Piers Morgan has spoken out for the first time since revealing he’d contacted the police over a series of death threats made towards him on Instagram.
Last week, the Good Morning Britain presenter shared screenshots of threatening comments that had been posted on his and his 27-year-old son Spencer Morgan’s Instagram page, telling his followers that he had contacted the police over the abuse.
Speaking about the matter on Monday’s edition of GMB, Piers told co-host Susanna Reid he had been in touch with law enforcement as he felt the threats represented a “line crossed”.
“You can say what you want, you can have opinions, but you’re not allowed to issue death threats to people,” Piers said. “So I called the police, the police came around, took it very seriously, thank you to the police [who are] investigating this.
“I also got in touch with Facebook, I know some top people there… and I said ‘look, it’s unacceptable’ and they’ve been cooperating as well.”
He insisted: “And I’m going to go through the process and see what happens. Because I want to know, can you find these people?
“They’ve had their account deleted – but who is this person? Who felt that it was acceptable to issue a death threat on Instagram to my son?”
Piers continued: “My son’s fine about it, he’s been my son a long time obviously, and he’s used to the rough and tumble of public life vicariously through me. However, it’s just a line crossed, and it’s got to stop.”
Susanna then told Piers she felt it was important he went through with the process, on behalf of those who don’t have his connections.
“These things are happening to people without the same resources or access,” Susanna pointed out.
“You can’t make a death threat to somebody in the street,” Piers added. “You can’t go up to someone in the street and say ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m definitely going to kill you’, because that is a criminal offence. But you can do it on social media.
“So I’m going to do it for all the people that are getting these sorts of threats, and have no recourse to do it. I’m going to push it through right till the end. And I’m going to find out who did that threat and they’re going to be held to account… let’s see how brave they are when we actually track them down.”
“There’s a line when it comes to freedom of speech,” Susanna offered, to which Piers responded: “That’s not freedom of speech. It’s a criminal threat to kill. That’s not covered by freedom of speech.”
During the same conversation, Piers also spoke out about people on social media who have posted abusive comments about public figures like Prince Charles, Marcus Rashford and the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.
“Just shut up,” he said. “The viciousness of this abuse towards people, sometimes in their most difficult moments, it just defies belief.”
Piers isn’t the only celebrity who has contacted law enforcement over social media threats.
Earlier this month, former Loose Women star Saira Khan said she’d reported various online threats she’d received to the police, saying she’d received a wave of abuse after stating she’s no longer a practising Muslim.
Reality star Gemma Collins has also spoken out about death threats she’s received online, saying last year: “We did have to get the police involved. I have had situations where people get obsessed with me.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.