Jeremy Clarkson has slammed Phillip Schofield‘s treatment as the This Morning host continues to face criticism after exposing his liaison with a younger colleague on the ITV show.
Schofield announced his departure from the show last month, citing suspicions of a ‘fallout’ between him and his co-host Holly Willoughby, 42.
Amid rising speculation, the 61-year-old then made a follow-up statement acknowledging that he was romantically connected with a much younger runner who worked on This Morning, stating that the relationship was ‘unwise’ but ‘not illegal’.
In an emotional interview with the BBC, the TV personality, who has since ceased working with ITV entirely, went in further depth about what happened between him and his ex-lover, sharing that he knew how the late Caroline Flack felt before she took her own life.
Schofield said that criticism of his connection with the runner based on their age difference was motivated by homophobia, and actor Rupert Everett recently defended him, stating, ‘It’s terrible, this kind of Puritan fascism that’s going on. If it’s simply him having an affair and lying to his agent, why can’t you do the same?’
Clarkson, 63, has now stated that the criticism of Schofield for his hidden romance is ‘strange’ in his opinion.
‘He claims that his partner was past the age of consent when their connection turned sexual, but that hasn’t stopped the shouts of revulsion,’ Clarkson wrote for The Sunday Times, emphasising that he doesn’t know Schofield personally.
‘And I find that weird. We casually roll our eyes when we hear that Leonardo DiCaprio’s new girlfriend is three and we even nod appreciatively when we learn that the age gap between Al Pacino and his pregnant girlfriend is 54 years.’
The Grand Tour actor stated that he has never witnessed a ‘witch-hunt’ like the one Schofield is allegedly undergoing.
‘I’ve never seen a witch-hunt like it, and what baffles me most of all is that, as things stand, no crime has been committed,’ he stated.
‘I don’t know him at all well and have no skin in the game, but it seems to me he is only guilty of being what he said he was: gay.’
LGBT+ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell recently said that the outrage against Schofield’s affair has ‘more than a whiff of homophobia’ to it.
While comparable public partnerships with large age disparities between men and women exist, the former This Morning host’s relationship has been “cast as sordid and abusive,” he claims.
While Schofield and his previous partner – who he said he’s still friends with – met when the man was 15 and the presenter was in his forties, he stated that the relationship began after the man was older and was ‘consensual’.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.
Source My Celebrity Life.
