Leave now! Starr’s fury at Susanna’s TV grilling over sex case
FREDDIE Starr stormed out of an interview after being asked about his sex-abuse claims ordeal by ITV’s new golden girl Susanna Reid.
The 71-year-old comedian tore off his microphone and told Miss Reid to leave his house after she asked him whether he had done ‘anything that could have been misinterpreted’.
A shocked Starr – who was told only last week that he would not be prosecuted over the allegations after spending 18 months on bail – looked directly into the camera for several seconds. He then turned back to Miss Reid and said: ‘Are you serious?’
‘I am putting the question to you,’ Miss Reid said, adding that she was indeed serious. Starr told the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant he was ending the interview, unclipped his microphone and stormed out.
‘Now if you’ll leave my house, thank you,’ he said, as he walked away. He was eventually coaxed back to complete the interview on ITV’s new breakfast show Good Morning Britain, joined by wife Sophie, 33.
Starr said on Twitter that he had reacted in the way he did because he felt ‘persecuted’.
He wrote: ‘I’ll always stand by my principles.
I’ve been persecuted for almost two years and I wouldn’t allow [myself] to [be] persecuted again on GMB.’ Miss Reid was seen left sitting on Starr’s sofa, looking bemused. The drama will no doubt give the ailing breakfast show a welcome boost of publicity. Ratings have fallen since its launch several weeks ago, with fewer than 400,000 tuning in to some broadcasts.
The Starr interview was the biggest secured yet by the show and the most high-profile for Miss Reid, 43, who left BBC Breakfast earlier this year to take up her new position.
The interview was recorded at Starr’s home in Mappleborough Green, Warwickshire, on Friday and broadcast yesterday.
Starr told Miss Reid he did not even know the women who made the sex complaints against him, and said he had lost faith in the justice system after his 18-month ordeal.