Piers Morgan slams ‘repellently distasteful’ influencer posing next to dead dad’s body ‘for likes’

Piers isn’t one to mince his words (Picture: Rex/Instagram)

Piers Morgan did not hold back as he scolded an influencer for posing beside her father’s dead body in a picture uploaded to Instagram.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter ripped into Jayne Rivera, 20, who uploaded photos of herself standing in front of her late dad’s open casket, his latest column.

Jayne has since deleted the images and removed her Instagram account, telling NBC News that while she ‘understood’ the bad reception she published them ‘with the best intentions in a manner my father would have approved with had he still been alive’.

‘There’s something so utterly and repellently distasteful about a young woman exploiting her father’s dead body for “likes” as he literally lies dead behind her,’ Piers scorned.

‘Jose Antonio Rivera, 56, was a war veteran whose heroic service to his country alone demanded that his death be greeted with the utmost respect and dignity.

‘Instead, he became a trashy tool for a daughter whose addiction to social media and seeking attention and praise from strangers over-rode any sense of basic common decency.’

Jayne Rivera posed for pictures in front of her dad’s open casket (Picture: Instagram)

Jayne told NBC on Wednesday that she had ‘worked extremely hard for eight long years building my audience’.

‘People from the outside judge a book by its cover without stopping to understand the intentions or underlying meanings of the book,’ she continued. ‘There is nothing wrong with what I posted, and I stand by that.’

Piers raged on Mail Online: ‘What “underlying meaning” could there possibly be to such awful, shockingly inappropriate and offensive imagery?’

He went on to say that he doesn’t ‘hate her for what she did’ but instead takes pity on her.

‘To crave the validation of tens of thousands of complete strangers so badly that you don’t care how woefully disrespectful you are towards your own father as he literally lies dead behind you is a stunning breakdown of values,’ he penned.

Piers later doubled down on his thoughts on the matter when AA Gill’s daughter Flora Gill pointed out that she ‘should be able to grieve however she wants without getting hounded’.

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‘Oh please,’ he retorted. ‘If you post photos of yourself preening by your father’s open coffin for Instagram ‘likes’, you’re inviting criticism for such horrible disrespect.’

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