Isn’t it fascinating that the self-proclaimed ‘best live presenter in the country’ can make such a twat of himself on live TV so consistently for so long? From telling a rape survivor that he thinks she should ‘take taxis’ to avoid getting raped or calling the people who first hired him ‘men of vision’, This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has just stumbled upon his greatest fuck-up yet.
If you’re not familiar with the newest off-the-shelf product to come out of Conspiracy Inc, here goes. The conspiracy and those that subscribe to it believe that the waves used to transmit data via 5G are the cause of COVID-19. How? Who knows? No-one has yet been brave enough to explain exactly how they think data waves cause COVID-19, nor, I’m willing to bet, will they ever. However, unlike other conspiracy theories such as Melania Trump having a doppelganger (a genuine conspiracy theory), the 5G theory has proven to be more than just harmless.
Ever since the birth of the theory, over 30 5G towers have been attacked with some being completely destroyed. The most devastating yet being the 5G tower that supplied the NHS Nightingale Hospital, cutting off phone service from the inside. Preventing loved ones from talking to their families. The 5G conspiracy isn’t just nonsense, it’s dangerous nonsense. Nonsense that Holmes does not think should be ‘slapped down’.
Whilst the lovely Alice Beer was taking the This Morning viewers through the horrific arson that had been carried out on these 5G towers, Holmes had the fantastic idea to cut her off mid-sentence with an absolute gem of a thought. I have no doubt that Holmes imagined he was on the verge of an investigative epiphany with the line: ‘What I don’t accept is mainstream media immediately slapping that down as not true when they don’t know it’s not true.’ Another cracker from the nations ‘best live presenter’. This man just will not miss!
The only problem with saying that ‘they don’t know it’s not true’ is just that, we do know it’s not true. It is a physical impossibility for artificial, shortened radio waves to transmit any sort of biological virus. Full stop. Perhaps if Holmes had done any semblance of research before presenting a show discussing the topic, he may have understood this perfectly well. It’s safe to say that Holmes is not as bright as his name would suggest; it doesn’t take a Sherlock to figure this stuff out.
For me, the real icing on the metaphorical cake comes at the beginning of the broadcast the next day, after Holmes received complaints across social media. Holmes said that he would like ‘to clarify some comments some of you may have misinterpreted’. We all know the well-known phrase: ‘When in doubt, take absolutely no responsibility for your actions and blame your viewership entirely for taking the literal words you said completely in context and complaining about them.’
Misinformation is always dangerous, deliberate misinformation even more so. However, in times as precarious and scary as these, lies and rumors take on a new form. It is no longer a cute idea to play with conspiracy theories live on air, it is reckless and thoughtless, and it endangers people’s lives. Perhaps the real conspiracy worth not ‘slapping down’ is the one that says Holmes should still have a job?
Word by Olly Singleton