Piers Morgan has taken aim at 16-year-old campaigner Greta Thunberg and activist group Extinction Rebellion over the current climate change protests.
The Good Morning Britain host performed a mocking impression of Greta’s recent UN speech, as he ranted about protesters during Tuesday’s edition of the ITV breakfast show.
Angered after seeing a picture of some activists queuing for food in McDonald’s during Monday’s demonstrations, Piers said: “The hypocrisy that comes with these people. This is where they went for lunch. They went to McDonald’s. To eat mass produced beef out of cardboard boxes.”
Despite Piers’ co-host Susanna Reid pointing out they could have been eating a vegetarian burger, he branded them “shameless hypocrites going to the epicentre of fast-food”.
Referencing Greta, he continued: “How does McDonald’s sit with the eco-warrior? I’m an eco-warrior, I’m going to McDonald’s for my lunch.
“We all want to save the planet. We all want to do more... I’m not lying on the floor screaming, going to McDonald’s, paralysing traffic in London and behaving like a total imbecile.
“They are saying we are gas-guzzling horrible people, they are nipping to McDonald’s. Shameless hypocrites.”
As Susanna then praised Greta and the people out on the streets trying to affect change, Piers impersonated the young activist.
Putting on an accent, mimicked her speech at the UN climate action summit last month, saying: “How dare you. You have stolen my morning. You have stolen my airtime. I have no life. How dare you.”
On Sunday, Extinction Rebellion activists kicked off two weeks of planned protests in London with an “opening ceremony” at Marble Arch.
More than 200 people were arrested on Westminster Bridge and near the Houses of Parliament on Monday, as the group vowed to to blockade “every single road” in Westminster “to make sure no traffic can get through to the central area of the government and the executive”.
The protests – which the group said would be “five times” the size of its April rebellion – will also include a three-day sit-in at City Airport.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ridiculed protesters on Monday, calling them “annoying”, “nose-ringed”, “hemp-smelling” and “crusties”.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.