There we go Schofield has admitted ‘affair’

[muppetmayhem]

Front page of the daily mail for my sins.

😆

@Bananarepublic What are you on about? an excuse? I literally said it's grim, I think big age gaps are disgusting. Even 10 years is too much in my eyes so I'm actually the other end of what you're suggesting.

If it was a young teenage girl I would feel exactly the same. Gross.

So he's done a runner then.

No. Where have I said that?

Tee hee! More homophobia.

Fucking sickening.

Why do you think they dropped him after all this time?

Absolutely. The internet been running with this story a couple of years and it’s always been rumoured that it’s the reason he came out publicly before the tea was spilled.
Its absolutely inconceivable that his colleagues and employers had no idea what was going on when it’s been out there for all to see.

Im disappointed but not surprised to see the #bekind it’s no one’s business, it wasn’t illegal brigade all over the internet not just here.

Yes it wasn’t illegal per se but I’m sure there’s A LOT more grubby truth to be revealed.

You'll have to ask them, but the obvious possibility is that it they thought it was reputationally damaging to be associated with him, owing to the furore around his affair, his brother etc. So a business decision. A homophobic showbiz agent isn't going to get very far.

In the footage I have seen of the runner he looks and seems very young for his age and, I don't mean to be cruel, he doesn't seem like someone who would normally be handed a highly sought after job in television. I know a lot of people who work in this area and, for example, someone I know who graduated with a first-class degree from Oxford worked as a part-time care assistant for two years and did unpaid jobs in the theatre before landing a job as a television runner. However, once she got her foot in the door, she was promoted within six months and by the Schofield runner's now age she was working as a producer. The young man in the Schofield scenario was handed a job but then stalled in it for years and doesn't seem to have advanced that much in his career. Let's be honest, he was Schofield's 'special assistant' more than an ITV employee.

If you are a teenager and impressionable and dream of a career in showbiz can you imagine how amazing it would be to have one of the most famous television stars in the country pulling strings just for you and how much you would feel indebted to him? Then, when you're career doesn't progress, you become even more aware that you are effectively owned by him and he holds all the cards. Schofield certainly knew how much power he had.

We know that the rift between the two men happened when the runner was aged around 23 or 24. Had the runner wised up by then, or had he got too old for Schofield? The story seems to be that Schofield dropped him like a stone.

And saying this dynamic is common in the gay community is not homophobia, it's a fact. Not children, but old man and young man.

I have a gay brother, gay friends, I'm bi myself so have spent many many years on the scene. They all know it's a thing and it's much more common to see with two men. They don't like it either. It's the only thing I don't like.

If my dd, at age 17/18, came home and said she was having a sexual relationship with someone in their 50's in a position of power - male or female - who had known her since she was 10 and had got her her job, I'd be beyond furious with that person, 'legal' or not. I bet some of the posters minimising this wouldn't be quite so accepting if it was their own child.

He always came across as smug and judgemental to me. The Kerry Katona incident comes to mind. That poor girl was on medication for bi polar and he was trying to make it out that she'd been taking something she shouldn't have.
He was funny until about 15 years ago but more recently has become insufferable. Good riddance to him from our screens.

I agree. It is sickening.

Schofield was known to have 'lawyered up' at the end of last week before his sacking.

Instead he's ended up putting out a statement admitting an unwise relationship.

He hasn't decided to go for constructive dismissal or breach of contract following his departure from This Morning. Nor make any allegations of homophobia from the crew of This Morning or ITV.

I'm not sure how any of this covers the bullying accusations either.

Nor has he decided to go for a defamation case or a libel case.

Why?

There isn't a homophobic angle to be had in term of how his employers have handled it. There isn't a case for the media to answer in terms of damage to his reputation.

There is a safeguarding problem which means he hasn't got a bloody leg to stand on and this is all a mess of his own making.

I would keep that in mind when considering 'this is all homophobia' as an angle.

I also guarantee there will be rather a lot of gay people who are equally appalled at his behaviour on set.

Schofield is in damage limitation, in a way that's well scripted and rehearsed by others. If he has a legal case, his admission of unwise behaviour fucks it before it even begins. The only way it benefits him legally is in a damage limitation way...

Absolutely. Male female straight gay - that’s not the relevant point here. It’s the grooming of a child so once they are ‘legal’ they’re ready for a relationship with a middle aged person.

It’s the predatory behaviour and the fact it appears to have been enabled thats the story here. And it appears that anyone who objected was thrown under a bus to protect golden boy

Absolutely agree!

PS isn't the only transgressor to pull that trick - as you rightly say, bullies and narcissists use this emotionally manipulative behaviour ro get out of the consequences of their actions.

If someone came on here with an abusive ex- who was threatening self-harm unless they allowed them back into the home/ relationship etc, everybody would be saying "Call his bluff. He won't do it. It's an attempt to control you." and rightly so. Well - this is no different.

It is incredibly rare that someone makes a threat like this and then carries it out, and where they do there are underlying issues that have nothing to do with the "bullying". Narcissists value themselves far too highly.

This is a classic example of grooming. Known the boy from the age of ten, kept friendly with family and the boy to gain trust, got him a job on TV tp eep him close, then slept with him. But the question is, did he do anything inappropriate with him when he was a child? No doubt the answer to that question is coming very soon....

There is a safeguarding problem which means he hasn't got a bloody leg to stand on and this is all a mess of his own making.

I would keep that in mind when considering 'this is all homophobia' as an angle.

Absolutely.

Are some people relishing this because they are homophobic? Yes.

Does that mean Phil shouldn't be held to account for his actions? No.

The posters who are defending/minimising Schofield's predatory behaviour are likely to feel rather foolish in a few days when the full story comes out. Those posts are not going to age well.

He as PR agents on here and tattle, trying to twist and minimise. Don't engage.

His daughter works for his former agent. That could be awkward.

Also:

I’m not homophobic. Many of my gay (male) friends were in pederastic involvements in their teens.

PS is a pederast, rather than a paedophile. His attraction is to teen boys rather than children. Yes, he groomed MM from childhood but the relationship only turned sexual when he was a teen. And ended when he was no longer a teen as the attraction faded.

The runner isn't hated, the runner has a life sentence. RL could see the consequences start as she worked on LW and TM with him.

Is that the £30k a month 'crisis management' PR agency who specialise is covering up and deflecting attention away from 'unwise behaviour', or a different one?

Why would I be banned? Pederasty is an actual thing and happens between men and young teens. As far as I know it’s not a hetero thing?