Piers Morgan has doubled down on his defence of a segment on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, after he was accused of “mocking Chinese people”.
During the latest instalment of the ITV breakfast show, Piers and Susanna discussed Peter Phillips – the eldest grandchild of the Queen and Prince Philip – who recently appeared in a Chinese advert for milk.
After the ad was played on the show, Susanna was left exasperated when Piers began making noises, in what was apparently an imitation of the Chinese brand’s name.
“I don’t know the Chinese for ‘I only drink…’, what’s it called?” he protested.
Piers then requested the ad be played again, after which he declared: “Ching chang cho jo”, again trying to repeat what was said in the advert.
His co-host then told him: “You can’t say [that]... taking the mickey out of foreign languages is rather 1970s.”
Growing louder, Piers hit back: “Surely you can take the mickey out of it! He’s using ‘ching chang chong’ milk from the Chinese state – that’s what they said in the advert!
“I can’t repeat what they’re saying in the advert… I’m trying to mimic the wording of that advertisement.
“By the way, it’s not me flogging the Chinese state milk. Are people going to be more annoyed about me trying to mimic the Chinese State milk ad than they are about a member of the Royal family trying to flog Chinese State milk””
“Yes, Piers, do you not realise the kind of woke times we’re living in?” Susanna responded.
“Oh god…” Piers then offered, after which the topic of conversation was changed.
After seeing Piers’ impression of the Chinese ad, many viewers took issue with it on social media, accusing the host of racism…
One such critic was footballer John Barnes, to whom Piers sent a number of tweets, insisting he was not mocking Chinese people, but mocking “a member of the British royal family appearing in an advert for Chinese state milk”.
HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for Good Morning Britain for comment.
Last week, Piers was put in his place by Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, after he hit back at the suggestion the media’s treatment of Meghan Markle has been rooted in racism.
After she accused him of having a “vendetta” against the Duchess Of Sussex, Dr Shola said: “What’s so offensive about this Piers, especially with you. You are a man, privileged to have power and influence and you are using your platform so irresponsibly to spout out this personal vendetta with nasty and vile comments knowing fully well that your words are containing bigotry, misogyny, sexism and racism.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.