Jon Snow, the Channel 4 presenter, has been criticised for making a joke during an interview with Richard Wilson about the late Alan Rickman.
During a tribute item in Thursday night’s programme, Snow spoke to the One Foot in the Grave star about his friendship with Rickman, who died earlier that day from cancer at the age of 69.
“Did you know he was dying?” Snow asked, to which the actor replied: “I did.”
Snow then joked: “So it wasn’t a case of ‘I don’t believe it’ then?” in reference to the actor’s trademark catchphrase from the BBC sitcom.
While Wilson met the joke without obvious offence, many viewers criticised the incident as jarring.
Jon Snow is a news legend but the 'I don't believe it' he shoe-horned into an interview with Richard Wilson on Alan Rickman was poor taste.
— Tony Shepherd (@tonysheps) January 14, 2016
Did Jon Snow really say that to Richard Wilson - in relation to Alan Rickman's cancer? #channel4news
— Saint Vespaluus (@Saint_Vespaluus) January 14, 2016
Jon Snow @Channel4News just asked Richard Wilson if, when he heard Alan Rickman had died, it was a case of ' I don't believe it' Not good.
— Kate Robbins (@KateRobbins) January 14, 2016
Wilson and Rickman worked together on stage in 1980 when the former directed the latter in a play called Commitments.
“He could take on anything,” Wilson told the Guardian on Thursday. “He was an open actor, a non-demonstrative actor. And he was easy peasy to direct. We remained friends ever since. He would come and see everything I did, and I would always see everything he did, and we would talk at length about it.”
Rickman’s death has led to tributes across the entertainment industry and from Harry Potter fans who have been laying flowers and cards at Platform 9 3/4 in King’s Cross station in London.
