UK broadcaster Sky News is being sharply criticised for reporting from Jerusalem the news that This Morning TV host Holly Willoughby had quit.
Willoughby resigned from the show on Tuesday (UK time), posting a statement to her Instagram account in which she said: "I have let ITV know today that after 14 years, I will not be returning to This Morning."
Last week, the presenter had been off air after news of a plot to kidnap and murder her was revealed by police.
However, Sky News - which was broadcasting live from Jerusalem with the latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict - broke into its war coverage to have presenter Mark Austin announce: "Breaking news, and the presenter Holly Willoughby has told ITV she will not return to host This Morning." He then returned to coverage of the conflict.
The clip has since been widely shared on social media.
"Not Holly Willoughby's resignation being reported from a literal warzone," one commenter wrote on Twitter.
"How is that even news, who cares what she does. Is she aware of what is going on in the world?" another posted.
"That was unbelievable. Why did anyone at Sky think for one second it was appropriate to report home Z list celeb news whilst reporting on a WAR!" a third commented.
Willoughby's resignation comes just months after fellow This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield was forced to quit the show. That came after weeks of speculation about tensions between he and Willoughby which arose amid claims he groomed a young ITV show runner for an affair.
The former New Zealand TV star later admitted to lying to ITV, his agent, his lawyer, and his family about an affair with a young ITV employee, who was just 15 years old when the pair first met.
