Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield called their pal Alison Hammond off-air after she broke down while talking about George Floyd’s death on This Morning.
Alison struggled to hold back the tears as she spoke to Holly and Phillip over the phone about Floyd’s tragic death and the movements Black Lives Matter and Blackout Tuesday.
And while talking to soap star Sally Dynevor about Alison’s heartfelt speech later on in the show, Phillip said: ‘The response online has been incredible today.
‘We gave her a call, both of us afterwards and put her on speakerphone and told her how amazing we thought she was, she was very emotional.’
‘She is going to be overwhelmed today,’ Holly added.
It comes as Alison opened up about how she saw her 15-year-old son when she saw the image of Floyd.
Floyd died after being arrested in Minneapolis, with footage showing a police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck for more than eight minutes, despite him crying out: ‘I can’t breathe!’
‘Firstly I am a mother of a 15-year-old black boy,’ Alison told the hosts.
‘When I saw that image of George Floyd, I saw, my brothers, my father and I saw my son and I was disgusted to my core.
‘It hurt me to the pit of my stomach to think this is 2020 and we are seeing that and, let’s be honest, this has been going on forever. My whole life, my mum’s life, my father’s life, everyone’s life.’
Speaking about the movement, which is also referred to with the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused – was created in response to Floyd’s devastating death.
Alison continued: ‘I believe this movement, Black Lives Matter, is so very important and so wonderful when I see my white, my Asian brother and sisters standing by Black Lives Matter it means they understand.
‘They can’t understand fully but they understand what we are going through as black people.
‘And don’t get offended, I am not trying to offend white people, it’s basic goodness, it’s about the fact that if black lives mattered then we wouldn’t be in this situation.’
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.
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