Piers Morgan defends Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield over ‘ridiculous’ queue backlash

He's rushed to the defence of his 'good friend' Holly Willoughby

Piers Morgan has defended Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield following the furious backlash to their alleged queue-jumping to see the Queen lying in state. The This Morning hosts were forced to deny that they jumped the queue - which at times had waiting times of more than 16 hours - in a statement on Tuesday's edition of the show. They faced a major social media backlash after they were pictured inside Westminster Hall in the fast track queue for VIPs. During Tuesday’s instalment of the ITV daytime show, they insisted they were there as part of the media, did not jump the queue, and did not even file past the Queen. A petition calling for them to quit the show has so far gathered tens of thousands of signatures, and there are rumours that Willoughby could quit following the fallout. But many have been left stunned by the anger, including former ITV presenter Piers Morgan, who used his Uncensored show on TalkTV to defend the pair.

"Full disclosure, I am a good friend with Holly, and I feel very sorry, she is absolutely distraught I think about the reaction," he said.

"All hell broke loose about this, they have been subject to, I think, a ridiculously over-the-top campaign." Although the 57-year-old admitted that it "may have been a misjudgement" from the presenters," he was adamant that they should keep their positions on This Morning, branding the petition and calls for them to leave as "ridiculous." https://twitter.com/PiersUncensored/status/1572308138711285765 The petition, which has been signed by more than 35,000 people at the time of writing, reads: "Thousands of people are lining up overnight to pay respects to the Queen, where they will likely wait up to 24 hours. "Yet Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, two hosts of one of the most damaging to mental health day time tv show This Morning, were able to push past those thousands and get immediate access.

"ITV should be ashamed of exploiting the situation. I’d like to see This Morning axed for good as I do believe it causes more harm than good, without people noticing. For example, like turning cost of living anxiety into a game show.

"At the least though, these toxic presenters Holly and Philip should finally be removed from our TV screens. They monopolised way too long."

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