To think the media need to be careful...

[apairofjeanstharfitjustright]

Whatever Philip Schofield has done, I think the media need to be careful, look what happened to Caroline Flack. Completely vilified in the press and the same is happening to Philip.

Regardless of what I think of him, I think the media need to back off and tread lightly here.

AIBU or do you think he deserves all of this?

So would I.

The statement to the Daily Mail is an attempt to buy time and try to stop them looking for more.

I doubt it will work

Oh go away. I have no sympathy for him. He only came out because his affair was a well known secret and was due to come out so he got in first. The only reason he has done the last statement is because the DM had loads on him and was going to publish, and in fact might still

He’s happy to allow the press to comment when he wants something, he’s has to take it when they find out something, it’s all part of being famous

if you look at what’s being said, and only take it with a pinch of salt, he is nasty and rude, and full of himself, well not any more.

Schofield was known for his "squeaky clean" family entertainer persona.
He was apparently known in showbiz circles for being unpleasant, arrogant and difficult to work with.
His statement of the relationship being "unwise but not illegal" says it all in my book. He knew it was highly inappropriate to have a sexual relationship with a teenager at his age and so now all his chickens have come home to roost. He lied to his family his friends and his public. He deserves everything coming to him.
As for Caroline Flack, she was arrested for assaulting her boyfriend with a table lamp. I can only imagine if the situation was reversed and he had assaulted her, how different the public opinion would be.
Didn't Caroline also have a reputation for relationships with much younger men?

It won’t end with him either, ITV execs must have known. And Holly…

Oh here's the bekind brigade.

I suspect there is a lot more to come out about Schofield, and people with nothing to hide don't have superinjuctions.

The truth is that the responsibility for suicide always lies with the individual who takes the decision to perform those actions rather than seeking other avenues.

‘be kind’ is largely redundant because often we’re talking about situations when an individual has behaved in a way that’s wholly unacceptable, often indisputable and has resulted in harm to an otherwise innocent party. It’s facts vs feelings.

I’m yet to come across the use of ‘be kind’ in an example where someone is truly the victim of circumstance rather than themselves.

Oh and my position on suicide comes from experience of being blackmailed with ‘if you leave me I’ll kill myself’. I’m never going to be convinced that anyone in any circumstance can put that kind of responsibility and blame on someone else when they absolutely have control over other options.

It’s complete bullshit to try and cower people into that corner.

I'm so sick of the threat of suicide being used to shut people up.

If this happens in a relationship then the person threatening suicide is considered manipulative and abusive.

PS has been famous for decades, he has seen, and been involved in reporting, these things hundreds of times. He knew what would happen if he groomed and started an affair with a teenager, and made the choice to do it anyway.

I would go as far as saying the press have a duty to report this, we all know how often victims come out when they see this has happened to others.

My sympathies are solely with his victim, and his wife and daughters.

Quite.

Won’t somebody think of the abusers??

The media love the story of bringing a popular celebrity down, I agree with you there. And there is something perverse in how much joy people get from it (constantly reading the stories and more clicks, resulting in even more).

But this isn’t a case of someone who cocked up once and is being unfairly punished for it (although with Caroline Flack, would the “be kind” brigade be so loud if it was a man who assaulted his partner?). This is a case of someone who has been an unpleasant person for years but got away with it. And then he has had a very questionable relationship with someone, and got him fired when the relationship was over, and that’s without questioning if there was indeed grooming too. His entire persona of boy next door is false, and the end of his career is no one’s fault but his own.

So yes, perhaps there is an element of be kind, but it’s what PS should have shown to the young man.

Do your own reading before you start defending someone FFS!

100%, you only have to look at Prince Andrew to see that. A lot of those defending PS wouldn't dream of defending PA despite the same levels of exploitation going on.

I agree.

i think itv has been kind to him for 4 years
they knew
i am sure they will arrange some sort of counselling for all involved.

we need to be kind to the intern

Having worked in psychiatry I fully agree. Suicide is a complex and distressing issue but it is no one else’s responsibility if a person chooses to take that option and there would have been significant mental health issues already present. The idea that news cannot be reported because the person might harm themselves is abhorrent and dangerous and the only conclusion to such an idea is that abuse or repugnant behaviour stays secret and the behaviour continues to harm others. His statement that it wasn’t illegal but inappropriate is very concerning and I also suspect there is far more to this story than we are fully aware of. The very fact that a 50 ish year old man had a sexual relationship with a teenager where a clear power imbalance was present and the victim lost his job because of it is deeply disconcerting.

I would go as far as saying the press have a duty to report this, we all know how often victims come out when they see this has happened to others

Yup. It was only when public allegations against people like saville, Cosby, Harris, Spacey, Weinstein, Hammer, and Manson came out that their multiple victims felt able to come forward. When you have powerful, rich men in industries where careers can be ruined for speaking the truth the media is often the only safety net.

My view is what he did was at best questionable. He won’t work in TV again and rightly so.

“celebs” coming out now and saying they knew things doesn’t help anyone and begs the question a) why didn’t they report and if they did b) why was it ignored.

neither of those questions will be answered in the public domain though where things will keep going round and round digging up things for the sake of it.

ITV and any other organisations need to do a massive enquiry into how it happened and more importantly how it was brushed under the carpet. At that point it may be deemed suitable to publish the findings.

but trial by media/social media is actually at risk of hindering getting things sorted rather than helping at all.

Awww...#bekind Hun

I jest

Yabu op.

As for Caroline Flack, she was arrested for assaulting her boyfriend with a table lamp. I can only imagine if the situation was reversed and he had assaulted her, how different the public opinion would be.

This. I'm fairly sure that if Chris Brown had killed himself due to the media attention after beating up Rihanna we wouldn't be trotting him out as a cautionary tale.

The lack of concern for his male victim is shocking. If my mid teen son was communicating with a man in his 40s then dated him I would be extremely concerned. Are some people saying that this isn't grooming if they didn't have sex until the young man is 16? Do they really think it was all innocent until the young man was legal and that PS wasn't manipulating him? I sincerely hope that everyone who said it isn't unacceptable doesn't work in safeguarding.

I have lots of sympathy for his victim, his ex-wife and children but I suspect that there's more that will be exposed hence the pile on until PS makes another statement.

I don’t want to divert the thread but some pps may be interested in listening to Jane Garvey’s interview with Caroline Flack’s mother available via the LBC website, in the series called “Off Air” for a more sympathetic view of events.

I’m also very frustrated with the attempts to somehow deflect all the blame onto holly.

Man behaves dreadfully. So people seek out a woman to castigate because ‘she must have known’ and somehow be as, if not more, guilty as him.

I suspect his crisis comms team are working very hard to ensure the focus is on ‘be kind’ because of an implied suicide threat and holding other people accountable for schofield’s actions.

Yes, there may be questions about the turning a blind eye. But the actual core problem is schofield’s behaviour.

Stop helping him to deflect attention from that.

I agree with your comments about Holly. Since us randoms on the internet knew about the affair, she probably did too but she's not the one who did the grooming and covering up.
ITV management need to answer some questions though. They owe all employees a duty of care and giving the young man a new job sounds like they were protecting PS rather than protecting his victim.

@mnhq should be looking into these single post no history threads when it comes to certain topics.