Eamonn Holmes has been criticised after he went on a tirade against ‘wokery’… before admitting that he doesn’t know what it is or the origin of the word ‘woke’.
On Thursday’s episode of Steph’s Packed Lunch, host Steph McGovern and her guests were discussing the question of whether teachers should be allowed to refuse to teach certain pupils.
Giving his point of view, GB News presenter Eamonn explained that when he was in primary school, he was in a class of 44, and he had a ‘magnificent teacher’ who taught them for two years.
The 63-year-old continued: ‘There were these fantastic breaks we would get in teaching, where a pupil went to beat him up.
‘And basically him and the pupil would fight up and down the corridor, and we would all have half an hour off or whatever. It was super, it was a nice break, with all the studying and things that was going on.’
The former This Morning personality then made his first mention of ‘wokery’, insinuating that he believes misbehaving pupils shouldn’t be let off lightly, as he stated: ‘All this wokery, all this business, “Oh you’ve got to be good to them, they beat the crap out of the teachers, but still, we gotta be nice to them.”
This isn’t the first time the GB News presenter derisively referenced being ‘woke’
‘Throw them in a sin bin somewhere. That’s what nobody wants to do.’
House of Lords member Sayeeda Warsi, who was also on the programme, turned to Eamonn to ask: ‘Do you know what wokery is, Eamonn? Do you know where woke comes from?’
The broadcaster confessed that he had ‘no idea’.
The Conservative politician then explained, saying: ‘The word woke comes from this sense of being aware and awake to injustice. And it came about because Black people were told to be constantly aware to the injustice of slavery.
‘So the origins of it are actually really noble and we really shouldn’t throw it out in that way.’
Eamonn continued to insist that if a pupil has ‘beaten the hell out of a teacher’, they should be ‘stuck in a sin bin’.
The politician gave the TV presenter a definition and origin of the word ‘woke’
Sayeeda, 52, responded: ‘I think it’s wrong for teachers to be employed by schools and the state and we say it is okay for us to put your physical being at risk, and you just have to suck it up.’
After Eamonn asked if they were therefore ‘agreeing’, Sayeeda made it clear that she doesn’t agree with the anecdote that he told about his own childhood, when he ‘got a break’ when the teacher and pupil were having a fight.
‘I don’t agree with that. I don’t think we should create an environment where it’s okay for a pupil…’ she said, tailing off as Eamonn imagined a fictional letter from a parent.
‘So that mother’s writing and saying, “My little Dorothy, bless her, she pulls her hair of the teacher and scrabs her face and whatever it is, and I don’t know why she was given detention… [what a lot] of nonsense,’ he said.
Several people on X (formerly Twitter) called out the fact that Eamonn lambasted ‘wokery’, while not actually knowing the true definition or origin of the word.
One person said it was ‘embarrassing’ that he would talk about how ‘kids would attack teachers and teachers would hit them back and it was great fun’ when he was at school, before saying that ‘“wokery” is a problem now in schools’.
Another pointed out how the broadcaster had to ‘admit he didn’t know what woke meant… and there we have it’.
Someone else referenced the recent news that Steph’s Packed Lunch will be ending this year, stating: ‘Glad @SayeedaWarsi tried to put him back in his box, would’ve been nice if you all had! Cancel HIM & his ilk, not @PackedLunchC4!’
‘Get in there @SayeedaWarsi!’ another remarked.
Lecturing muppet @EamonnHolmes on what constitutes ‘woke’. That’ll be discussed on his next episode on GBeebies, in glowing terms, no doubt!’
Metro.co.uk has contacted representatives of Eamonn Holmes for comment.
Steph’s Packed Lunch is available to watch on Channel 4.
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This isn’t the first time the GB News presenter derisively referenced being ‘woke’.