ITV This Morning: viewers slam Bob Geldof for repeatedly misgendering Sam Smith as he discusses Band Aid song

Fans of This Morning have criticised Sir Bob Geldof for repeatedly misgendering Sam Smith on Wednesday’s episode of This Morning. Presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield have also been called out for not correcting him.

Irish singer/songwriter, 71, appeared on ITV’s This Morning to talk about his new song with The Boomtown Rats, No Tomorrow Like Today which is dedicated to guitarist Gary Roberts, who passed away in November.

During the interview, talk turned to the iconic Band Aid song Do They Know it’s Christmas that Bob co-wrote with Midge Ure.

Bob Said: “Throughout the years, we’ve put it out again, I mean, and if you looked at that, the official versions, you really do have the roster of great British rock and roll starting with Sting as a kid, Bono just breaking through, Simon Le Bon, you know, Boy George, George Michael.”

“And then you come to Band Aid 20, and you’ve got Thom Yorke from Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Damon Albarn, The Darkness, all these other bands.

"And then up to the last one, which was, you know, kids starting off – Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, 1D.”

The singer then shared an anecdote about Sam Smith, who in September 2019 came out as non-binary and goes by they/them pronouns. Bob repeatedly referred to Sam as he/him.

Bob explained: “At the microphone, he had his eyes closed and he was singing away to the song and [I said] ‘Sam, they’re not the words’.

“They start singing the original words. I said, ‘Sam,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, sorry, every year in school I had to sing that song’.”

This Morning Fans took to social media to blast Bob and presenters Holly and Phillip for not jumping in to correct him.

One person wrote: “Not Bob Geldof repeatedly misgendering Sam Smith on live telly and the evil Holly and Phil not correcting him."

Another added: “Why didn’t Holly and Phil didn’t tell Bob”

A third suggested: “Probably was he/him when working with Bob. It’s not like he’s doing it maliciously."