Viewers slam Richard Madeley for this patronising GMB interview with a Just Stop Oil activist
Environmental group Just Stop Oil campaigns to stop the licensing of any new oil extraction. When one of their activists, Miranda Whelehan, appeared on Good Morning Britain to argue their case, she got the full Madeley treatment – and not in a good way.
'I think the children and the future deserve that.'
'Just Stop Oil' activists protested across London this weekend to demand an end to the fossil fuel economy. Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis means many people are paying more & more for fuel. Are oil protests justified? pic.twitter.com/mnnIFlJvQT
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 11, 2022
Ironically, since Richard Madeley made such a point of insisting that there had been no viewer support for Just Stop Oil, the online reaction was almost unanimously against his patronising, perhaps bullying, attitude.
1.
I don't understand why protests can't be less disruptive, affect nothing and not be noticed. That would really get the message across.
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) April 11, 2022
2.
A microcosm of how the climate emergency debate unfolds across the globe: a young person remaining commendably articulate in the face of the arrant, pompous stupidity of 'the grown-ups.' https://t.co/ZLe3cZ9jZ8
— THE SECRET TORY 🗽 (@secrettory12) April 11, 2022
3.
The protest, whether you agree with them or not, got the eloquent young woman on to national television to talk about the likely catastrophe. Madely is deeply patronising and dismissive of someone who understands their future is in grave danger. Desperate times and all that…. https://t.co/KSllY16ojH
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) April 11, 2022
4.
Uncomfortable attempt to patronise but I say attempt because it utterly failed… she is good, passionate and on the side of right. Good work I say. https://t.co/y6aQgxSoDe
— Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 (@DeborahMeaden) April 11, 2022
5.
Richard Madeley refusing to look up here as he patronises a woman as though he’s never heard of protests making things better. And saying that not one viewer called to support is not the gotcha he thinks it is. Just shows he’s part of the denial problem. #Juststopoil #dontlookup https://t.co/osF3D0APYv
— Ralf Little 💙 (@RalfLittle) April 11, 2022
6.
The longer we keep putting boorish, unthinking twats like Richard Madeley in a position to argue that minor disruption to commuters is worse than the imminent end of human habitability of the planet, the more chance we have of being up to our tits in glacial meltwater by 2045. https://t.co/jXnxykRgCh
— Max Morgan 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (they/them) (@SpillerOfTea) April 11, 2022
7.
Whether I support the cause or not, you guys are not taking a neutral stance. This comes across to me like a group of people bullying a young girl for having an opinion.
— Bella Bacon (@BellaBacon) April 11, 2022
8.
If the goal is to shame a guest on your show and ensure you hit the news line. That's achieved easily enough.
If the goal is to understand why peaceful protestors can go to such lengths at personal risk of injury and criminal prosecution, you'll need to try harder. https://t.co/9kpAG4N66r
— Akshat Rathi (@AkshatRathi) April 11, 2022
9.
This interview is everything we watched in #DontLookUp and more, except now its not even against a PHD, but a 20 year-old eco activist essentially getting bullied verbally for acknowledging the seriousness of the climate crisis.@ClimateHuman @GeraldKutney @GMB @FFFinBD https://t.co/p4MlGSHRTj
— Joshua Gabriel Oluwaseyi (@joshgseyi) April 11, 2022
10.
We literally live in a country where 'just stop oil' supposedly can't capture the complexity of the current climate crisis but a slogan like 'brexit means brexit' can send idiot boomers like Richard Maddely into raptures… its so tragic https://t.co/C7nRAZbdRs
— Tobs (@Tobs_Muir) April 12, 2022
11.
People like Madeley were doing this back in the day to the Suffragettes, or the civil rights movement. It’s always the wrong sort of protest. The only right sort of protest for his kind is the sort they can ignore.
— kevinchesters (@hairychesters) April 11, 2022
Author John Green summed it up perfectly.
Miranda Whelehan crushed this. Despite a condescending interviewer, she stood firm and pointed the way toward the only future we've got–one where we tackle big problems together.
What's ACTUALLY childish: Pretending that our shared threats are either not real or unaddressable. https://t.co/O7dEw9JVN0
— John Green (@johngreen) April 12, 2022
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Source GMB Image Screengrab