Piers Morgan got into a Twitter debate with singer John Legend over the use of the “N-word” after the former CNN host penned an op-ed for the Daily Mail on its usage.
In the piece, Morgan suggested that the word will only be eradicated from usage “when America’s black community applies the same level of tolerance to its own use of the word as that now applied in the National Football League: zero.”
The backlash was swift.
John Legend entered the fray via his Twitter account:
ya'll better thank @piersmorgan for providing that simple, straightforward solution to racism. So brilliant. why didn't we think of this???
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 11, 2014
Morgan was understandably defensive:
I wasn't offering a 'solution to racism' @johnlegend – I was suggesting something that might help a bit. Am I wrong?
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 11, 2014
Legend fired right back:
@piersmorgan I can think of countless things that would help more.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 11, 2014
@piersmorgan what you suggested was actually useless and directed the blame for racism on the victims' use of a word. focus elsewhere.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 11, 2014
@piersmorgan Assume black people stopped saying the word, and then white people had no excuse to say it, what exactly would that solve?
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 11, 2014
Morgan’s “column” has been shared nearly 20,000 times, according to the Daily Mail. The debate lingers on…