Piers Morgan defends himself against backlash over Naomi Osaka takedown: ‘Sorry, I must have missed that woke memo’

Piers Morgan has taken to Twitter to defend himself against the backlash he’s received over his takedown of tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is in the midst of a media blackout row.

He penned a column on her for MailOnline, in which he called Osaka – the world No.2 from Japan – an ‘arrogant spoiled brat’, and labelled her ‘world sport’s most petulant little madam’ in a tweet after she decided against attending press conferences during the French Open.

However, his comments were met with criticism, with some pointing out that Piers also exited a situation he didn’t like when he walked off Good Morning Britain earlier this year, after weather presenter Alex Beresford disagreed with him over his comments on Meghan Markle’s mental health.

‘Nothing is more petulant than walking off your own show because you didn’t like a comment,’ wrote one user, who also told the controversial media personality to ‘just say you hate Black women and get it over with’.

Piers came back, calling the comment ‘shameful’ and commenting: ‘I’d have written the same column if Naomi Osaka was white.’

Another person called for him to ‘walk in someone’s shoes who has a mental health condition for just one day’ as Piers had ‘no idea’.

But the ex-GMB presenter begged to differ, writing: ‘You have no idea what experiences I may have had of mental illness that might have informed my opinions of those who play the mental health card to silence legitimate criticism.’

One tweet, which labelled Piers as ‘obsessed with Meghan’ and said he spent ‘so much time attacking women of colour in the public eye’, had Piers asking: ‘Are high-profile women of colour exempt from criticism regardless of their conduct?’

‘Sorry, I must have missed that woke memo!’ he scathingly added.

He also hit back at any suggestions of racial prejudice with a photo of him and sporting icon Serena Williams after playing tennis together, writing: ‘Yes trolls, I have a real problem with female black tennis stars….’

He also doubled-down on his stance against Osaka – who has now withdrawn from the French Open – in a fresh tweet, claiming that the 2018 US Open champion had ‘got what she wanted – no more criticism, only praise’.

‘Meanwhile all her fellow tennis professionals will continue to fulfil their contractual obligations to the media & get criticism when deserved. This seem fair?’

Osaka, 23, has withdrawn from the French Open after admitting to struggling with depression and withdrawing from press interviews for the event.

Explaining the decision in an Instagram post, she described it as ‘the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being’.

She continued: ‘I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer.

 ‘More importantly I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly.’

Piers’ former colleague Adil Ray appeared to take a swipe at Piers earlier today when the Good Morning Britain star touched on Osaka’s situation, saying: ‘I just find it despicable how some people can just trash somebody when they say they have mental health issues.’

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