Cliff Richard accused of 'fat shaming' Elvis - but This Morning viewers love Alison Hammond's response

Watch Cliff Richard accused of 'fat shaming' Elvis - but This Morning viewers love Alison Hammond's response

What did you miss?

Sir Cliff Richard stunned This Morning viewers on Monday by appearing to "fat shame" Elvis Presley in an anecdote about why they had never met.

The veteran musician admitted he had put off the chance to meet his idol as he didn't want a photo of an overweight Elvis on his fridge, but viewers praised presenter Alison Hammond for her quick-witted reply.

What, how, and why?

Richard was Sarah Ferguson's, or Fergie's, guest of honour on Monday's This Morning as she guest edited the programme, but things went downhill when he shocked fans with an unkind anecdote about Elvis Presley.

The Lucky Lips singer told how he had been invited to meet Elvis, but missed his only chance as he wanted to wait until the superstar had lost some weight so that he would look better in the photo.

Earlier in the interview, Richard told of his own diet which in the past included eating just one meal a day and now sees him follow the blood type diet.

He said: "Sometimes now I realise that I'm just not hungry. So I have yoghurt for breakfast, some muesli, come lunch I think - no."

Presenter Alison Hammond joked: "Can I come over to your house and just stay for a week?"

Later, Fergie asked him how he stayed humble, and he shared some early career advice to "be careful how you treat people on the way up because you'll meet them on the way back down," adding: "It's much easier to be nice."

So viewers were shocked when Fergie asked him next whether he had ever met Elvis, and he said: "No I did not, I had one chance through a journalist when I was promoting Devil Woman in the States.

"He said, 'I know Elvis,' because he knew that I was influenced. He said would you want to meet him, I said yeah.

"At the end of the interview I said, can we put it off? Because he had put on a lot of weight. And I thought if I'm having a photograph taken with him and it's going to be hanging on my refrigerator, he's got to look good. And I put it off.

"And then of course, he died."

Hammond told him: "Should never have put it off just because they're a little bit heavier."

Richard told viewers: "If you're a fan of somebody's, if you get the chance to meet them, meet them. Even if they've put on weight."

But Hammond shot back: "Is that why you don't want me at your house? Anyway..."

Those watching the interview shared their disbelief on X as one person wrote: "I think cancel culture may catch up with Cliff Richard today. You can’t be saying you didn’t want a photo because he was fat. That’s just rude you mean man!"

Someone else added: "As if #cliffrichard just fat shamed Elvis on @thismorning Surely it shouldn't matter what someone looked like to have a picture."

Another viewer wrote: "I don't think Sir Cliff Richard is on Alison Hammonds Christmas card list after that interview."

Someone else added: "So Cliff Richard fat shaming Elvis and saying he didn’t want a photo with him hanging on his fridge for ever... After Sarah Ferguson called him humble. What the actual heck???"

And another viewer commented: "How rude was cliff richard today and what he said. Good on Alison for saying that back to him. How dare he say something like tht about weight."

What else happened on This Morning?

Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson was the episode's guest editor on Monday, where she hosted a phone in on love and relationships.

At the beginning of the show, she told the TV chef Marcus Bean how "good-looking" he was as he previewed his take on a carbonara dish.

Tutorials on a heart defibrillator and dermatological care also took her attention, before Fergie sat down on the phone lines to share some of that invaluable wisdom acquired over the last 64 years.

But viewers labelled the move to bring in Fergie "awkward" and a "major fail".

This Morning airs on ITV at 10am on weekdays.

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