Phillip Scofield Why all the Fuss

It would seem that his wife had no idea and is devastated that he has lived a lie all this time.

I should imagine there are a lot of middle aged to older men who are in the same situation. They married had children etc. I have a good friend whose husband admitted he was gay when their children had grown up. I hope this will encourage some men to come out and live their lives as they wish rather than how it was expected when they were young.

I was full of empathy/sympathy when this story first emerged on Friday.

Today having browsed various media outlets I am beginning to change my opinion of Mr,Schofield.

If, as is being said on various sites is true, PS has been seeing a much younger man for several years. There are clips of them onscreen and apparently he has left GMB and may have been about to spill the beans. I wonder why, if this is the case, PS is considered brave. He’s groomed a youth, using his status and power and cheated on his wife of many years. A sleazy older man preying on a youngster desperate to break into the business. Nothing brave about that. Open your eyes. I watched and found the whole thing, including Holly Willoughby with her tears, cringemaking. I hope the truth comes out and he’s treated accordingly.

The whole thing is extremely cringeworthy - I don’t mean him coming out as gay, but the way they were all hugging each other on TV as if he’d done something wonderful like cured the common cold or Coronavirus.

He should be sacked not fawned over like some on this thread have done.

He’s a sleazy creep who cheats on his wife.

Looking at his career I realised that he started on children's TV. At that time no one working with children admitted to being gay. Teacher colleagues who 'came out' didn't do it until the late 90s when some of them were 40 or 50. Being gay wasn't acceptable then for people who had contact with children.
The unfounded and hateful posts on this thread show how strong homophobia still is.

It is not hateful to centre the wife in these discussions, women are not collateral damage for men.

Supporting his wife is fine accusing him of all sorts of other things isn't.

going back to the original question "why all the fuss?"

HE wanted the fuss ,otherwise he'd have dealt with it differently ,if blackmail was involved he'd hhave been better going to the police surely than wrecking his families lives .

trisher there you go again with your labels. Homophobic now. I’m not homophobic I can assure you. Stop making excuses. You’re so boringly predictable. If we were discussing someone like Laurence Fox you’d be all over it like a rash.

If what I am reading elsewhere (and it may/may not be true) but I suspect there is some truth in it, it is time he took garden leave. Very sleazy. Shocked tbh.

tickingbird as I didn't name or accuse any individual of homophobia I can only assume that you recognise homophobia in your posts and know it's not acceptable. I suppose that's some sort of progress.

According to some reports he has been having an affair with a runner at ITV for 2 years who could be the reason Phillip has decided to talk now,as they fell out and maybe he holds a grudge
Who knows, but quite a lot of people knew including Dec. from ant and Dec,Bradly Walsh and several others
No Sympathy really except for his family

trisher you accused posters of being homophobic but crafty
enough not to name them, there are no homophobic posts,
I agree with tickingbird re Lawrence Fox, if it had been him
not Schofield you would have had the knives out,

Fed up of seeing his name all over the papers ?

How do you know that?

trisher Your hypocrisy and stupidity know no bounds. There is no homophobia in my posts as there has never been any racism. You lack the intelligence or insight to have a reasoned discussion on anything so trot out your “learned by rote” cliched lines in the vain hope of shutting down anyone that disagrees with you. Whenever you are asked to explain yourself you can’t so provide links to someone else’s opinions or resort to telling posters to f**k off. I find it strangely amusing.

That's a lot of judgement based on an if! Gossip mongers & the press always have a field day. Poor man

Well, that explains why he and Holly never got it together! So many accused, or tried to accuse them of messing around. They really are party partners!
I never saw it myself in him, but, then, why should I. I just hope he doesn't start mincing around like a lot of men do when they finally come out.

The man chose to speak on tv, the press cannot be blamed for
his choice to talk

When I first saw this news I thought why on earth does he want us (me) to know? Nothing to do with us. As a man with a wife and children, this story is not all about him.

For me, this isn’t about him coming out as gay. His sexuality is his business and shouldn’t impact on his career but, possibly, years ago it would have done. It’s the fawning and faux sincerity. The hugs and pats on the back. I have it on good authority it has been an open secret for years but he had been approached by some publication and this coming out was cobbled together within 24 hours to limit any damage. He refused to say if he’d been in any relationship with a man prior to this (highly likely he had) and the quivering lip and humble body language was fake in my opinion. If it turns out to be true about the young production assistant(s) then he deserves to be taken to task for the same reason the likes of Harvey Weinstein have. I’m not suggesting he’s as bad as HM but he’s getting sympathy and plaudits for his bravery when he’s been deceiving his wife for many years.

I was also sent this YouTube video about his friendship with a young male sixth former which has its own theory of why he chose to come out.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyce8KwLGiQ&feature=youtu.be

this isn’t about him coming out as gay. His sexuality is his business and shouldn’t impact on his career but, possibly, years ago it would have done

Whilst his sexuality might have had some impact on his career had he been openly homosexual some years ago, the reality remains that he is using it now to positively impact on his career and I suspect put himself above criticism in some way. Anything said against him now will be labelled homophobia, no matter how realistic the criticism. He has almost guarenteed himself a job for life now no matter what he might have been up to with young (er) men

There are two camps I think here. Those who want to be positive to him because of his sexuality. This includes the media and other people in the entertainment business and those who are thinking more of his wife and his family and how he has treated them badly. To make any other comment draws the accusation of homopbobia I fear. (Yes I am jumping in with both feet).

This is just an observation but reading across the newspapers and media sites this morning, much of the reported news is positive to PS however, if like me you like to look at the comments section where ordinary readers have their say a different picture begins to emerge. Eevn when moderated, comments which are positive to PS seem to be getting a high number of down votes or red arrows
( depending on which paper you are reading through). That suggests to me that whilst many may be fearful of making a comment directly ( or even stopped by moderation and threats of banning etc.) a good many are making their feelings and views known with the little red arrow, which of course is anonymous.

Maybe despite all the positive press and beleif that people have moved their moral compass considerably, a large number may not have done so. Many may believe there is a double standard applied when a man cheats on his wife with another man ( after all Boris Johnson has been fair game for those who want to criticise him for living with a woman who is not his wife etc.) . Maybe also many can feel for those hurt by the public nature of this. There may even be those who ( shock horror and without prejudice) hold moral views about homosexuality itslelf ( according to the comments and the red arrows etc.)

Now let me make it clear. I am not offering a personal view here, just an observation of what I have drawn from a content analysis of comments across the media this morning. Please do not shoot the messenger.