Richard Madeley caused uproar with Good Morning Britain viewers after asking if a woman who’d been spiked had been “taking precautions”.
The segment came after a rise in reports of women being targeted by predators in nightclubs and injecting them with date rape drugs, as well as spiking their drinks.
The host was speaking to a woman called Gemma and her mother, after the woman had been spiked on a night out.
Gemma explained that she had no memory of what had happened on the night.
Richard then challenged her as to whether or not she’d made the effort to keep her drink safe as she was “aware” of the risks out there.
But viewers took exception with his line of questioning, accusing him of “victim blaming”.
One person said on Twitter: “That’s right Richard, let’s question the girl if she was careful enough!”
(Image: ITV)
Another wrote: “The responsibility should not be on young women to cover their drinks. Richard Madeley and this victim-blaming view should not be promoted by news presenters who have such a large platform. Do better.”
A third echoed: “Why is Richard questioning if this poor girl that got spiked was careful enough? Victim blaming yet again.”
Another said: “GMB interviewing a uni student who had been spiked… ‘but were you taking precautions to make sure that you didn’t get spiked? Hand over drink etc?’ Jesus.”
(Image: ITV)
And a fifth tweeted: “First Richard assumes the bloke on the TV is police commissioner, now he’s interrogating a girl about how careful she was protecting her drink even though she was spike injected.”
Richard had asked Gemma: “But had you been taking precautions?”
He went on: “Obviously, you’re aware of the risk of drinks being spiked – had you been trying to protect your drink?
“Did you keep your hand over it, have you kept it with you – do you remember that?”
(Image: ITV)
Gemma told him: “Yeah. Well, it’s sort of second nature now because we’ve been told for so long that we need to be careful of who’s near our drinks.
“So if I did leave it, it was left with my friend and it was ‘watch my drink’.
“We were sat at a table and it wasn’t particularly busy where we were sat so it’s still a bit of a mystery as to how it happened but you see people finding opportunities wherever they can.
“And all it would have taken was one tiny distraction…”
But co-host Susanna Reid quickly said: “Honestly, it’s not your responsibility to take precautions to stop someone who does maliciously put something in your drink.”
She added: “I mean, how on earth anyone is expected to constantly watch a drink, I don’t know – but Gemma it must have been completely upsetting for you.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
