Former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan has caused an outrage not only among the programme’s viewers over his verbal attack on the Duchess of Sussex following her interview with Oprah Winfrey but from his own colleagues as well.
One of them, weatherman Alex Beresford, publicly grilled Morgan on Tuesday for his “trashing” of Prince Harry’s wife – prompting the scandalous host to walk off set and never to return again.
Piers Morgan having a normal one, storms off the set of his own show pic.twitter.com/gsk4hPSdWu
— Gavin Coote (@GavinCoote) March 9, 2021
A number of others have made complaints to the GBM senior managers privately, The Guardian reveals, with one insider claiming to the paper that “many, many staff” have raised their concerns with the programme’s bosses about Morgan’s behaviour during the Monday broadcast.
Speaking to British viewers shortly after Meghan Markle’s and Prince Harry’s ‘tell-all’ interview with Oprah Winfrey went on air in the US, Morgan said that he didn’t “believe a word” the Duchess of Sussex said about her “suicidal” thoughts while in the palace and how her mental health problems were ignored by the royal household.
“I wouldn't believe it if she read me a weather report,” he raged during the Monday broadcast. "The fact that she's fired up this onslaught against our Royal Family I think is contemptible."
Some GMB staffers were apparently outraged by his comments:
“I haven’t ever done that before [because] I think a lot of what’s said about him is exaggerated by people who view him as a useful bogeyman,” one staffer said, revealing his complaint. “Also he’s been a brilliant interviewer on coronavirus. But I had friends asking me what he was thinking and I felt embarrassed to work here for the first time.”
Another source claimed: “everyone is used to Piers saying things like this, but Meghan had literally said that the media wasn’t treating her fairly because of who she is, and he was just doing it again.”
On Tuesday, ITV announced that Piers Morgan “has decided” that it was the time to leave the programme.
It is believed that he was pressured by the ITV management to apologise for his rant but he had refused.
Still No Belief
The former host later clarified that his verbal attack, which prompted over 41,000 complaints to be sent to British regulator Ofcom to investigate the Monday episode, was not questioning the seriousness of mental health problems and suicidal thoughts.
Morgan also clarified that it was not his place to "question if she [Meghan Markle] felt suicidal, I am not in her mind and that is for her to say".
But the journalist still stood by his earlier claims – he didn’t believe Meghan Markle’s take on the situation and how the royal family has reacted to her purported misfortunes.
It is believed that Meghan Markle has complained to ITV’s executives about Morgan’s words before his resignation was announced on Tuesday. According to reports, the duchess was concerned how Morgan’s statements would affect people struggling with mental health problems, rather than with personal attacks on her.
