one said otherwise, dear. Your wording was that of a simpleton.

A "progressive" Christian who regularly appears on TV and is involved in education has this to say:

[quote]With Phillip Schofield in his sorrow & honesty over his lies about his ‘unwise but not illegal’ relationship with a younger employee at ITV. This moment also creates the opportunity for us all to reflect again on the pressure on those who are gay, but feel they have to hide it.

After a lot of criticism he tweeted

[quote]My point is the grooming of the young by those with power is wrong & all institutions are responsible for safeguarding against it. But P Schofield’s statement is clear, so unless evidence is presented to the contrary, all condemning talk is speculation.Innocent till proved guilt!

With all the talk of homophobia, it's statements like this which frame Schofield's homosexuality as an excuse for grooming/inappropriate relationships, not an irrelevant factor.

[quote] No, you vicious evil cunt, the younger partner of Schofield's was OF AGE when they began having sex.

A fact given to us by one Mr. Philip Schofield, who just released a long statement featuring a laundry list of lies he'd told. He is perhaps not the most reliable source at this moment.

I agree "groomer" is certainly an overused term at the moment, and 99.9 percent of the situations it's been used in recently (especially re: drag queens) came from homophobia or just a general fuckwad of right wing nonsense. Unfortunately, Mr. Schofield is the person who actually fits this term.

I don’t understand gay men who like young boys. I like big hairy arsed men with big genitals.

R60, I don't know what a "nonce" is either, nor do I care to even though one of the cunts called me whatever it is. It's some silly cunt word the girls made up to harass gay men and accuse us all of being pedophiles. These women are fucking sick and they sure don't belong on the Datalounge. They hate ALL men, they hate gay men as much as straight men - they hate anyone with a cock.

They take their penis-envy to new gutters of filth every time they attack gay men on a gay men's website. Disgraceful.

MURIEL! Homophobic man-hating spill on aisle Schofield.

[quote] It's some silly cunt word the girls made up to harass gay men and accuse us all of being pedophiles.

You're an absolute fucking idiot. No, Mary, the world does NOT exist to harass you or react to whatever your fucking issue with the world might be.

"Nonce" is a British term that's been around for many years that's synonymous with pedophile.

You're obviously not British, R72 (super-obvious).

Why do you use dumb British slang to accuse all homosexual men of being pedophiles? Why would you come to a gay men's website and accuse everyone of being pedophiles? Were you repeatedly dropped on your head as a hotel maid?

There have been blind items about his proclivities for years

[quote]R60, I don't know what a "nonce" is either, nor do I care to even though one of the cunts called me whatever it is. It's some silly cunt word the girls made up to harass gay men and accuse us all of being pedophiles. These women are fucking sick and they sure don't belong on the Datalounge. They hate ALL men, they hate gay men as much as straight men - they hate anyone with a cock.

They take their penis-envy to new gutters of filth every time they attack gay men on a gay men's website. Disgraceful.

[quote]Why do you use dumb British slang to accuse all homosexual men of being pedophiles? Why would you come to a gay men's website and accuse everyone of being pedophiles? Were you repeatedly dropped on your head as a hotel maid?

Oh hun, is the Schofield affair bringing back memories of the time you took a shine to a 15 year old?

Was it your nephew? Was he called Joel?

It's so nice to see Brits with their knickers in a twist over something other then the Royal Clownshow

There are rumours that there was some sort of altercation between Schofield and the runner at the 2020 NTAs. Days later, Schofield came out on TV.

NONCE SENSE

David Walliams will be next. Similar deal, but with girls instead of boys.

R73 I'm not R72 but they are right in saying the word has been around for years here in the UK and is a general term for a paedophile, not specifically targeted at gay men. I first heard it on the now defunct soap Brookside.

Now the British drag queens are getting involved

R70 is truly a moron

R82 is truly ...zzzzzzz

Nonce = pedophile

I’ve always thought that Holly has eyes like Mr. Blobby.

Another statement from Schofield

[quote]David Walliams will be next. Similar deal, but with girls instead of boys.

EWWWW.

Is Holly Willoughby the UK's insipid answer to Kelly Ripa (and, if so, who asked?). Ugh.

Kinda. Her persona is a responsible, fun mum next door type who was a bit wild in her day. She’s less bitchy and not a tough Jersey girl like Kelly. Like her BFF would be Leslie Jordan, not Andy Cohen.

Philip Schofield is being dropped like a hot brick by all his advertising deals, and even from his role with the Prince’s Trust. Good. He comes across as a manipulative, controlling chicken hawk.

[quote] He comes across as a manipulative, controlling chicken hawk.

i.e. -- "Groomer"

Meh. He's just another rich and famous man who had a wife and kids at home and a young piece of ass on the side whom he did a lot of favors for.

A tale as old as time...

[quote]Is Holly Willoughby the UK's insipid answer to Kelly Ripa (and, if so, who asked?). Ugh.

She's a professional presenter who seems to be very popular. Eamonn Holmes clearly hates her but a lot of his vitriol is snobbery. He's a proper journalist, trained in tv news, and an experienced presenter. Holly started off as a model, started working in kids shows and is a "light entertainment presenter" not a journalist like him and Ruth

Not sure if this has been posted. It’s a pretty homophobic fat frau Twitter thread, but contains videos

I've stopped clicking on Twitter links, R94. It's such a homophobic, racist cesspool over there that I just don't bother looking. I've never had a Twitter account, thank God.

I don’t think the general reaction has been homophobic, but there have been some homophobic elements.

The media keeps saying “an affair with a MALE colleague” as though that somehow makes it more salacious and worse.

I’ve been seeing an increasing amount of people suggesting the guy wasn’t originally gay and that Phil somehow made him gay. The classic homophobic trope that homosexuality is somehow contagious.

But the general reaction is that the relationship was weird because he met the guy when he was under 18 even though nothing happened till he was over 18. That’s weird regardless of sexual orientation.

I don’t think the reaction to this is homophobia. The UK is generally far less homophobic than the US. We have a number of celebrated gay presenters and celebrities, such as Graham Norton, the late Paul O’Grady, Stephen Fry, Alan Carr, Joe Lycett, just off the top of my head.

The thing with Phillip Schofield is manifold. He basically was photographed with this guy from the time he was a school child and part of a theatre group PS was patron of. Schofield added him on Twitter when he was 15 and they maintained some kind of relationship in which Schofield got him a job on TV and began fucking him the moment he was legal (we presume). I doubt Schofield was stupid enough to fuck him before that but it’s still really creepy and off. Who gets to know a pre-teen child and makes friends with them only to start a sexual relationship with them the moment it’s “unwise but not illegal”. I could never be attracted to someone I’d known since they were a kid because I’d still always see them as that kid.

On top of that, it’s well documented that Schofield would stay up all night chatting up teenage boys on Snapchat. Plus there’s evidence there were plenty other young guys he “mentored”. He was married with kids yet had a flat where he would “entertain” guys.

It’s just plain skeevy. He basically did a Kevin Spacey—he only came out as a way of deflecting from abuse allegations (this guy was evidently going to the papers about their relationship from what I father). On top of that, he’s apparently a huge egotistical, narcissistic bastard who has bullied and treated people like crap over the years and the chickens have come home to roost.

That’s not to mention the fact his brother is also gay and into teenage boys, in his case, abusing a minor. He’s in jail now I think. Philip actually knew what his brother was doing and did nothing. For both brothers to be like this it makes you wonder about their own childhood, but who knows.

It’s all very sad. I grew up watching him presenting children’s tv and always liked him. Although I didnt watch shitshow This Morning other than the odd clip, I could tell his true colours were showing in recent years. He could be rather clipped and harsh and you could see he perhaps wasn’t “Mr Nice” after all.

R97 I agree we have a large amount of celebrated gay presenters but generally those celebrities rarely make reference to, or are photographed with, their partners.

I think the general public are fine with the concept that someone’s gay, but they’d rather a sanitised and chaste version be presented. I think Elton John and David Furnish are the only ones who are a prominent well know gay couple.

Gay men get an easier ride for their indiscretions.

Boy George has been completely rehabilitated for the incident where he held a prostitute captive and beat him. He was booked to go on Celebrity Big Brother shortly after his release from prison and was raking in the cash from interviews about how he had coped in prison. A man who had abused a woman like that would have been treated very differently.

The number of straight men who have lost their jobs for getting their dicks out for a laugh yet with John Barrowman it was just a joke.

And see also the number of male politicians who have groped or abused younger gay men. It's not taken as seriously as if it had been a woman.

You're high, R99. The old adage in politics is that one must never be caught with a live man or a dead woman. Everything else is all right.

Homosexual affairs are punished just as harshly, if not more harshly in most cases, as heterosexual ones.

Oh please. MPs Patrick Grady, Nigel Evans and Chris Pincher were all treated as a joke when men came forward to say they'd been assaulted.

[quote]The old adage in politics is that one must never be caught with a live man or a dead woman.

Well, old adages sometimes go out of date, R100. ITV knew about the Schofield stuff for years: are we honestly meant to believe that they would have sat on this if it had been a straight male presenter and a girl/woman in her teens?

Even the comment pieces from the supposedly far-right Daily Mail have been lead by gay men (Dan Wootton and Andrew Pierce).

*led

When this story broke there were suggestions it was homophobic and the man was targeted because he was gay and married to a woman.

No, he's just a dirty old man and men who have behaved like that with females are treated the same;

R99 What a Frau thing to say. Gay men certainly do not get off easier than straight guys. Look at Donald "Grab them by the pussy"/rape women and underage girls Trump. The examples you gave, Boy George and John Barrowman I don't agree with. Boy George's career has been over forever and he's like some bizarre curiosity piece. John Barrowman has faced a significant backlash, had to cancel a tour and I don't imagine his career is going to bounce back in the near future.

[quote] Oh please. MPs Patrick Grady, Nigel Evans and Chris Pincher were all treated as a joke when men came forward to say they'd been assaulted.

The joke really made itself in the case of the latter. You go about groping other men when your surname is PINCHER. Couldn't make that shit up.

R98 don't forget about us!

Paul O'Grady says hi from the grave.

The guy is a pathological liar. How does anyone know he waited till the guy was 18?

He knew the guy since he was 10 and kept his hands off of him for 8 years? Ha!

Gaby Hinsliff wrote a great op-ed about Schofield yesterday in "The Guardian."

Whether he's gay or straight, what he did was inappropriate. He lied about it and tried to cover it up. It does appear as if he groomed the kid. Whether he was of age when an affair began, it doesn't matter. They were not equals in the power dynamic or in the consensual dynamic. Schofield is just a dirty, old man.

I'd add the advise, too...Don't shit where you eat.

The Guardian h8s old gay men

I guess it's still unclear how Phil got his sexual kicks for all those married years, and none of our business but I do wonder if this affair with a teen was partly his way of "making up for lost time".

[quote] It does appear as if he groomed the kid. Whether he was of age when an affair began, it doesn't matter. They were not equals in the power dynamic

Frau alert!

This is still a non-story that hysterics with no lives foam at the mouth over.

[quote][R99] What a Frau thing to say. Gay men certainly do not get off easier than straight guys. Look at Donald "Grab them by the pussy"/rape women and underage girls Trump. The examples you gave, Boy George and John Barrowman I don't agree with. Boy George's career has been over forever and he's like some bizarre curiosity piece. John Barrowman has faced a significant backlash, had to cancel a tour and I don't imagine his career is going to bounce back in the near future.

Boy George's agents were taking bookings for TV appearances when he was in prison. He has since been a coach on The Voice, done multiple reality shows, won lifetime achievement awards. He suffered no consequences for his actions.

And Barrowman's behaviour was known for years, talked about, laughed about. It was only in 2021 when Noel Clarke faced accusations of sexual abuse that a clip resurfaced of Clarke talking about Barrowman with actresses from Doctor Who and Barrowman had some negative press coverage but was invited onto Lorraine to redeem himself. ITV still had him presenting their shows in 2022. He still got to release an album but cancelled the planned tour because of ticket sales, not because venues didn't want him performing.

R104 - Back in the 1980s Keith Vaz was always incredibly pro-gay in Parliament and forever giving quotes to the gay press. He was (or maybe still) incredibly quick to threaten to sue people.

Just check out the 'controversies' on his Wikipedia page.

[quote]Just check out the 'controversies' on his Wikipedia page.

Keith Vaz is such a dishonest and corrupt politician he makes Boris Johnson look decent.

Is Barroman the Broadway actor who had sex with a female teenage fan who he thought was of age?

No, John Barrowman is the musical theatre/soap star/light entertainment star who is openly gay but was well known for getting his dick out and hitting people with it as a joke.

He appeared in the first series of the rebooted Doctor Who and a lot of women hated it but didn't say anything. Christopher Eccleston was the lead and hated the experience of working with Barrowman. When the producer left the actors made a video and referenced it.

As Noel Clarke says, if a straight man does it, he's getting arrested.

And one of the reasons Barrowman was finally condemned for it in 2021 wasn't just the Noel Clarke accusations but the murder of Sarah Everard. The police officer who arrested/abducted, raped and murdered her had been reported for flashing by McDonalds staff a few days before he abducted her. There was huge outcry that if flashing has been taken seriously then he might have been arrested before he had the chance to murder Everard.

But Barrowman was back on ITV a year later.

R73, your legs must be sore from leaping to so many dumb conclusions....landing on your fat, pimply ass, no doubt.

[quote] Why do you use dumb British slang to accuse all homosexual men of being pedophiles? I said no such thing, you illiterate piece of shit. I simply said that "nonce" is a British term. I'm not even British and even I know what it means and the context in which it's being used.

[quote] Why would you come to a gay men's website and accuse everyone of being pedophiles? I said no such thing, you illiterate piece of shit. And I AM a gay man, you halfwitted fuckwit, and have been here for decades. So get fucked with a rusty, jagged pipe.

[quote] Were you repeatedly dropped on your head as a hotel maid? Sorry princess, but the maids wait on ME.

A joke::

A nonce, a ponce and a paedo in a speedo walk into a bar. The barmaid says "Sorry gents, no draught today".

Despite this all happening in the UK this is related to the topic of that book coming out about toxic work environments on TV shows.

Once the money pours in the oversight disappears and boys will be boys, whether those "boys" like men, women or jailbait that can't consent.

[quote] I guess it's still unclear how Phil got his sexual kicks for all those married years, and none of our business but I do wonder if this affair with a teen was partly his way of "making up for lost time".

Apparently it's been an "open secret" in the industry for years that he's gay. Heck, back in the early 90's Spitting Image did a brutal skit making out Phil was a closet gay (and that he was having an affair with Jason Donovan; apparently the two were once spotted kissing in a club). Phil had his own flat in London for years where he's most likely been "entertaining" fellow gays, presumably much younger ones at that. It seems his marriage was a lavender marriage.

It wasn't a secret Russell T Davies was in on

[quote]Explaining the reference, Russell told The Times : "Gay men always say that a handsome man on television is gay. So in the 1980s we always used to say Phillip Schofield was gay. "The lawyer said, 'No, you don’t need to clear this with Schofield, because he’s straight. He’s married with children, we don’t need to check that'.

[quote]"Only now he’s come out! Isn’t that weird?" He also said to Pink News : "See, I never thought that Phillip Schofield was gay. I was like a right chump… He’s always been very nice to me – I look a little bit like I’m taking potshots at him now. "Whereas actually, when that was written and filmed we’d all presumed he was so straight that that line was no offence, because I was attacking gay men who always presume that the handsome man on television is gay."

R122 call me dumb but I don't get it?

Phillip Schofield's 'fragile' former lover abandoned his promising TV career to work in a pub in a rural village in the Lake District, it emerged last night.

Friends of the young man, who landed a role at ITV after meeting Schofield, claimed he was 'determined to be famous', but suffered 'a big downfall' when the affair with the presenter ended.

It follows claims that ITV paid off the young star following the breakdown of the relationship. The broadcaster repeatedly declined to comment on the alleged settlement or deny it.

After the young man reportedly declared his love for Schofield at an awards ceremony in January 2020, he was then moved to another of the network's programme Loose Women, before eventually leaving the broadcaster.

Now photos have emerged showing him working at a rural bed and breakfast, having turned his back on hopes of a dazzling television career amid the scandal surrounding This Morning and Schofield.

------------------

The face of a cad and bounder

Rofl at the bloody fucking Eamonn and Ruth, who are basically Fox & Friends-style right wingers, being put on a pedestal here. Sounds like something that nationalist Brexit loon DLer Angry Young Brit would post.

r127 - that Telegraph article is behind a paywall? Anything worth sharing? And where are the pics of the younger man?

R129 you can click off the ad and then read it?

It's just resting the relationship was an open secret, everyone on the show talked about it, the young man spent much time with Philip and interacted with the celebs appearing. Now he's working/managing a B&B in the Lake District. Also, some people are calling for an inquiry into how this happened (the affair and cover up, not the boy moving up north!)

If you have an iPhone and want to read Telegraph stories, just switch to reader view before it loads fully.

Did the Telegraph track McGreevey down? That’s Sun-level trashiness.

R128 Eamonn Holmes was probably the very person I noticed using “woke” as a pejorative at the time when it was filtering out of the American black community into public discourse.

R129 someone typically saves the newspaper articles behind a paywall into archive.ph quite quickly so you can copy the links into its search engine.

[quote] ‘Runner was determined to be famous’

An aspiring television presenter was determined to be famous? Oh my giddy aunt.

[quote][R128] Eamonn Holmes was probably the very person I noticed using “woke” as a pejorative at the time when it was filtering out of the American black community into public discourse.

Every reference on GB News is "woke ITV" and the chief exec is "queen of woke".

It's used for everything now. Strictly is woke because it has same sex couples/disabled celebrities. A university that bans white people from attending events is "woke".

[QUOTE]A university that bans white people from attending events is "woke".

This is legal, as in codified, in the U.K.?

Having an event/providing a service exclusively for one group is lawful, eg gay men's health network is not obligated to provide advice on pregnancy.

But I'm not sure if this was "WHITES BANNED" or simply an event specifically for black people.

R135 Indeed and Dan Wootton is the worst of them. He must be squeaky clean to sit in judgement of pretty much everyone. He’s such a cunt.

Isn't "ban" a rather strong word that implies a legal basis for exclusion?

(No trans issues meant to be evoked).

The runner isn’t being named in the UK media, so there is possibly an injunction. I hope he isn’t thrown to the wolves. He was young and was definitely exploited.

There's no injunction but the press are being respectful (surprisingly) incase he is potentially a victim of a crime

I'm probably the one one left on the planet but I still don't really understand what's happened.

He was a presenter on tv on lots of programs in the eighties when I was a kid and I always knew he was gay but thought it was just never mentioned. He was well-liked. I was surprised to read in this thread that he was married for 30 years! And has children!

Whatever he's done must be very serious because I googled him and that's what popped up. It's not good at all.

This is a good succinct summary of the situation. What a disastah!

I remember him doing the Princes Trust concerts but they've dropped him now.

Sorry - link:

[QUOTE]Heck, back in the early 90's Spitting Image did a brutal skit making out Phil was a closet gay (and that he was having an affair with Jason Donovan; apparently the two were once spotted kissing in a club).

There was also one on the Mary Whitehouse Experience. They were taking the piss out of Brett Anderson from Suede pretending to be gay and using lots of gay light entertainment clichés in his lyrics like "Shut that door" and wondering to himself "What else do they say...?" and ending up with "Welcome to Going Live", which was a kids show Schofield presented.

My favourite Spitting Image sketch was when Julian Clary was outed as straight, being seen drinking pints and playing snooker.

NO IT'S A LIE! he replied.

ITV announces Schofield's replacement for the British Soap Awards. ITV has announced that Jane McDonald will now host the British Soap Awards, following Phillip Schofield's departure from the network

---------------

The Prince's Trust has dropped Phillip Schofield as an ambassador after he admitted he had an affair with a young male colleague and lied to cover it up. The charity, founded by the King, said it was "no longer appropriate" for it to work with the presenter.

-------------------

Sustainable wine company When in Rome has told db that its deal with Phillip Schofield has ‘drawn to a natural conclusion’.

Philip was a fool to frolic with a kid 40 years younger than him. While I don't know if he groomed the boy or whether the bullying accusations are true, I agree with a poster who said that his nice guy mask slips, plus I'm bloody sick of him flogging shit in ads so won't be sorry.

Now Holly needs to limit herself too because she's equally overexposed, presenting and ads,

[quote] but I still don't really understand what's happened.

HE

FUCKED

AROUND

WITH

AN

UNDERAGE

KID

Is that clear enough for you?

Is there a single article from a mainstream outlet that has even alleged that, R149?

Did Schofield write the freaky script that McGeevey is reading in R94? Lol it’s kinda hot

It'd a weird scandal. Once he apologized and quit the show it should have been over. At this point it's between him and his family, not the public and not the other people on the show.

R150 No direct allegation, but (a) it's being strongly implied because the working relationship happened when the young man was underage and (b) Schofield has lied about literally everything else under the sun, so his insistence that the young man was of consenting age is being looked at with serious side eye.

The press and the company lawyers are pushing to see if anything comes up - if the young man decides to spill the beans, etc.

ITV released a statement to say McGreevy was 19 when did work experience on the show (in 2015) and 20 when he joined This Morning as an employee. He joined Loose Women in 2019 (aged 23) and left ITV in 2021 (aged 25) so will be 27ish now.

So 34 years younger than Schofield.

Eamonn is such a prick. He described Phil’s meeting his boyfriends in his London flat as “Thursday Playtime”. Thanks for that imagery, fucker. Now I get the impression Eamonn really wants to say something truly homophobic but is holding it in.

No he didn't, R149. R154 has the correct timeline.

There's a huge age gap but Phil's partner wasn't underage when he fucked him.

It doesn't help that he looks and sounds like a little boy

[quote] but Phil's partner wasn't underage when he fucked him.

So the groomer of the underage kid says

R15, people pursuing fame in the entertainment industry are often troubled to begin with. If they achieve their goal, celebrity and wealth don’t fix them. Being rich and famous exaggerates all the bad qualities they already had.

That's a lie!

The BBC have a 45 minute interview.

It would be FUCKING MENTAL to lie about times and dates and ages of his relationship so I'm tempted to take his word for it. BUT HE IS A LIAR SO MAYBE I SHOULDN'T.

Did McGreevey get marginalized by being sent to a *less than* show once Phil no longer needed his services and his career got derailed? Buh, bye 👋!

Eammon's implication of drug abuse (kid wasn't in a good way and always needing money) and the fact that Ruth still keeps up with him as he manages some pub/inn in the hinterlands suggests as much.

Kid got caught up in forces he didn't understand, let alone steer to his benefit

Fucking hell, Alison Hammond in tears quoting her dead mother and the bible.

When I was 25 there was a neighbor boy of 17 who's father had died and his mother was in a wheel chair who took a liking to me. He would come over when I got home from work and we would have dinner and play video games or just talk. The boy was an a Adonis, just the most beautiful, built 17 year old you'd ever want to see. I wanted to fuck him so badly, but I just couldn't betray that little brother/big brother relationship we've developed. The poor kid just wanted some male attention/bonding and I could never live with myself had I pushed for more

Schofield is scum for taking advantage of a young boy/man like that, be it legal or not 😠

r147 Jane MacDonald is an excellent choice as a replacement to present the soap awards. He already had big presenting jobs on This Morning, Dancing on Ice(I will be interested to see who replaces him on that and if Holly does or does not stay on that show) and The Cube. I don't understand why he was given the Soap awards job too. There have always been plenty of other good people to share the ITV jobs around with. They fed his ego unnecessarily giving him so much.

I'm somewhat surprised we haven't seen any photos of McGreevey taken long-range with a zoom lens yet or that the tabs haven't dug into his background and reported it thoroughly. Is the injunction specific to Schofield and the relationship or does it also cover reporting about McGreevey? I find it hard to believe the tabloids are being so respectful. Or maybe people are aware of his fragile state of mind and don't want to push him if self-harm is a possibility.

R165 I think the overexposure plus all the ads he was shilling for make me sick of the sight of him years ago. Plus I don't respect any woman like Holly who does ads for do-it-at-home hair dye when she has a stylist and wouldn't touch the stuff herself

R163 Dermott looked like he wanted to die. He clearly loathed Phil.

R164 did he know you were gay? what did he say about that? nothing at all?

[quote]I'm somewhat surprised we haven't seen any photos of McGreevey taken long-range with a zoom lens yet or that the tabs haven't dug into his background and reported it thoroughly. Is the injunction specific to Schofield and the relationship or does it also cover reporting about McGreevey? I find it hard to believe the tabloids are being so respectful. Or maybe people are aware of his fragile state of mind and don't want to push him if self-harm is a possibility.

There was no injunction, surprisingly. And no NDA. And it doesn't look like McGreevy has tried to sell his story which was widely assumed.

One thing Schofield was asked about in the BBC interviews was whether the tabloids were running a story on him and if that's why he came out and he replied with something like "they couldn't out me - that's illegal".

There is a view that McGreevy is a private citizen who has not sought fame so has been left alone. And as long as there was a suspicion that he was groomed then the media would have been identifying the victim of a crime.

Schofield said he had been in touch with McGreevy recently and was paying for McGreevy's lawyers. The more I think about it, the more I think his testimony was a load of shit. Schofield is an experienced media performer, he has hired crisis managers and coached and rehearsed answers, like the comparison to Caroline Flack, the accusations of homophobia, the "yes I followed him on Twitter when he was 15 but I follow 3000 people".

It's in McGreevy's interest to keep quiet and say nothing and if necessary back up Schofield's version of events.

Schofield was coming to terms with being gay and just happened to kiss a much younger man he had helped get a job on the tv show, but they only had sex 5 times but were very good mates?

There’s no scandal here other than the one the conservative media is creating. They’re shouting shit like “They lied to us!” about the hosts being friends. They have arrested development. This just want to trash ITV in any way they can for being woke.

R166, the UK doesn’t have a free speech amendment. Speech is controlled.

@r169, Probably, but he never asked and I didn't see the need in discussing my sex life with him

[quote]There’s no scandal here other than the one the conservative media is creating. They’re shouting shit like “They lied to us!” about the hosts being friends. They have arrested development. This just want to trash ITV in any way they can for being woke.

There's an element to that, especially GB News and their obsession with "WOKE ITV" but it's also how the media works in general.

If a newspaper has a scandal about a celebrity they won't just run it, they'll be offered another story in exchange for pulling the scoop. Look at the YMU roster. Got a story about Amanda Holden being fucked over the bonnet of a Ford Fiesta? Don't run it and you'll get an exclusive on Tom Daley's new baby and why Jesy Nelson from Little Mix is giving up the fake tan.

That's how it's worked for years.

Dan Wootton was part of that and Lorraine the actress is a part of it. The amount of pure shite that met Schofield's announcement that he was gay (STUNNING AND BRAVE) is now hilarious when people are sharing their true feelings.

The dishonesty is now what is driving the story. And yes, the press are fundamentally dishonest.

I don't understand how controlled speech would prevent the paps from taking pictures of him and reporting on his activities. They do it all the time with others.

[quote] There’s no scandal here other than the one the conservative media is creating.

Fool. BBC and the Guardian are hardly conservative media. All British media seem to be covering this.

[QUOTE]Schofield said he had been in touch with McGreevy recently and was paying for McGreevy's lawyers.

Why would McGreevey need lawyers? I find it a little concerning that by doing so he's still in a position of power over the young man. I hope they're ethical lawyers.

[quote] hope they're ethical lawyers.

My first guess is this was arranged by ITV execs to keep the lid on. That kid will collect a neatly laundered payoff to keep quiet.

I really hope he does. He went from a career full of promise to this. The age difference and the implication of grooming are skeevey enough. Just as bad as the potential for the kid's broken heart is the fact that the power differential is so imbalanced against him and, ya know, it resulted in his life being upended and harmed. I'd be tempted to change my name if I were him.

Honestly I’m bored as fuck with all this now. Even BBC News’ top articles are about Philip Schofield. He’s rightly left TV for good - so can he please just disappear and people can then finally shut up about it.

Eamon Holmes is such a slimy cunt, too. His ‘exclusive’ interview with Dan Wootton on GB News was so embarrassing because it was clear he only did it because he’s bitter. They’re all shitty people.

[QUOTE]Honestly I’m bored as fuck with all this now.

You have a funny way of showing it.

R181 Thank you.

[quote] so can he please just disappear and people can then finally shut up about it.

The ITV execs and the others who covered up or turned a blind eye to the grooming agree with you.

Using Caroline Flack’s suicide as a cudgel to criticise Wootten is disgusting. At least have the courage to tell Wootten to fuck off without using that poor woman’s corpse to do it.

^ Comparing himself to what Caroline Flack went through at the hands of the media is worse. He is such a pussy snowflake 😠

[quote] so can he please just disappear and people can then finally shut up about it.

Your wish is not granted. 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 is now investigating the groomer and his enablers

Has Lorraine commented?

[quote]Has Lorraine commented?

Lorraine Kelly the actress has said nothing, whereas Lorraine Kelly the jolly tv presenter is due to make a statement on Monday.