In the latest Phillip Schofield news, the This Morning star has been accused of “defending” a Buckingham Palace aide at the centre of a ‘racist’ comments row.
Lady Susan Hussey, the late Queen‘s former lady-in-waiting, stepped away from her royal household honorary role last week.
The 83-year-old’s departure from Buckingham Palace came following reports she quizzed Ngozi Fulani about ‘where she is really from’.
But during Wednesday (December 7) morning’s episode of the ITV daytime show, some viewers felt Phillip, 60, may have defended Lady Hussey.
What was discussed on This Morning today?
Phillip’s remarks came as he and Holly Willoughby discussed headlines about the royals with guests Isla Traquair and Tom Swarbrick.
It was mentioned that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received a Ripple award for “calling out the institutional racism in the royal family”.
But Holly pondered whether that was the case – and suggested there was a “bigger picture”.
Tom replied: “Sure. But that’s absolutely central in their work, particularly in their work about racial justice.
“Her calling out the royal family for apparent racism within the royal family to her. And, again, it’s just this treading carefully bit. Are they genuine whistleblowers about what’s been going on behind closed doors in the royal family?”
Tom went on: “In which case, history might be on their side. And all the people who say, ‘You can’t talk about that, it’s absolutely dreadful’.
“Even the thing that happened at the Palace last week where a woman was accosted about ‘Where are you from?’ by a member of the royal staff.”
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Phillip Schofield gives his take on news headlines
However, Phillip seemed to object and gave his take instead.
“Not the entire picture, I feel, on that story,” he said.
“And there is an 84-year-old lady who may have another side to the story. And is utterly, utterly broken by things that she may say were not necessarily the picture, how she saw them.
That story’s been told the way it’s been told and that’s the way it probably will stay.
“But, you know, that story’s been told the way it’s been told and that’s the way it probably will stay.”
Tom then acknowledged there are “two sides to everything” before inviting Lady Hussey onto his radio show.
How This Morning viewers reacted
This Morning users had a mixed reaction to Phillip’s comments on social media. But among the responses were claims he was “defending” Lady Hussey.
One furious person claimed: “No Phil there’s not ‘always 2 sides to every story’. There is right & wrong. Racism is wrong, hateful & undefendable. Using your privilege to excuse it is disgusting.”
Another fumed: “Oh [blank] off @Schofe. There’s no excuse for what she did. #ThisMorning.”
One added: “happy to slate and shame Lady Susan Hussey the other day, now Philip saying that she probably has her own side to the story and defending her honour.”
However, someone else tweeted: “Not often I agree with Phil but I do this time. There are two sides to every story and age does play a big part in this one. I do not believe the Lady was deliberately racist #ThisMorning.”
One added: “He was saying there are two sides to every story.”
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This Morning airs on ITV, weekdays, from 10am.
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