Sir Tom Jones has claimed he was ‘fired’ from The Voice UK after ITV addressed his exit after a decade on the show.
ITV bosses were said to want a major shake-up of the coaching line-up, with plans for the Welsh singer to instead feature in a ‘different capacity’.
However, Sir Tom, 86, has now shared a statement firmly stating he ‘did not want to leave’ the singing competition.
On social media, he wrote: ‘To be clear, I did not want to leave The Voice as I love the show and really appreciate the audience.’
The Not Unusual legend continued: ‘ITV made this decision – obviously a while ago and I was told just recently. The reason given is because of a financial difficulty with insurance.
‘They now say in the press they wanted to “refresh” the show, and with a new coaching line-up there wouldn’t be a chair for me.’
Sir Tom explained that he had been offered a ‘much reduced’ role, in which he would make an appearance but wouldn’t be involved for the whole show.
‘I’m not thrilled about that,’ he wrote. ‘So the only thing I know right now, is that there’s never a good time to fire and 86-year-old who’s still pretty good at his job’.
ITV has not yet responded to Sir Tom’s comment but Metro has reached out.
Comment now
Comments
Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google
Add as preferred source