Graham Norton has become the latest celebrity to weigh in on the ‘queue-jumping’ accusations surrounding Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield .
The ITV ’s This Morning duo became the centre of a row after they were spotted waiting to see the Queen lying-in-state in a separate queue to members of the public. Many accused the pair of ‘pushing in’ while thousands of others, including famous faces such as David Beckham and Susanna Reid, queued for several hours to see the late monarch’s coffin.
Holly and Phillip shut down the accusations themselves as they appeared on This Morning last week , with Holly saying that they would ‘never jump a queue’. In a segment showing their time at Westminster Hall, Holly said: “Like hundreds of accredited broadcasters and journalists, we were given official permission to access the Hall. It was strictly for the purpose of reporting on the event for millions of people in the UK who hadn't been able to visit Westminster in person.
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"The rules were that we'd be quickly escorted round the edges to a platform at the back. In contrast, those paying respects walked along a carpeted area beside the coffin and were given time to pause. None of the broadcasters and journalists there took anyone's place in the queue and no-one of course filed past the Queen,” Holly continued.
She finished the statement: “We of course respected those rules, however we realise it may have looked like something else and therefore we totally understand the reaction. Please know that we would never jump a queue.”
Graham Norton discussed the incident during an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live - and revealed that he had been offered the chance to skip the public queue himself, but had declined. Insisting that the pair had done ‘nothing wrong’, the presenter added that he thought Holly and Phillip were ‘foolish’ not to anticipate the public’s backlash.
“There was a two-tier system. You could queue jump,” he explained. “Now, I got offered a queue jump ticket by a friend of mine.
“He’s an MP and he said, ‘Do you want to come?’ And I didn’t say yes because I thought if anybody sees me I’ll get it in the neck. And that was what I thought,” Graham said.
He continued: “So I suppose what Phil and Holly got wrong was they thought people wouldn’t care. I guess that’s their crime.
“The actual queue jumping? They did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong. But foolish of them to not think that people would be annoyed.”
Some fans have expressed concern for Holly and Phillip following the accusations, urging people to ‘be kind’. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner expressed a similar sentiment as she discussed the pair at the Labour conference in Liverpool.
“I’ve been worried about them because even though they are celebrities... they are human beings and I just think, 'wow’,” she said. “The way in which the online attack on them, as a human being to have that, I just think is really damaging.”
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