This Morning viewers have accused Phillip Schofield of making a “dig” at Fern Britton over her BAFTA ceremony snub.
On Wednesday’s show, Fern claimed she wasn’t invited to the show’s 30th anniversary celebration at BAFTA on Monday night.
After the show aired, Phil took to Twitter to insist that Fern was invited, before calling her claim “odd”.
The situation has since been resolved as Fern’s agency, Troika Talent, revealed she did receive the invite but because she was on her Calendar Girls tour, they declined on her behalf assuming she wouldn’t be able to attend!
Read more: Phillip and Fern’s “awkward” exchange during This Morning anniversary show
Viewers had expected Phil to address the issue during Thursday’s This Morning, but instead he seemed to make another joke about Fern not getting her invite.
Speaking about the This Morning wedding today, Phil said: “All the invitations were sent out.
“Hopefully everybody got one and they know they’ve got it.”
However, while Phil was simply talking about the wedding, some viewers believed he was making a “dig” at Fern.
One person wrote on Twitter: “Phil having a little dig at Fern there!” while another wrote: “Oh what a slimy [expletive] Phil is making another dig at Fern.”
A third tweeted: “Sounds pretty petty from him. I thought they were friends. Oh yeah they were until Fern got upset (rightly so) that he was being paid more than she and that’s why she resigned.
“He’s a bit of a [expletive] to her for that.”
Phil having a little dig at Fern there! #ThisMorning pic.twitter.com/B38afx0IXP
— Amy (@geordiegalg) 4 October 2018
ED! has contacted representatives for This Morning for comment.
The drama began when Fern claimed she hadn’t received an invite to the BAFTA ceremony to celebrate the show’s 30th birthday.
Speaking to Phil and Holly Willoughby via a video link from Scotland to chat about her memories hosting the programme from 1999 until 2009, Fern said: “By the way, congratulations on BAFTA, that was absolutely wonderful and brilliant.
“I’d have loved to have been there but I didn’t get an invitation.”
When Phil pointed out Fern would have been “on stage” in her touring production of musical Calendar Girls, she quickly replied: “I wasn’t on Monday night.”
After the show, Phil took to Twitter to address what happened, after coming across a clip of the interview in a tweet that read: “THE SHADE IS REAL!”
He replied: “Odd really, because she was invited and declined #memoryloss we’d have loved her to be there. A vital and much loved part of the show.”
Odd really, because she was invited and declined #memoryloss we’d have loved her to be there. A vital and much loved part of the show 😊 https://t.co/SrYQgLtzIY
— Phillip Schofield (@Schofe) 3 October 2018
Fern, however, took to Twitter herself to say: “No. I had no invitation to decline.”
No. I had no invitation to decline . https://t.co/GY3s245msr
— FernBritton (@Fern_Britton) 3 October 2018
But Fern’s agency revealed Fern did receive an invitation from BAFTA but it arrived without her knowledge.
A statement from them read: “HUGE apologies from Troika to @ThisMorning. An invitation to @Fern_Britton from #BAFTA did arrive, but as she was touring with #CalendarGirls we assumed she wouldn’t be able to attend, and we declined.
“Fern had no idea that she had been invited. Luckily, she has forgiven us.”
And here is what happened! Thank goodness I was invited, even if I didn’t actually receive the invitation. See you next time @BAFTA xxxx https://t.co/TIRE89k7f1
— FernBritton (@Fern_Britton) 3 October 2018
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After the agency apologised on Twitter, Fern said: “And here is what happened! Thank goodness I was invited, even if I didn’t actually receive the invitation. See you next time @BAFTA.”
Phil retweeted the message, seemingly drawing a line under the whole saga.
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