Richard Madeley has been slammed online for suggesting that a guest who appeared on GMB this morning to talk about being spiked on a night out had not taken any precautions.
Jemma Wolsetenholme appeared on the show with her mother to share her experience.
She explained she had to be put in a taxi by a friend after she started to feel unwell on a night out.
Madeley angered viewers after he asked her: “But had you been taking precautions?”
“Had you, obviously you’re aware of the risk of drinks being spiked, had you been trying to protect your drink? Had you kept your hand over it?” he continued.
“Had you kept it with you, do you remember that?”
READ MORE: What to do if you’ve been spiked, the symptoms and how to help others
Jemma said: “Yeah, well it’s sort of second nature now because we have been told for so long that we should be careful who is near our drinks.
“So if I did leave it, it was left with my friend and it was ‘Watch my drink’.
“And we were sat at a table and it wasn’t particularly busy where we were sat, so it’s still a bit of a mystery as to how it happened, but you see people finding opportunities wherever they can and all it would have taken was one tiny distraction.”
Woman gets spiked and @richardm56 decides to ask HER had she done everything to protect herself .. are you for real ??? How about stop spiking the women (and men) 🤔@GMB @susannareid100 steps in later on but can’t actually believe this 😡.. #gmb pic.twitter.com/ktbHZCahsN
— From Evija with Love (@EvijawithLove) October 21, 2021
Viewers took to Twitter to share their outrage, with one account saying: ”Why is the onus on the girl you are interviewing to take precautions and cover her drink? The onus is on the person not to spike her drink surely?! It appears you are insinuating it was her fault?”
Another said: “Tell me: is it me as a woman that needs to change my behaviour in order to stop drink spiking, or is it perhaps the men who do it, do you think? Your misogyny is showing, “darling”.”
It comes after campaigners warned this week that women are scared to go to nighclubs for fear of being spiked.
Police are investigating 12 reports of people being spiked with ‘something sharp’ according to police in Nottinghamshire.
Boycotts in nightclubs in the UK are planned for next week to highlight increasing reports of women being spiked.
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