Jeremy Kyle, 53, was expected to appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee today following the death of ITV guest, Steve Dymond, which resulted in The Jeremy Kyle Show being axed.
However, Damian Collins, chairman of the committee, said the presenter had “declined” an invitation to attend next Tuesday.
He said: “The Jeremy Kyle Show is an important programme that we will be looking at, as part of the inquiry into reality television.”
Damian went on to tell fellow MPs: “We believe that Jeremy Kyle himself should be an important witness to that as the show is based around him as the lead presenter of it.
“We have sent an invitation to Mr Kyle through his representatives.
“And we have received word back from them that he has declined to appear in front of the committee on Tuesday next week.”
Senior executives from ITV plus the director of after care at ITV will be present next Tuesday to give evidence.
Damian continued: “We believe that Mr Kyle is an important witness to the committee in its work.
“We will be pursuing this matter with Mr Kyle’s representative to see if we can find a date when he can appear or to understand fully why he isn’t able to appear.”
ITV axed The Jeremy Kyle Show back in May after 14 years on air.
Jeremy Kyle declined an invitation
