Following a row over commenting about the Duchess of Sussex, Piers Morgan has left ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
It brings the controversial host’s time on the show to an end. Mr Morgan was working on the show for six years.
After receiving 41,000 complaints, ITV announced the decision after Ofcom said it was reviewing his comments.
On Monday’s show, Morgan said he didn’t buy a word the Duchess told Oprah about her mental health in the recent interview.
Following the discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided that now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has taken this decision and has nothing to add further, said an ITV spokesperson.
The channel confirmed that his exit from the breakfast news show would take effect immediately. But refused to say who would be replacing him on Wednesday.
In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Morgan said that he had reflected on his opinion on the Oprah interview. And he still did not believe Meghan Markle. He added that freedom of speech is a hill; he is happy to die on.
Thanks for all the love and the hate. Adding that he is off to spend more time with his opinion.
Morgan’s departure followed an on-air clash. With weather presenter Alex Beresford, who criticised his co-worker on Tuesday for proceeding to trash the Duchess.
Also, on Tuesday, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said that she fully admitted to what Meghan said. Adding that ITV is wholly committed to mental health.
Mental health charity Mind, which is an ally with ITV on its Britain get talking campaign, also criticised Morgan. It said it was disappointed by the presenter’s remarks.
What was the resentment?
Media watchdog Ofcom received a total of 41,015 complaints by 14:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Making the number of complaints the second highest in the 17-year history of Ofcom. The highest number of complaints were 44,500 being submitted over several days. It was on racism row involving Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty, on Celebrity Big Brother, in 2007.
There is a cultural conflict going on, and Pier Morgan’s job has fallen victim to it. That’s different from saying that Morgan himself is a victim of it. In some ways, he has been a beneficiary.
The company must have expected Pier Morgan to withdraw publicly or apologise. But he is unlikely to have been willing to do it. Thus, this was his moment of leaving the Good Morning Britain show.
