Piers Morgan left Good Morning Britain one year ago, and it’s safe to say that since his departure, the show has been a little less wild.
In fact, the the show has been hit with fewer Ofcom complaints since Piers has left.
Moving on from his controversial role, Piers is gearing up to host a brand new talk show titled TalkTV, which will air on Sky.
Talking to Sophie Raworth about his upcoming show previously, Piers said: “I am launching a new global daily TV show for Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation in America, starting in the spring.
“It will air daily in the UK, daily in the US and in Australia daily as well so I will be a tri-continental irritant which is something I have been aspiring to be for quite some time.
“It’s going to be opinion, debate, big interviews, so if you’ve missed me on morning TV, I’m sorry but I’ll be back very soon.
“If you haven’t missed me, I’m not sorry.”
To commemorate his departure’s anniversary from the popular ITV breakfast magazine show, here at Daily Star we’ve decided to take a look back at the most complained about moments ever.
From Meghan Markle digs to government clashes, conversion therapy discussions and mimicking a Chinese accent – it’s safe to say that GMB has been a controversial fixture on our TV screens, albeit slightly less so since Piers stormed off set.
Comments about Meghan Markle
In March 2021, Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry sat down with global icon Oprah Winfrey for a tell-all interview.
The ground-breaking interview made headlines around the world because of the revelations that came to light.
Meghan opened up about the alleged comments from a member of the royal family commenting on her son’s potential skin colour, and then bravely spoke of feeling suicidal.
But in an episode of Good Morning Britain that aired after the tell-all interview, Piers left viewers at home fuming when he said he didn’t believe the Duchess after she told Oprah that she had issues with her mental health and had been suicidal at one point.
(Image: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese v)
Ofcom received a huge amount of complaints, with the figures coming in at 54,595.
The Duchess herself even made a complaint to the watchdog, but Piers was later cleared when Ofcom said that he had not breached the broadcasting code.
Piers has since invited Meghan onto his new talkshow, and while speaking on Sky News Australia he said: “Fundamentally, what I want the show to do is be a platform for free speech and democratic debate.
“And the right for people to come on and have their own opinion without being shamed and cancelled – because that’s the way back for society.”
He then added: “If Meghan Markle’s watching – I’m sure she is – if you want to be my first guest, we have a bit of unfinished business. I’m available.”
Clash with care minister
When the UK was first hit with a lockdown in 2020, Piers was quick to criticise the government over its lack of action when it came to protecting the general public.
Conservative MP Helen Whately appeared on the show several times in 2020, but it was in April of that year when she defended the government’s decision not to test all care home residents for the virus.
Piers ripped into the MP as he accused her of “utter nonsense” over her claims that 19 NHS workers had died on the frontline, claiming that the figure reported in the press is much higher – despite official figures having a 10-day lag.
She told the anchor: “I don’t get my data from newspapers, I have to get it from the NHS and our scientists.”
Some viewers at home were quick to accuse Piers of “bullying” the MP, while others said the he was just doing his job and holding the minister “to account”.
After receiving almost 2,000 complaints, Ofcom released a statement which said: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
They later decided not to investigate the barrage of complaints, with The Sun reporting that a spokesperson later said in a statement: “We remind ITV that there are compliance risks in relying on a ‘combative dynamic’ between presenters as a way to provide challenge and context for the broadcast of content which may cause offence.
“This approach can provide significant context, as in this case. However, depending on the particular circumstances, this may not always provide sufficient context to comply with the code.”
Mimicking the Chinese accent
Ofcom were hit with complaints because of the controversial host once again in January 2020 when Piers mimicked a Chinese advert.
Piers was discussing the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips starring in a strange Chinese milk advert, when he suddenly started using made-up words while imitating the Chinese accent and language.
“At the next royal event, can you imagine Christmas at Sandringham is like – ‘I’m sorry your majesty, but I only drink yang yank yong ying ming milk,” he said.
As he turned to Susanna Reid and added: “I don’t know the Chinese for ‘I only drink…’ What’s it called? Ching chang cho jo.”
At the time, Susanna chastised Piers and said: “You can’t say that… taking the mickey out of foreign languages is pretty 1970s.”
Ofcom received 1,756 complaints but issued just a warning, which stated: “Part of Piers Morgan’s mockery included three attempts to mimic the Chinese language, including using the phrase ‘ching chang’. As ITV has itself acknowledged, this phrase is recognised as a racist trope aimed specifically at people of Chinese heritage.”
Conversion therapy segment
(Image: ITV)
ITV received a barrage of complaints when they allowed gay conversion therapist, Dr Michael Davidson, in the studio to chat on Good Morning Britain.
He shared his incredibly damaging homophobic views and discussed the use of conversion therapy, which left viewers up in arms.
Piers and Susanna ended up calling anyone who supported his views “horrible little bigots”, and Ofcom were issued with 1,099 complaints that were forwarded onto ITV.
Richard Madeley ‘dismisses’ Labour death threats
(Image: ITV)
At the end of February 2022, almost one year on since Piers’ departure, Richard Madeley who now often sits in Piers’ seat, received a barrage of complaints.
The TV show was hit with more than 800 complaints after comments made by Richard caused a stir.
Richard was accused of “down-playing” the death threats that Labour leader Keir Starmer received recently, which sparked a huge backlash.
When discussing it with a journalist, he said: “Is that that big a deal?”
(Image: Getty Images)
The row came to a head days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the false allegation that leader of the opposition Sir Keir had failed to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile when he worked a different profession.
After Richard’s comments were met with negativity on social media, he apologised the following day.
He said: “It was a really busy show yesterday, we had so much to do. I want to say one thing very quickly at the top here.
“I tried to pose a question on one of our early discussions on the programme about how prolific online death threats are. I didn’t actually quite press it properly, I didn’t go into it enough.
“I just want to reiterate the obvious statement that death threats clearly are never acceptable.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
