The peтιтion did not start inside ITV. It started with Aaron Howlett, 50, from Kingston-upon-Hull, a fan of four decades who set up a Change.org campaign to put Sir Tom Jones back on The Voice UK after the singer said he had been removed as a full-time coach. Howlett later told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that he had not been sure anyone would follow. They did. The BBC reported more than 63,000 signatures from around the world by 23 September 2026; other accounts put the figure past 65,000. Howlett called Sir Tom one of the last living legends and said his voice resonates with people young and old. He also said he believed the other judges look up to him. The campaign gained a different weight on 15 September, when will.i.am, who has coached beside Sir Tom since the show began in 2012 and who is staying on the series 15 panel, shared the peтιтion through a Change.org post on Instagram, in front of a following reported at about 1.6 million. Will.i.am is not a bystander to the refresh.

He remains, with Kelly Rowland, while Cheryl and Aitch come in. His endorsement therefore asked the audience to reverse a decision that leaves his own chair untouched. ITV’s public position has not moved with the signature count. A spokesperson has repeated that the show loved working with Sir Tom over nine years, that he will not be a full-time coach on series 15, and that talks about involvement continue. Sir Tom had already said he did not want to leave and was not thrilled by a walk-on version of the job. Thanking people for asking, in the accounts of his later response, did not convert the peтιтion into a reversal. By the time the signatures were climbing through the 60,000s, the next series was close to production and the new coaching line-up had already been named. The graтιтude was real. It was also a boundary.

The sentence Sir Tom Jones chose was not a resignation. It was a description of how he understood the decision. On 8 September 2026 he wrote that, to be clear, he did not want to leave The Voice, that he loves the show and really appreciates the audience, that ITV made the decision a while ago, and that he was told just recently. He used the word fired. He said the reason given was a financial difficulty with insurance, that the press version was a refresh with no chair left for him, and that the alternative on offer was a much-reduced role: an appearance, without being involved from the start. He was not thrilled. The closer, that there is never a good time to fire an 86-year-old who is still pretty good at his job, did the work the rest of the statement prepared. It framed age not as a reason to step aside but as a reason the timing was indefensible. Support arrived quickly in the comments.

Olly Murs wrote, “Love ya TJ,” and said he knew how much the show meant to him, calling him an absolute legend and one of the very best to ever sit in that chair. Will.i.am replied with a long run of crying emojis, weeks before he publicly backed the reinstatement peтιтion. The Voice’s spokesperson did not adopt Sir Tom’s wording. The show said it had loved working with him over nine years on The Voice UK, that he would no longer be a full-time coach on series 15, and that talks about involvement were continuing. That is a different document from the one he posted. His record on the programme is not ornamental. He has mentored three winners: Leanne Mitchell in series one, Ruti Olajugbagbe in series seven, and Anthonia Edwards in series 11. He has sat across from Jessie J, Olly Murs, Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora in earlier years, and beside will.i.am, Kelly Rowland, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones in the most recent one. The reduced role would have kept his face near the brand and taken him out of the job he said he still wanted, which is why the offer, as he described it, read to him as the firing rather than the consolation.

Source: New York Post