Richard Madeley has been a fixture of British TV for a long time. With his wife, Judy Finnigan, he was the face of ITV’s hit show This Morning. They were the hosting couple from the beginning of the show in 1988 until 2001.
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After that Madeley continued his TV career and hosted another show with his wife until 2009 on Channel 4. He then transitioned to Channel 5 before going back to ITV in 2017 to be one of the presenters of Good Morning Britain.
There he has been involved in many controversies especially concerning some of his interviews. Now in 2023, a quick X search will have you see viewers constantly demanding his exit from the show.
Richard Madeley gets support amid demands for exit
In an interview with The Sun, Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid addressed the ‘calls for him (Madeley) to be sacked’. These calls followed a particularly controversial instant when Madeley asked Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, of Palestinian heritage and who has family members in Gaza, if there had been ‘any word on the streets’ about the attacks of 7 October.
Susanna Reid stated,
Richard Madeley is a legend in broadcasting.
She then continued to show support for her colleague who, in her view, may be clumsy at times but still is one of the best in the game.
He’s the founder of This Morning, he’s been doing it longer than any of us and he’s got a particular way with politicians.
If they don’t want to answer the questions, he’ll end the interview – he did that with Gavin Williamson when he was defence secretary.
She also added that Madeley is a terrific asset to Good Morning Britain. She believed that he ‘brings so much to the programme, including a really loyal audience.’
Calls for Madeley to leave Good Morning Britain
As much as Susanna Reid wants to have her colleague’s back, viewers who take the time to use X strongly disagree with her.
Just today (4 December 2023) the top tweet when we typed ‘Richard Madeley’ into the website goes as follows.
The tweet has in the span of two hours already reached over 3,000 people. Other very recent tweets read:
Better than Richard Madeley though, can't tolerate him.
Richard Madeley is worse.
On top of these general tweets, Richard Madeley is getting a lot of backlash over comments he made in The Spectator over the weekend of 2 December 2023. In his piece, he called for the ‘death penalty’ to be brought back after his phone was stolen in a pub.
Even though those kind of statements are a habit of Madeley, Susanna Reid still supports him. In The Sun she explained:
Richard is a bit bolder sometimes with his wording, but I think a lot of viewers wonder why other people get offended by what he’s said.
Are you wondering why people are upset by his latest statement on the death penalty?
Read more:
⋙ Phillip Schofield: Richard Madeley calls out ITV’s ‘savage and brutal’ firing
⋙ Chloe Madeley hints that she’s back in the dating game weeks after split from James Haskell
⋙ Chloe Madeley: Everything you need to know about the divorce rumours
Sources:
The Sun: Susanna Reid on her new bob, relishing those early starts and why gaffe-prone Richard Madeley doesn’t deserve the sack
Metro: Richard Madeley ‘calls for death penalty’ after being robbed at the pub
