Trump interviewer Piers Morgan: an Englishman with a controversial career

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to put two opinionated and strong characters in an interview room together? Well, as of April 25 we don't need to wonder anymore. Please welcome Piers Morgan vs Donald Trump.

Photo: Teaser Trailer Morgan vs Trump/Twitter @piersmorgan

A teaser for 'Piers Morgan Uncensored' on Morgan's Twitter page shows a heavily-edited clip of the Trump interview, in which Trump calls Morgan dishonest and Morgan suggests Trump's dishonesty. It could be an awkward one to watch.

The British talk show host, who made a few headlines last year (and many years previously, in fact), has headlined this trailer as an 'explosive' interview with the previous president of the United States. At one point Mr Trump says: “I think I’m a very honest man, much more than you actually.” In fact, it appears the president storms out at the end of the interview.

Photo: Teaser Trailer Morgan vs Trump/Twitter @piersmorgan

Piers himself is no stranger to storming off set. In his less-than-elegant storm off the set last year, he has kept to his column writing at The Sun, whilst appearing here and there to make the odd controversial comment. His days of keeping a 'low profile' are over and he is set to make a prolific comeback with his new show.

He will be starting the Breakfast show with Murdoch-run TalkTV. He told the BBC when he announced the show: “I am launching a new global daily TV show for Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation in America, starting in the spring.

“It will air daily in the UK, daily in the US and in Australia as well so I will be a tri-continental irritant which is something I have been aspiring to be for quite some time."

“Its going to be opinion, debate, big interviews, so if you’ve missed me on morning TV, I’m sorry but I’ll be back very soon. “If you haven’t missed me, I’m not sorry,” the presenter, 56, continued.

But, of course, Piers wants to make sure his voice is heard after his previous fiasco. “I haven’t been on breakfast television for nearly a year … My one question is, am I allowed to have an opinion, because that was the problem before.”

Piers Morgan, when he was anchor on ITV show 'Good Morning Britain,' received a record 58,000 complaints and an OFCOM investigation thanks to his response to Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. His co-host criticised his remarks openly during the live show in March last year, causing Piers Morgan to exit the stage in an angry huff.

Photo: ITV

What was the reason for Piers Morgan's polemic? Most directly, it was Meghan’s shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey in early March. She had revealed to Oprah - and an audience of millions - how victimised she felt in the Royal family. In a shocking statement about alleged racism in the royal family, she recalled that, as she was pregnant with baby Archie, she was questioned on how ‘dark’ her baby’s skin would be and what that could potentially look like.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says, Meghan Markle,” Piers Morgan said the day after the interview. “I wouldn’t believe her if she read me a weather report. The fact that she has fired up this onslaught against our royal family, I think, is contemptible.”

Photo: ITV

Later that morning, Piers then took to social media platform Twitter and referred to the duchess as the "Pinocchio Princess.” He added that he was aware that many people wanted to have him fired for his blunt remarks.

PHoto: Twitter @piersmorgan

With complaints raining down on ITV, Morgan said that he "still" did not believe Meghan. "I've had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don't [believe her]," Morgan tweeted. "If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I'm happy to die on. Thanks for all the love, and hate. I'm off to spend more time with my opinions."

Photo: ITV

Subsequently, ITV confirmed that the controversial TV personality would be leaving the show. "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." Daytime TV presenter Richard Madeley was hired as his replacement.

Piers Morgan has long advocated stripping the Sussexes of their titles. He claimed in October 2019 that if they truly wanted to be independent from the Royal family then they should rescind their royal names.

Photo: ITV

“It seems to me they want to have their royal cake and eat it… They want to have all the commercial buyer power of being the Duke and Duchess of Sussex without any need to do any of the dirty little jobs on a wet Wednesday in Stoke when they have to visit an old people's home or something. And I think that’s not on their agenda.”

That’s right, Piers wrote this about the royal couple in his Daily Mail column. He called them “grasping, selfish, scheming Kardashian wannabes.” As if that wasn’t enough, in another column he described them as “the world’s most tone-deaf, hypocritical, narcissistic, deluded, whiny brats” and “appallingly bitter, staggeringly self-obsessed, utterly deluded, and woefully tone-deaf laughing stocks.” We could conclude he is not a fan.

Photo: ITV

Meghan has had a complex relationship with her father, Thomas Markle. Their troubles were thrown into the media spotlight when he didn’t attend his daughter’s wedding in 2018. Piers criticised Meghan on this topic, telling her to repair the relationship. He wrote: “If you’re truly a humanitarian, Meghan, then show some damn heart to your loving father before he succumbs to a broken one."

Followers on Twitter, in turn, criticised Piers Morgan. They said he was merely a jealous man and "turned on her" because Meghan Markle wouldn't accept his requests for an interview. What's more, some media and online critics have suggested that Piers Morgan had a thing for Meghan and felt hurt after she started seeing Prince Harry.

Photo: Twitter/ @piersmorgan

"Meghan Markle and Piers Morgan were once very close but their friendship broke down spectacularly after she met Prince Harry," the Mirror reports. At some point in 2015, when she was still an actress in 'Suits,' Meghan and Piers "got chatting on social media, leading them to exchanging emails, messages and arranging to meet up for drinks."

"They spent a cosy night together in Piers' favourite pub in 2016 discussing a manner of personal topics," the Mirror reports, "but it was the last time he ever heard from the Duchess of Sussex. The source of the paper's information was Piers Morgan himself. He wrote in his Daily Mail column in 2018 that he had been "labouring under the massive misapprehension that we were friends. I was wrong."

Pierce Morgan has since claimed that Meghan Markle "ghosted" him after their "pub session," while his critics say he probably misunderstood her intentions to be romantic while she may have only wanted to talk about neutral or even professional topics instead.

Piers Morgan had some less-than-dignified beginnings in his media career. At 29, he claimed the title of the youngest editor in half a century when he became editor at News of the World. Rupert Murdoch appointed him for the post and kept him on for a year. It didn’t all go according to plan…

Piers ‘left’ in 1995 when he ran against the editor’s code of conduct and had a complaint made about him for publishing photographs of Catherine Lockwood, Charles Spencer’s wife at the time, leaving an addict disorder clinic. Rupert Murdoch kept his distance.

Surprisingly, he went to work as editor for the Daily Mirror. This was a surprising move as the Mirror is a clear labour-supporting title and Piers had shown a preference for far right Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. There were a few scandals at the Mirror, too, including breaching the code of conduct on financial journalism when he bought stocks in a company after the Mirror’s financial column tipped it as a good buy.

Morgan allegedly published a story about the affair of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Ulrika Jonsson despite knowing it had come from phone hacking. He was interviewed under caution by police after he gave away more hints about possible foul play. It turned out he had actually known a lot more than he let on, but to this day Morgan denies any involvement in the scandal.

Photo: C-SPAN

Piers Morgan replaced Simon Cowell in the America’s Got Talent TV show in 2006 along with co-judges Brandy Norwood and David Hasselhoff. Of course, he was in his element in the show, having been hired to be painstakingly honest and critical of the acts presented on stage. He then became one of Britain’s Got Talent’s original judges in 2007. After a four year stint, he stopped returning to the show, saying on Twitter that ‘Sadly, @SimonCowell can’t afford me any more…’.

Photo: ITV

Piers signed a deal with ITV in May 2008 and then, after an array of successful and failed TV shows, he guest hosted some episodes of Good Morning Britain in 2015. Later that year he was taken on as one of the permanent anchors in the show alongside Susanna Reid. However, they didn’t seem to get on too well.

Photo: ITV

Susanna Reid has gotten Piers through some rather embarrassing moments (although sometimes she just leaves him to his rambling opinion), but she really had to come to the rescue in 2015 after one of their guests had sworn live on air. Piers reacted childishly, laughing and drawing attention to the blunder, while Susanna calmly responded, “Well, I think we’ll just gloss over that, apologies.”

Photo: ITV

Piers has banned a small list of guests from his TV shows over the years, including Madonna. Morgan explained the matter saying: "She's too vegan for TV. We have Lady Gaga now. So Madonna is banned from my show.” He also banned Hugh Grant from appearing on any of his shows after the actor had raised the issue of the necessity of tabloids.

Photo: ITV

It is safe to say Piers Morgan is not a fan of the TV reality star and model Kim Kardashian - or the entire Kardashian family for that matter. He called Kim a ‘talentless half-wit’ years ago when she made an uncomfortable appearance at the Emmys in 2019 but really lashed out at her when she posted photos of her 40th birthday party in 2020, saying: "This thread is so repulsive it makes me want to vomit. "Not that we needed confirmation but what a spoiled, tone-deaf imbecile."

Piers Morgan won an award. Not the respected kind. He had the highest number of complaints in any TV show in 2019. Piers said he was pleased with the statistic, saying he would wear it as a ‘badge of honour’. Susanna, clearly enraged by the report, replied: "Basically you asked for him, you've got him.”

He criticised Little Mix years ago for taking their clothes off for their album’s promotion. In an interview, the girl band stated that Morgan wouldn’t be at the top of their list of guys to hang out with. Piers responded, "I can't hang out with those foul-mouthed, talentless, clothes-allergic little dimwits? Gutted."

Photo: Twitter / @piersmorgan

Watching the Queen’s grandson, Peter Phillips, in an Chinese advert just fuelled Piers Morgan for comments and criticism. He was anything but subtle when he commented on the video as he watched it live on air in January 2020. After asking the producers to repeat the video, he commented, “Ching chang cho jo”, trying to imitate the Chinese language. Racism complaints came flooding in and over 1500 people complained to Ofcom.

Photo: Guangming Food Group

Piers Morgan raised many eyebrows when it seemed he didn’t support or appreciate the need for men to speak out about mental health. It started when he retweeted Corrie’s Beverly Callard who said that celebs are trying to make mental health fashionable. "I’m not convinced by this new trend of male public soul-bearing," he tweeted. "Time for our gender to get a grip, methinks. Life's tough - man up."

So could we be seeing Piers at his best? Or at his worst? Whether you like him or hate him, it's certainly going to make for some good TV...