Piers Morgan breaks silence on exit after Meghan comments: ‘Trust your gut’
The UK's Office of Communications reportedly received more than 41,000 complaints about the now-departed Morgan's comments.
British talk show host Piers Morgan has left his role as a presenter on Good Morning Britain just days after what has been called a racist and misogynistic rant against Meghan Markle following her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In a statement, his former employer said simply, “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”
Reports circulated that a formal complaint was lodged to ITV on Markle’s behalf after Morgan dismissed her revelation to Winfrey that she’d considered suicide, and hers would apparently be one of many: The United Kingdom’s Office of Communications received more than 41,000 complaints about Morgan’s comments about Markle and Prince Harry following the airing of the program.
In a tweet following his exit, Morgan wrote, “Thinking of my late, great manager John Ferriter tonight. He’d have told me to do exactly the same thing.” He added the hashtag “trust your gut.”
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Morgan followed that up with another tweet, in which he wrote, “On Monday, I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t. If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on. Thanks for all the love, and hate. I’m off to spend more time with my opinions.”
The tweet was accompanied by a photo quote of Sir Winston Churchill, which read: “Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.”
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More than one Twitter user responded to the message, pointing out the irony of Morgan walking off set because his co-host pushed back on his statements about the Duchess of Sussex.
“We all saw you throw a temper tantrum because someone pushed back on you,” one wrote. “You literally WALKED OFF THE SET because someone else exercised their freedom of speech …. so what’s good for you isn’t good for anyone else? How shameful.”
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Morgan also tweeted that his former show, Good Morning Britain, had higher ratings than its competitor, BBC Breakfast, for the first time on the morning of his rant.
“My work,” he added, “is done.”
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