Piers Morgan has come out to bat for Phillip Schofield as the daytime TV presenter’s fall from grace shows no sign of easing up.
Taking to Twitter, the former Good Morning Britain host said: “Unless Phillip Schofield’s ex-lover contradicts his version of events to The Sun [and the] BBC, then it’s time to stop this relentless persecution of a guy who’s lost everything and looks right on the edge to me.”
“He doesn’t seem to have committed any crime, and he’s not a [government] minister.”
On Friday, presenter Alison Hammond broke down in tears while discussing Schofield’s BBC interview on This Morning.
“I’m just finding it really painful,” she said. “Obviously, I loved Phillip Schofield and it’s weird because I still love Phillip Schofield.”
In his interviews, Schofield said that he believes his career is over, stating: “I am done. I have to talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart.”
He also said the “relentless” reports about him are having a “catastrophic effect” on his mind, stating: “Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am. I have lost everything.”
Morgan previously defended Schofield before he admitted to the affair, after he announced he was stepping down from his role on This Morning.
In an op-ed for The Sun, he said he found the aftermath of Schofield’s exit “brutal to watch” and yet “entirely unsurprising”.
“One minute Schofield was the undisputed king of morning TV and fast heading to bona fide national treasure status – the next he’s a dethroned, shamed, vilified, national disgrace and social media laughing stock,” he wrote.
“Phillip’s not the evil monster he’s being painted as, nor is he the angel his previously halo-clad reputation suggested.
“One thing’s for sure, what’s happened to him is further evidence that the abyss-like depths of ruthless backstabbing in the world of daytime television makes even the seething cesspit of Westminster politics seem like an oasis of loyalty by comparison.”
Related: ITV launches Phillip Schofield review – letter in full