COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Piers Morgan Was Fired After Meghan Markle Sent an Official Complaint to His Network

Meghan was one of more than 40,000 people to complain about Piers Morgan’s rants against her.

When Meghan Markle sat down to drop truth-bombs with Oprah Winfrey, she was aiming them at the royal family. The fact that the fallout cost her most relentless and petulant critic his job is just welcome collateral damage.

Now, it seems she may have had a direct hand in Piers Morgan’s ejection from the flagship breakfast show Good Morning Britain.

It was reported today by Chris Ship, ITV’s royal correspondent, that Meghan “formally filed a complaint” to ITV, the network which broadcasts the show, on Monday, after Morgan rubbished Meghan’s claims as untrue.

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Ship said of Meghan’s complaint, in a tweet, “It’s thought to have been sent to the broadcaster’s CEO. Meghan raised concerns about how @piersmorgan’s words affect the issue of mental health and what it might do to others contemplating suicide.”

Morgan was fired from the show on Tuesday, hours after a flaming on-air row with the show’s weatherman, Alex Beresford, who said Morgan’s rants against Meghan were “diabolical.” Morgan subsequently stormed off the set.

However, the timing of Meghan’s complaint suggests she was objecting to Morgan’s remarks on Monday, when he said, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says... I wouldn’t believe her if she read me a weather report.”

Mental health advocates and critics were outraged at his suggestion that Meghan’s experiences about having suicidal thoughts were fabricated.

On Tuesday, Morgan sought to dial down the controversy a little after returning to set, saying that he believed mental illness and suicide are topics that should be “taken extremely seriously.” But he maintained he had “serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what [Meghan] said.”

It has been reported that over 40,000 complaints were filed over his remarks, one of which was sent on Meghan’s behalf.

In a tweet sent while the program was on air Wednesday morning, Morgan appeared to confirm that his refusal to retract his comments lay behind his exit.

He wrote, “On Monday, I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t. If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on.” He said he was “off to spend more time with my opinions” and appended a Winston Churchill quote about free speech.

Speaking outside his home, he told Sky News that his departure had been “amicable” and said, “I had a good chat with ITV and we agreed to disagree.” He said he would enter a “temporary hibernation” and was “always in talks with people” about other job opportunities.

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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