Piers Morgan has been working in the media since the 80s but most recently, he was on our screens at 7 am most mornings for Good Morning Britain. Piers speaks his mind, and he does so until his heart is content. He is often seen talking over guests, but he does dig deep for the answers he wants to hear. It’s safe to say, he’s like marmite. Piers has recently left GMB after heated rows about Meghan Markle.
Here is a look back on some of Piers Morgan’s worst GMB moments:
Transphobic claims
Despite Piers claiming he is an ally to the trans community, his comments have sometimes suggested otherwise. The list of controversial comments he has made would be a whole article in itself, so here are two times he has said hurtful things towards the transgender community.
In 2019, singer, Sam Smith bravely came out as non-binary, using the pronouns they/them. True allies showed love and support, but not Piers. Piers was upset by the news, saying Sam Smith will wreck the Brit awards
“because one [person] can’t decide if [they’re] male or female.” Piers continued, saying the star came out as non-binary purely for a “splurge in popularity”. Many within the trans community explained his comments were harmful, and the ‘popularity’ comment implied that being non-binary is a “trend or a fad or a craze”, which it simply isn’t.
Before, this Piers also made comments about the Girl Guides during a debate with transgender activist, Susie Green. The debate heard Susie explain that “Girl Guides is about allowing children to be children. Trans girls should be allowed to take part in the same way as everyone else.” Piers then said, “I think if a transgender girl who still has male genitals, shouldn’t be with girl guides until fully woman.” These transphobic comments were not the first and sadly, not the last.
Sexism claims
Morgan has also found himself in hot water after commenting on multiple occasions on women, specifically targetting female celebrities and co-stars.
In 2018, a feud between Piers and the girl band, Little Mix started and it hasn’t stopped since. The feud started when the girls posed naked with insulting words written on them. The band did this photoshoot as a way to empower women, as the girls began to find happiness within their own body. Piers had a lot to say on the matter, in a big GMB rant, he said: “if men do that they’re arrested, if women do that, it’s empowering. Very, very empowering. They’re stripping off to sell albums. Let’s just call it what it is. It’s not about feminist empowerment, it’s about ‘Let’s all get naked, everyone will run the pictures, we’ll sell more records’. That’s it. The rest of it is baloney. “They don’t have any flaws, they’ve all been airbrushed, they look perfect. There are no flaws.”
Secondly, in 2019, Morgan made his female co-hosts uncomfortable in an ongoing sexist rant, where he claimed Loose Women, Fireman Sam and Postman Pat were all sexist due to their gender. Susanna Reid interrupted Piers explaining Loose Women isn’t sexist, as they regularly invite men on the show, and explained they aren’t ‘banned’ as Piers suggests.
The final example of Piers being sexist was in an attempt to shame his co-host, Charlotte Hawkins, in 2021. Kicking off the show, Piers said “my eyes are slightly distracted this morning because apparently summer has arrived, which I wasn’t aware of,” as he mocked his co-star for her “mini dress” (which clearly wasn’t a mini-dress). Piers continued to try and shame his co-host, making her stand up and parade her outfit to the camera. Embarrassed and confused, Hawkins hit back saying “it’s just a dress. I don’t know why you’re getting so over-excited about the fact I’m wearing a dress. Breaking news: I have a dress on… I’d like to think there are probably more important matters to talk about.” The clip got over four million views with many sharing it branding Piers as ‘sexist’ and ‘creepy’.
Mental Health claims
Piers has also spoken out about his opinions on mental health, which most recently resulted in him storming off the set of Good Morning Britain.
This started two years ago, when actress, Beverley Collard claimed that mental illness was becoming ‘fashionable’ within celebrities, and that famous people were ‘promoting’ this idea to their young fans. Piers openly agreed and supporting Beverley Collard with her opinion, and tweeted about people using ‘victimhood for good publicity’.
In 2021, Piers struck again with potentially harmful comments about mental health, following the famous Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Oprah interview. Meghan famously spoke out about her struggles with mental health, something that touched the hearts of many, with these issues being so close to home. Morgan quickly claimed he “didn’t believe a word”, which received 41,000 complaints. This comment was harmful as it undermined the struggles of mental health, and could prevent others from speaking out, with the fear of not being believed. Piers was challenged by GMB star Alex Beresford, and he couldn’t face the criticism that he relentlessly targetted the Duchess with. Piers stormed off of the set and left the show after six years of presenting.
Racism claims
On January 21st 2020, Piers’ comments got 1,095 Ofcom complaints, being accused of racist remarks. The breakfast show was in the middle of a discussion about the Queen’s grandson, Peter Phillips, as he had recently starred in a TV advert for Chinese state milk. Ignorantly, Piers said, “he’s using ching chong ching milk”. Mimicking the dialect, co-presenter Susanna Reid said “taking the mickey out of foreign languages is rather 1970,” Morgan replied: “I’m sorry you can take the mickey out of it. It is ching chang chong milk, right?”
After Reid flagged Piers up on his wrongdoing, he backtracked saying “I can’t speak Chinese. I’m trying- I’m trying- I am trying to mimic the wording of that advertisement.” The complaints explained the language was used to antagonise Chinese people, whilst mimicking the language.
Religious claims
It is said that Pier’s identifies as a Catholic, after being raised by a Catholic influence in his Mother. This hasn’t stopped Piers from commenting on religious beliefs, causing great offence to both Muslims and Christians.
Following the Manchester Arena Bombing in 2017, Piers was accused of “hate-mongering” after he urged Muslims to “do more” to combat Islamist extremism. Writing on his MailOnline column, he called for the Muslim community to be bold and speak up to tackle the “growing menace” of radicalisation. He also tweeted soon after: “the Muslim community can and should do more to root out extremists. You should encourage them to do so. Urgently.”
In 2016, during a GMB interview about religious beliefs and marriage, Piers spoke with Christian magistrate, Richard Page. Quickly Piers asked if Page agreed with gay marriage. Piers then started to call him a ‘”homophobe”. 70 Ofcom complaints later, the interview was perceived as potentially damaging to Christians, as they got the connotation of being homophobic, despite Piers being a Catholic himself. Although some viewers felt the interview implied all Christians were homophobic, the interview was investigated by Ofcom and found to be balanced with no found evidence of discrimination.
Piers out!