Entertainment
Piers Morgan’s career from Britain’s Got Talent to Good Morning Britain as he quits ITV show
Piers Morgan has officially quit Good Morning Britain after the ITV show received more than 41,000 Ofcom complaints for his comments on Meghan Markle.
ITV has issued a statement simply saying: ‘Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain.
‘ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.’
Piers has hosted the show alongside Susanna Reid since 2015, but his career in TV and journalism started long before then.
How did Piers Morgan’s career begin?
Piers began his career as a newspaper journalist, as a writer and editor for British tabloids including The Sun, News of the World, and the Daily Mirror.
In 1994, he was appointed editor of News of the World at the age of 29, making him the youngest newspaper editor in half a century.
While working at the Daily Mirror, the paper was implicated in a phone hacking scandal. However, in 2011, Piers denied having ever hacked a phone or ‘to my knowledge published any story obtained from the hacking of a phone’.
When was Piers Morgan’s first appearance on TV?
Piers’ TV career kicked off with an appearance on America’s Got Talent, from 2006 to 2011.
He was on the first panel of judges, alongside Brandy Norwood and David Hasselhoff, with Regis Philbin hosting the show.
Around the same time, from 2007 to 2010, he appeared on the judging panel for Britain’s Got Talent, alongside Amanda Holden and the franchise creator, Simon Cowell.
While Piers and Simon have never been afraid to be shady about each other, the former GMB presenter has previously said he ‘owed’ the music mogul ‘hugely’ for casting him.
‘He took a gamble putting me on America’s Got Talent,’ he told The Sun in 2017. ‘Thanks to Simon, I had 10 years on US telly.’
Piers went on to host his own talk shows, Life Stories with Piers Morgan, which started in 2011 and is still running today, and Piers Morgan Live, which ran from 2011 to 2014.
Recent guests on Life Stories have included Rupert Everett, Gemma Collins, and Trisha Goddard.
Outside of his TV work, Piers has written eight books, including his most recent one, Wake Up: Why the World Has Gone Nuts.
When did Piers Morgan join Good Morning Britain?
Piers joined Good Morning Britain in 2015, a year after it was launched.
His co-host, Susanna Reid, had already been presenting since its beginnings, alongside Ben Shephard, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher.
He said at the time: ‘I am very excited at the prospect of waking up at 3am every morning, and even more excited by the thought of how annoying Susanna is going to find me after a few months.
‘Good Morning Britain is a great show with a terrific team on and off screen. I’m looking forward to it enormously.’
During his time on the show, he became known as a controversial and outspoken figure, and has been criticised for some of his comments.
In 2019, he said he identified himself as ‘a penguin’ in response to a news piece relating to gender neutrality and received 950 Ofcom complaints.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Why did Piers Morgan leave Good Morning Britain?
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After six years, Piers has left Good Morning Britain.
A reason for his departure was not given in the short statement from ITV, but it came shortly after Ofcom announced it would be investigating GMB due to the 41,000 complaints levelled against him.
The complaints came after Piers spoke out against Meghan Markle following her and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
He was widely criticised for saying he ‘didn’t believe’ Meghan when she said she was suicidal.
Later clarifying his comments, he said: ‘If somebody is feeling that way, they should get the treatment and help they need every time. If they belong to an institution like the royal family, and they go and seek that help, they should absolutely be given it.
‘It’s not for me to question whether she felt suicidal. I wasn’t in her mind and that’s for her to say.
‘My real concern was a disbelief, frankly, and I’m prepared to be proven wrong on this, and if I’m wrong, it’s a scandal, that she went to a senior member of the royal household, told them she was suicidal, and was told she could not have any help because it would be a bad look for the family.
‘If that is true, A: that person, if they’re still there, should be fired, and B: the royal family have serious questions to be answered about how they handled it.’
What happened between Piers Morgan and Alex Beresford?
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On the same day that Piers quit Good Morning Britain, he and co-presenter Alex had a confrontation over his comments about Meghan.
Alex told Piers on Tuesday’s episode of GMB: ‘I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle. You’ve made that so clear a number of times on this programme. I understand that you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle or had one and she cut you off.
‘She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has but yet you continue to trash her.’
At this point, Piers said: ‘I’m done with this. Sorry. You can trash me, mate, but not on my own show,’ while walking off set.
He tweeted afterwards: ‘I was annoyed, went for a little cool-down, and came back to finish the discussion.’
When Piers returned to set, he told Alex: ‘I completely respect that. It was my idea to have you on to talk about this.’
He insisted he has not got a ‘racist bone’ in his body.
Alex said he wasn’t accusing Piers of being a racist, and doesn’t think he is one, adding: ‘I just feel the stance you were taking on it yesterday was so strong I just felt it was slightly clouded because you’ve had an experience with her.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
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