Good Morning Britain fans demand Richard Madeley is ‘taken off air’ for having ‘zero tact’ with Coronation Street star
Co-host Kate Garraway interrupted him after he made an ill-judged comment
GOOD Morning Britain fans have demanded host Richard Madeley be “taken off air” for having “zero tact”.
It came during a chat on the ITV show about soap Coronation Street‘s latest Motor Neurone Disease-related storyline.
Actor Peter Ash, 38, who plays MND sufferer Paul Foreman on the ITV soap, appeared on the Good Morning Britain sofa on Wednesday alongside Sam Hayden-Harler, who was diagnosed with the condition aged 35.
Sam has been assisting Peter with the details of the hard-hitting storyline, which has seen Paul get married before learning he has up to a year to live.
Richard, 63, was eager to get the details of just how dad Sam – who discovered he had the condition due to muscle wastage in his thumb – was helping out.
Richard said: “Peter, let’s get down to the nitty gritty, what does he show you to do in terms of movement?”
Continuing the line of questioning, he added: “What I mean is does he come to your dressing room and say, ‘At this stage you walk like this?'”
His co-host Kate Garraway, 56, interjected and said: “No, no, not quite like that,” while Peter paused and appeared lost for words before saying: “He has been a very big help to the storyline.”
Kate swiftly picked up the conversation and said how “emotional” it must be for the soap star.
Yet towards the end of the discussion, GMB fans thought Richard had put his foot in it again.
Talk had turned to MND sufferer Stephen Hawking when Richard said: “He lived decades beyond expectation.”
Fans were quick to take to X/Twitter, to call out the former This Morning anchor.
One bluntly wrote: “Madeley needs to be taken off air. He has zero tact.”
Another put: “How cringeworthy is Madeley? How can he get things so wrong so many times.”
While a third wrote: “He’ll ask how long he’s got left next.”
One continued: “Did Richard just say ‘Does he go to your dressing room and say you have to walk like this’.”
Another wrote: “Richard Madeley has the sensitivity of a wrecking ball! Why do the powers that be at #GMB allow this idiot anywhere near such sensitive topics??”
Meanwhile, during the chat, Sam told how he did not describe himself as “suffering” from MND.
He said: “I live with it.
“It is part of me and it’s so so important that it’s seen to raise awareness, that creates more fundraising and more research.”
Peter added of Sam: “There are people who live with this – we want to portray it as honestly and truthfully as we can.
“He has been a very big help with the storyline. It was a massive shock to find out how close it was to his life.”
