ITV presenter Eamonn Holmes has been in the eye of a media storm over the past 24 hours after he seemed to give credence to a conspiracy theory that the mainstream media was stifling debate around a possible link between the spread of coronavirus and the rollout of 5G technology.
Oddly, this came up during a discussion on fake news on yesterday's 'This Morning' show. After his colleague Alice Beer called the 5G claims "ridiculous" and "incredibly stupid", Holmes criticised the mainstream media for attacking a theory which he said hadn't been disproven.
Eamonn Holmes talking about the 5G conspiracy theory. I just can’t. pic.twitter.com/vdwlQe0M1L
— Richard (@gamray) April 13, 2020
"No-one should attack or damage or do anything like that but it's very easy to say it is not true because it suits the state narrative."
“That is all I would say as someone of an enquiring mind,” he said.
Coronavirus cannot be spread by 5G. Even to suggest that the 'state' or the 'mainstream media' has some sort of 'narrative' around this issue with 5G is massively undermining to the public health emergency that we all find ourselves in.
Holmes was widely pilloried for the claim on social media. Ofcom said they received more than 400 complaints about the segment.
In the wake of the backlash, Holmes this morning decided to walk back his statements, which he said were 'misinterpreted'. He read a prepared statement on this issue that read:
"I want to clarify some comments that some of you may have misinterpreted from me yesterday around conspricacy theories and 5G. There is no connection between the present national health emergency and 5G, and to do so would be wrong... However, many people are rightly concerned and are looking for answers, and that's simply what I was trying to do and impart yesterday. But in the avoidance of any doubt, to be perfectly clear. There is no scientific evidence to substantiate 5G theories."
You can view the clip here.
In other news, two 5g masts in Donegal were set ablaze this weekend.
