Piers Morgan refuses to apologize
No Soviet-style confessions for Piers:
On Monday, while discussing Markle’s revelation in her interview with Oprah Winfrey that she’d had suicidal thoughts but was denied help from senior members of the royal institution, Morgan said: “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.”
The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom said on Tuesday that it had received 41,000 complaints about that episode of “Good Morning Britain” and had launched an investigation. Chris Ship, the royal editor at ITV, the channel that hosts the show, tweeted on Wednesday that Markle had formally filed a complaint about Morgan’s comments to the network on Monday.
As criticism mounted, network bosses at ITV asked Morgan to apologize on air, but he refused and left the show, according to reports from The Telegraph, the Mirror, and The Sun…
“When he refused to apologize, there was a stand-off. And ultimately it ended with him telling producers he would not host the show anymore,” The Sun’s source added. “His contract was coming to an end this year anyway, but he said he wouldn’t do the job unless it was on his terms.”
I like his tweet:
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
The specific subject matter is pretty trivial – as are so many of these brouhahas nowadays. But the overall issue – a person’s right to express an opinion and not to have to apologize because some people object – is not trivial at all. Of course, a station also has the right to fire someone with whom it disagrees. But nowadays the window for acceptable speech is only open a small crack, and closing fast. This is a danger to us all.
Well, good for Piers. He said he doesn’t believe her. That’s an opinion; what is there to launch an “investigation” about?
Our Founders put freedom of speech in the first amendment because there was a history, from time to time, in Britain, of anti-government opinions being suppressed.
It’s not clear to me if the broadcaster that fired Piers Morgan is state-supported. If so, it’s even more weird, since Markle essentially accused the Royal Family of racism, without offering any specifics.
If only he had continued to slam Trump…all would be swell and dandy.
(These days, you have to know whom it’s possible to denigrate out loud and whom you can denigrate only under “the cone of silence”.)
Who knows? Maybe this is Morgan’s moment of instant karma…
Meanwhile, also across the pond, a member of the talented group Mumford and Sons made the truly unforgivable mistake of admitting on social media that he had read the brave Andy Ngo’s new book about the crazed violence of Antifa. So intense was the criticism directed at Winston Marshall that he felt compelled to make an utterly craven apology for the heinous misdeed of having read something unacceptable to the SJW Twitter-mobs and to the “woke” thought-police. Piers, whatever one may think of his politics, is at least no invertebrate.
Um, Kate, the whole point is that Meghan Markle NEVER lies.
Um, no, sorry, scratch that. Start again.
The whole point is that Meghan Markle CAN lie about others; but NO ONE can lie about Meghan Markle. Or even tell the truth…
She has a very rich fantasy life; but when it finally dawned upon her that she would NEVER be a true Royal, she realized what she had to do; she knew that her life role, her reason for living—her destiny—was “to break up the band”.
From that point it was all just a matter of strategy and tactics.
The race card—and playing to the hilt at being the victim of ugly people and powerful cabals and dark forces—is pretty powerful mojo these days.
Alas, had the Windsors only taken some time out earlier on to master the finer points of rolling on the floor laughing…
Me? I’m looking forward to Oprah interviewing herself—in her mansion, of course—on how much America is like Nazi Germany.
Barry Meislin:
Actually, I seem to recall that for the past few years Morgan has done some intermittent defending of Trump.
Dignity and self respect is of far more value than the job lost in exercising the former.
One detail I found of particular interest was Oprah Winfrey having attended the “royal wedding” (Megan’s) while only having met one another on one brief occasion prior. It suggests designs such as those we are seeing play out at present. I’ve not followed these issues until this week’s dramatic and orchestrated event. Alice in Wonderland is no longer a fictional story. It is one we live in.
“The specific subject matter is pretty trivial …”
At the cost of perhaps triggering people’s sarcasm-antennae let me say that we are going through a “mostly peaceful” revolution. If you were triggered, I’ll add “mostly peaceful so far”.
Some people have died. Some property has been trashed.
But it’s a revolution and every aspect of society is being re-examined. It’s not just the Founders or the Constitution. Turns out “tipping” is racist … and not being able to have 59 genders is a major human rights violation … the tax code is racist of course (https://twitter.com/georgegammon/status/1369672726378471424?s=21) … math needs to be de-colonized. Well, the list is endless. The reexamination of All Things doesn’t bother me much but I’m appalled at the stupidity of so very many of the reexaminers.
Freedom House has been reporting for 50+ years on which countries in the world are the MOST and LEAST free.
Their report was just released for 2021. For the first time ever, the USA ranks in the bottom half of the most free.
We are in serious trouble as a nation:
https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2021
Perhaps, but I’ll stick with instant karma….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI3D-JhuAmE
First time in my life I’ve had a positive impression of anything regarding which, it has come to my attention that Morgan has said or done.
Doesn’t mean I’d pull over if I saw him lying broken and bleeding on the shoulder of the road. But, I probably would not alter my course to steer over him, now.
Yes, Piers is on the side of the jerks but as neo says he has, from time to time, called out idiots and told them they are idiots.
This intrigued me:
“One detail I found of particular interest was Oprah Winfrey having attended the “royal wedding” (Megan’s) while only having met one another on one brief occasion prior.”
When Jussie Smollett was “attacked by Maga supporters” during a fierce winter storm in south Chicago, I recall that Kamala Harris pretty much had a new civil rights bill ready to go which would add new penalties to actions Dems don’t like.
The farce fell apart swiftly though, so they didn’t get a chance to ram it forward against uncertain RINOs. There may be a LOT of plans hatched by the other side of which we are not aware
@DNW:
Excellent policy right there!
JimNorCal,
I always thought it was an amazing coincidence Kamala and Cory Booker were pushing an “anti lynching” bill just as a son of political activist Janet Smollett was nearly “lynched” on the streets of Chicago’s racist, Gold Coast. You are the only other person I’ve seen make the connection. Hard to believe Kamala and Cory weren’t in on the plot.
Our hard boiled Journalists somehow did not pick up the trail’s scent.
}}} Our hard boiled Journalists somehow did not pick up the trail’s scent.
As the OOOOLLLD saying goes:
“That dog don’t hunt.”
In this case, I have to hand it to Morgan. He handled it exactly right. He turned it from criticism of Meghan to defending free speech. And too much of a stretch to make distrusting her word into an accusation of hate speech.
Perhaps FOX will hire him, he’d fit right in with Chris Wallace.
James Delingpole and a regular guest talked about Piers Morgan yesterday in this YouTube podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgWzx8nSRYE
Fair to say they’re not fans of Harry, Meghan or Piers.
Rufus: “You are the only other person I’ve seen make the connection.”
I hasten to aver that I didn’t come to that conclusion, I read about it somewhere at the time.
Re: Jussie Smollett/Kamala/Cory Brooker anti-lynching…
Yep. An interesting, though largely ignored aspect of the Smollett business, is that Jussy Smollett comes from a black radical family. His mother was quite active in the Black Power movement of her era and she was, in fact, good friends with Angela Davis. Davis even spent a Mother’s Day with Mom and Jussy.
Angela Davis was a top-tier sixties/seventies radical up there with Bill Ayers. Among other radical actions, she helped smuggle in weapons to a Marin courthouse to free the three black Soledad Brothers. Four people were killed, including the judge, and two wounded. Nonetheless, Davis managed to skate, the Rolling Stones wrote a lovely, syncopated blues ballad for her (“Sweet Black Angel”), and she is now a Professor Emeritus from UC Santa Cruz. Not too shabby!
The line from the Chicago Police, liberals and even conservatives is Jussy did it for his career and the money — how selfish, how sad!
I suppose that may have been part of his motivation — Davis’s radicalism turned out to be a great career move — but I don’t believe that’s the explanation. I think Jussy is a sincere radical following in his mother’s and Angela’s footsteps. Push the radical agenda “by any means necessary.” He was willing to take his chances to do that duty, which must have looked far less risky than an armed attempt to spring comrades from a courthouse.
Furthermore, I suspect he was also trying to help Kamala Harris and Cory Booker pass their “Anti-Lynching” bill in the House, after it passed the Senate.
Note the lynching motif in Smollett’s attack and in the hate letter he received. My favorite absurdity in the attack story is that Jussy’s “noose” was tied in a Windsor knot, as opposed to a real noose knot.
The real take-away is Mick and Keef don’t get enough credit for their political ballads….
–THE ROLLING STONES – SWEET BLACK ANGEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8M8f9x435I
The least relevant thing here is how much of a NeverTrumper Morgan was or wasn’t. Or whether he’s “seen the light” or is just popping off. Or whether he is another Glenn Greenwald or just another Bill Maher. What is relevant is the frightening suppression of free speech that seems to be growing by the day.
So, it turns out that Morgan had a pair after all. Maybe we can make him a life member of the NRA?