ITV have responded to claims Phillip Schofield was “sacked” from This Morning.
The TV presenter announced his departure from the programme last week, after 21 years at the helm.
Two days later, Phillip’s former colleague Eamonn Holmes alleged he was “sacked” from the show as he reacted to his exit on GB News.
In response to Eamonn’s comments, an ITV spokesperson told The Standard: “Phillip Schofield’s decision to step down from This Morning was (as his statement made clear) a decision agreed between Phillip and ITV.”
During his rant on GB News, Eamonn also took aim at Phillip’s co-host Holly Willoughby, amid rumours of a “feud” between them.
Mimicking the mother-of-three, the 63-year-old raged: “And she says: ‘Oh, the couch will not be the same without him being there’. Well she wanted him not there.”
“So what is she moaning about? They deserve each other I suppose. Holly is being as false as he is and nobody is talking about the elephant in the room.
“She says ‘I thank him for all his knowledge, experience and humour’. All the things that she didn’t have when she came to the show. Well it’s true!”
“I would call that stabbing in the back.”
“I could give you a list of the lack of kindness and lack of awareness from both of them. How they would socialise, and the people around them,” he continued.
“You just have to look at my phone, full of people who are glad to see the back of the two of them.”
Eamonn co-hosted This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford every Friday from 2006 until August 2021, before they were replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.
This isn’t the first time Eamonn has publicly slammed Phillip.
Last year, the TV presenter took aim at Phillip over an incident involving his wife Ruth, who is a panellist on Loose Women.
During a link for Loose Women on This Morning in 2019, Phillip cut Ruth off mid-sentence, which sparked rumours of a feud between them.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine last February, Eamonn said: “Phillip is renowned for snubbing people. He’s very passive-aggressive.”
“It’s up to Ruth to say how she felt about it, but I was feeling a little hurt for her. No one would have snubbed me like that.
“I have a good Belfast street fighter in me. I wouldn’t be shy of saying, ‘Excuse me, I think you’ll find I was speaking.’ I would be direct.”
“I don’t go for presenters who think they have a special privilege or aura or influence.”
