‘Painful watch’
Sir Bob Geldof has been criticised by This Morning viewers after he repeatedly misgendered Sam Smith during an appearance on the programme.
The Boomtown Rats singer, 71, infuriated viewers as he continued to refer to the the non-binary singer as ‘he’.
Viewers were then angered even more by hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield not correcting Geldof for his errors.
The Band Aid organiser appeared as a guest to discuss several topics, including the sad death of his Boomtown Rats bandmate Garry Roberts and the impact Band Aid has had over the years.
As Geldof discussed the upcoming 40th anniversary of Band Aid, he mentioned Smith and their part in the 30th anniversary Band Aid song which was released in 2014, the Mirror reports.
But he repeatedly referred to Smith as ‘he’ despite the fact that the ‘Unholy’ singer identifies as non-binary and has asked people to use the pronouns ‘they/them’ when being addressed.
Geldof said: “Sam Smith, I remember him at the microphone had his eyes closed, and he was singing away to the song, and I said ‘Sam, they’re not the words’. He goes, ‘oh yeah, sorry’.
“Because we had re-written the words for I think the Ebola crisis in west Africa.
“And he says ‘sorry’, so off he goes, he closes his eyes again and he starts singing the original words. I said ‘Sam’, and he goes ‘oh yes, sorry, every year in school I have to sing this song'”.
Whilst Holly and Phil didn’t seem to clock Geldof’s use of the wrong pronouns, several at home picked up on the mistakes.
One person said: “Holly and Phil should have pulled him up on that. Ridiculous.”
https://twitter.com/hayleyw_journo/status/1628346558885380099
“He’s on national TV and speaking about Sam Smith. You’d think someone would brief him on Sam’s gender identity or at least correct him. Painful watch,” another argued.
“Sorry but why didn’t Holly or Phillip tell Bob he was misgendering Sam Smith,” someone else asked.
While a fourth tweeted: “Disappointed to hear Bob Geldof misgendering Bob to be honest. People need to get with the times.”
Geldof is the latest person to misgender Smith in recent weeks.
Both Richard Madeley and Ranvir Singh landed themselves in hot water by referrring to Smith using ‘he/him’ pronouns.
Related links:
- Sam Smith harassed and called ‘demonic’ and ‘evil’ by woman in street attack
- Sam Smith misgendered again as they say they want to become a ‘fisherthem’
- This Morning caller says her husband keeps going on surprise trips to Thailand and sends money there
