ITV has sparked even MORE backlash from viewers after a Good Morning Britain star appeared without a poppy on Tuesday morning’s episode.
Kevin Maguire joined Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to discuss the latest news, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves addressed the nation with a pre-budget speech.
While Susanna, 54, Ed, 58, and political correspondent Andrew Pierce all had pinned a poppy to their outfits for their appearance on the ITV breakfast show, Kevin, 65, was shown without one.
The Poppy Appeal, which launches in late October, sees the majority of presenters appearing on television wearing poppies as a mark of respect.
The poppy is typically worn in the weeks ahead of Remembrance Day on November 11 to commemorate the armed forces who have died in conflicts.
Fans were quick to take to social media to react, hitting out that it was a ‘disgusting snub to veterans’ that he failed to wear one in an ‘utterly disgraceful’ move.
ITV has sparked even MORE backlash from viewers after a Good Morning Britain star was seen appearing without a poppy on Tuesday morning’s episode
Kevin Maguire joined Andrew Pierce (pictured), Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to discuss the latest news, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves addressed the nation with a pre-budget speech.
One penned on X, formerly Twitter: ‘GMB why has Kevin McGuire chosen not to wear a poppy whilst live on air? Disgraceful and disrespectful,’ as a second agreed: ‘Why doesn’t Kevin Maguire wear a poppy?’
A third wrote: ‘Kevin McGuire still NOT wearing a poppy. What a utter disgrace to those veterans. Why is he not wearing one for the 2nd day I’ve noticed.’
A fourth fumed: ‘The only one on GMB not wearing a poppy!’ as a fifth added: ‘Any reason why Kevin McGuire STILL NOT WEARING A POPPY ????? Such disgusting behaviour on lice telly against our veterans.’
While a sixth concluded: ‘Shame on Kevin McGuire for not wearing a poppy.’
Others were quick to defend Kevin, writing: ‘It’s not mandatory,’ as a second agreed: ‘I wonder how many of the keyboard warriors that have been dogpiling Kevin about his poppy are actually wearing one…?’
ITV have been approached by the Daily Mail for comment.
While Kevin did not address his decision not to wear a poppy on the ITV show, he has previously acknowledged opting not to wear one before.
Over the years through numerous TV appearances, Kevin has been spotted without a poppy in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day – and in 2022, caused a stir after appearing on the Jeremy Vine show without a poppy.
During an episode of Good Morning Britain last year, he explained that he did choose to wear a poppy, but only in the ‘week leading up to’ Remembrance Sunday.
Susanna Reid and her co-stars were seen wearing poppies
During an episode of Good Morning Britain last year, Kevin explained that he did choose to wear a poppy, but only in the ‘week leading up to’ Remembrance Sunday
This means that viewers might not see him wearing one on-screen.
The journalist said: ‘If I wear a poppy, I always make a donation. If I wear a poppy I’ll wear it in the week of Remembrance Sunday, not before.
‘That’s what I do, it’s become elongated now and the “poppy police” every year go around pointing the finger…’
He added of other people’s decisions as to whether they wore a poppy at work: ‘It’s not because they’re disrespectful, it’s that they’ll have a different tradition of when they wear them or if they wear them.’
Kevin also defended his decision in an opinion piece published in The Mirror, where he hit out that the ‘poppy police should wind their necks in’ and suggested ‘policing’ people’s choice is ‘counterproductive’ to the effort of the Royal British Legion.
He penned: ‘Every year around this time a British version of Saudi Arabia’s mutaween (Islamic religious police) springs up.
‘Confronting those they deem improperly dressed, the self-appointed guardians of public morality demand to see your poppy.
‘Basking in their self-righteousness, the Poppy Police adopts a superior moral tone when their arrogance is cheapening the very act of Remembrance itself.’
GMB viewers took to X to complain after noticing that Kevin was not wearing a poppy
Kevin detailed how he ‘wore his poppy with pride’ in the week of Remembrance Sunday, thinking of his ‘mother’s brother who drowned’ during the Second World War, and his ‘grandfather wounded in the Somme’.
He hit back that he felt ‘poppy shaming is counterproductive’ to the efforts of the Royal British Legion, who raise money to support Armed Forces members and veterans.
It comes just days after ITV fans were up in arms over Loose Women star Charlene White failing to wear a poppy as she hosted the popular daytime show.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, with their outrage, fans called for Charlene to be removed from the ITV daytime series for having ‘no respect’.
One fan furiously penned after noticing the missing poppy: ‘Charlene shouldn’t be presenting as she doesn’t want to wear a poppy. No respect.’
‘I do think it’s disrespectful for Charlene not to wear a poppy. I know it gets mentioned every year,’ a second chimed in to agree.
A third continued: ‘Charlene why do you refuse to wear a Poppy? Every single person on the panel, in the audience, are wearing one, so why not you?’
Others stepped up to defend Charlene, with one fan writing: ‘In a democracy, you are supposed to be free to have your own views and opinions, not what the poppy police say you should do.’
It comes just days after ITV fans were up in arms over Loose Women star Charlene White failing to wear a poppy as she hosted the popular daytime show
Taking to X, formerly Twitter , with their outrage, fans called for Charlene to be removed from the ITV daytime series for having ‘no respect’
A second mocked the furious viewers: ‘Oops, the poppy police are out again.’
In an article she wrote for ITV last year, the TV presenter explained her decision stemmed only from the impartiality rules set due to her other charity work.
She wrote that it was ‘never an easy decision due to the racist and sexist abuse’ she receives on social media, and admitted she knew it ‘provoked a lot of anger’.
However, she explained that the broadcasting rules mean she isn’t visually allowed to support charities while presenting ITV’s news programming.
Listing a number of charitable organisations she’s a patron of, but is not allowed to mention on screen, she concluded that it made her ‘feel uncomfortable supporting just one charity above all others, namely The Royal British Legion’.
Charlene clarified that she ‘fully supports colleagues who do choose to wear the poppy’ and that in her private life ‘it’s very different’ for the star, donating to the British Legion each year and wearing a poppy on Armistice Day.
She also penned she had a ‘ceramic poppy from the Tower of London on her mantlepiece’ as she urged viewers not to think she doesn’t support the work of service personnel.
She added: ‘Please don’t think that I don’t understand the sacrifices made by servicemen and women 100 years ago. I do.
In an article she wrote for ITV last year, the TV presenter explained her decision stemmed only from the impartiality rules set due to her other charity work
ITV presenters are seen wearing poppies in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day (pictured: Kaye Adams)
‘It is always important to remember what my family, your family, and millions of people over many generations have fought for: the right to choose, and the right of freedom of speech and expression.’
After the furious backlash from fans, she took to social media with a photo of her father in RAF uniform and revealed that he had taken his own life.
Charlene wrote: ‘My dad, in uniform during his years in the RAF. An immigrant from Jamaica, who signed up to join the British Armed Services when he was just a teenager.
‘I post this, as despite the fact I’m barely on the TV at the moment because I’m still grieving his shocking passing (and live TV is difficult for me at the moment) the hate, vitriol and racism aimed at me because of my personal decision not to wear a poppy *on air* has begun again.
‘I’ve also posted, for the first time, the support I’ve had from the start from the Royal British Legion, when all the abuse first begun back in 2013.
‘I support the charity, I donate to its work, I believe in its work, and I wear a Poppy off screen. But I believe in the impartiality rules which exist in broadcasting regarding charities.
‘You may not agree with me, and I genuinely don’t expect everyone to, but disagreement does not legitimise the abuse.
‘It is not what my dad, my uncle, my close friends and millions of others served for.
Charlene explained her reasoning for not wearing a poppy in an emotional Instagram post
‘And those who instigate and fan the flames of hate and racism, especially when they know full well I’m in the depths of trying navigate the world as a child of parental suicide, should honestly take a moment to think about their actions.’
Charlene also shared a letter from the Royal British Legion in November 2023, after she was criticised for not wearing a poppy.
It wrote: ‘I was very saddened to hear that you were subjected to the most vile abuse on social media sites following your decision not to wear a poppy on air during this year’s Poppy Appeal.
‘The poppy is a universal symbol that represents sacrifices made in the defence of freedom; and so the decision to wear it must be a matter of personal choice.
‘Millions of our Armed Forces personnel have defended, and given their lives for our right to live in a free and tolerant society. Those who bullied you go against these core values and should be ashamed of their behaviour.
‘The Royal British Legion fully supports your decision, and I would like to thank you for supporting us during this year’s Poppy Appeal.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
