Piers Morgan showed no sign of backing down after he quit Good Morning Britain amid a row over comments he made about Meghan Markle.
The former presenter tweeted that he “still doesn’t” believe what the Duchess of Sussex said in her interview with Oprah Winfrey, which included confessions over suicidal thoughts and serious race allegations.
In footage that aired in the UK on Monday night Meghan said there was a time that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore”, adding: “I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. And I said that I’d never felt this way before. I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn’t, because it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
But, the following morning, Piers said: “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says.”
The reaction resulted in more than 40,000 complaints being sent to Ofcom and saw the GMB host storm out of his own show yesterday as he was challenged by Alex Beresford.
He later decided to leave the show.
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
But on Wednesday morning Piers struck a resolute tone, saying he still doesn’t believe what Meghan Markle said.
He added: “Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on” above a picture of Sir Winston Churchill.
The comments were posted moments before Susanna Reid hosted the show without him, with Ranvir Singh stepping in.
She said the things would be “very different” but the “shows go on” in an opening statement, calling Piers an “outspoken, challenging, opinionated, disruptive broadcaster”.
Susanna Reid – #GMB is now going to be very different, but the show goes on. pic.twitter.com/YGbqninT91
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) March 10, 2021
The news also took pride of place in many of this morning’s newspapers, with Metro calling it the “end of the Piers show”.
Others said they could hear Piers interrupt Susanna even though he wasn’t there this morning in a nod to the presenter’s abrasive style.
Wednesday’s front page:
— Metro Newspaper UK (@MetroUKNews) March 9, 2021
OUR ROYAL SADNESS#tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers #skypapers pic.twitter.com/Hz2fwKIsvB
Related: Met Police officer arrested over Sarah Everard disappearance
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