Piers Morgan has quit the ITV morning chat show Good Morning Britain after he stormed off the show on Tuesday during a discussion about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry.
Morgan, who previously served as a CNN host as well as a writer and editor for British tabloids, including The Sun and the Daily Mirror, co-hosted GMB for the past six years.
Announcing the resignation, an ITV spokesperson said: “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.”
During Monday’s broadcast of the programme, Morgan said that he “didn’t believe a word” from Meghan during their widely publicised interview with Oprah Winfrey, including her claims that her mental health suffered after joining the British Royal Family.
“Who did you go to? What did they say to you? I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report,” Morgan said.
The following day, one of Morgan’s co-presenter on the programme, Alex Beresford, accused him of “trashing” the woke couple as a result of Markle cutting off personal ties with Mr Morgan.
“OK I’m done with this,” Morgan said before walking off the set.
Piers Morgan just walked off the Good Morning Britain set (!!!) after co-presenter Alex Beresford defended Harry and Meghan and condemned Piers' treatment of them in yesterday's programming pic.twitter.com/mH75J8ND4O
— Chris Rickett (@chrisrickett) March 9, 2021
Morgan’s harsh words for the couple drew a hefty backlash, with over 41,000 complaints being lodged with the UK’s broadcasting regulator.
Just hours before Morgan’s announcement, UK broadcast regulator Ofcom made an announcement of their own, stating they were launching an investigation into the comments. A spokesman said on Tuesday: “We have launched an investigation into Monday’s episode of Good Morning Britain under our harm and offence rules.”
Fans of the controversial couple had launched a petition to fire Morgan following his comments, amassing over 88,000 signatures calling for his removal from Good Morning Britain.
Despite the petition’s movement, a new poll suggests the weight of public opinion may be broadly against Harry and Meghan’s decision to give a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey. A plurality in a snap survey of 2,111 — a comparatively large sample size for a UK poll, where 1,000 is the norm — said they found the decision to air their personal grievances on U.S. television “inappropriate”.
This interview is an absolutely disgraceful betrayal of the Queen and the Royal Family. I expect all this vile destructive self-serving nonsense from Meghan Markle – but for Harry to let her take down his family and the Monarchy like this is shameful. #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/F2QDxELSsr
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 8, 2021
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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