Have I Got News For You star Ian Hislop took aim at TV presenter Eamonn Holmes over his comments on 5G technology and coronavirus.
Holmes was widely criticised for appearing to suggest the public should not completely dismiss a debunked theory that 5G may be linked to the pandemic.
The scientific community was among the critics while media regulator Ofcom is investigating Holmes’s comments, which were made on This Morning.
He has since sought to clarify the comments and accepted the theory was untrue. The controversy was discussed on Friday’s Have I Got News For You, with team captain Hislop saying Holmes should “stop believing complete rubbish”.
“Might this be true, the 5G thing?” host Victoria Coren Mitchell asked the teams.
“No, no,” Hislop responded. “And one of the giveaways is that Eamonn Holmes said it might be.
“It’s always worth having those key indicators flashing and Eamonn Holmes is certainly one of them. The other thing was, when he was questioned about it, he immediately said that this wasn’t being challenged by ‘state media’.
“Now, as soon as someone talks about the British press as ‘state media’, you know they’ve been on the internet too long. It really is time for them to go out in the garden, have a bit of sunshine, and stop believing complete rubbish.
“And the idea that a 5G network can give you a virus is not merely an opinion, or an interesting conspiracy, it’s just bollocks.”
Hislop was joined by regular team captain Paul Merton and guest panellists comedian Phil Wang and the Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden.
The show was once again filmed remotely, with Coren Mitchell joining the others inside a virtual studio.
