Almost exactly 24 hours after he threw a tantrum and quit his job on “Good Morning Britain” in response to being criticized by a colleague for comments he made about Meghan Markle, Piers Morgan popped up briefly on Twitter to double down. He also attempted to frame the matter as somehow an issue of free speech using a quote that accidentally described him, rather than his critics.
“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,” Morgan tweeted just after 6 a.m., UK time on Wednesday. “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.” Ok!
During Monday’s “Good Morning Britain,” Morgan ranted about Markle’s interview the night before with Oprah, saying: “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.”
On Tuesday’s “Good Morning Britain,” Morgan stormed off the set after a co-host called him out for those comments.
“I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle,” co-presenter Alex Beresford said. “You’ve made that so clear a number of times on this program — a number of times — and I understand that you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one and she cut you off. She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has, but yet you continue to trash her.”
“OK, I’m done with this,” Piers Morgan said to Beresford as he exited. “Sorry. No. Sorry. You can trash me, mate, but not on my own show.” Later Tuesday, ITV confirmed Morgan had quit.
Meanwhile, in his tweet Wednesday morning, Morgan attached a memed photo of Winston Churchill which included the quotation, “Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
Morgan’s tweet did not address the fact that what actually happened on Tuesday is that he was the one outraged because of what someone else said in response to something he said. Or put more simply, Morgan felt free to say what he liked, but when someone said something back to him about it, he considered it an outrage.
British regulator Ofcom said it was investigating Morgan for what he said Monday. “We have launched an investigation into Monday’s episode of ‘Good Morning Britain’ under our harm and offence rules. As of 14:00 on Tuesday 9 March, we have received 41,015 complaints about the programme,” the organization said on Tuesday.
See Morgan’s tweet below.
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. pic.twitter.com/bv6zpz4Roe
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 10, 2021
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