Piers Morgan, who on Monday dismissed Meghan Markle’s allegations of racist treatment by the British royal family, stormed off the set of his own show, “Good Morning Britain,” on Tuesday after being called out by co-presenter Alex Beresford for his relentless criticism of the Duchess of Sussex.
“OK. I’m done with this. Sorry. No. Sorry. You can trash me mate, but not on my own show,” Morgan told Beresford as he walked away.
Watch the video here:
Beresford, commenting on the bombshell revelations from Meghan and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, noted the couple faced “an overwhelming amount of negative press” in recent years that was “incredibly damaging” to their mental health. He also called out Morgan, who has relentlessly criticized Meghan, for his subsequent attacks on the couple.
“I hear Piers say William has gone through the same thing, but do you know what? Siblings experience tragedy in their life and one will be absolutely fine and brush it off and the other will not be able to deal with it so strongly and that is clearly what has happened with Prince Harry in this situation,” said Beresford, the “GMB” weather forecaster.
“He walked behind his mother’s coffin at a tender, tender age in front of the globe. That is going to shape a young boy for the rest of his life,” continued Beresford. “So I think that we all need to take a step back.”
Beresford then addressed Morgan:
I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle. You’ve made that so clear a number of times on this program. A number of times. And I understand that you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle or had one and she cut you off. She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has, but yet you continue to trash her.
At that point, Morgan got up and walked off.
Beresford said it was “pathetic.”
“This is absolutely diabolical behavior,” he continued. “I’m sorry, but Piers spouts off on a regular basis and we all have to sit there and listen ― 6.30 to 7 o’clock yesterday was incredibly hard to watch, incredibly hard to watch.”
The show cut to a break. Morgan later returned and told Beresford they needed “to talk to each other in a civilized manner given we work at the same show on the same team.”
“You launching into a pretty personally derogatory monologue on one of your colleagues isn’t probably one of the best ways to go about it,” Morgan added. “As much as I’d like to sit here taking abuse from you for hours on end, that’s not going to happen.”
Beresford responded: “I’m not trying to come on this show and take you down, tear you apart. Just because we’re on the same side, doesn’t mean we have to have the same view.”
“This whole situation is very personal for me and I’m by no way, shape or form accusing you of being a racist,” Beresford added. “I have the luxury of knowing you on and off-screen and we’ve had conversations, I know where you stand on this and I have a great amount of respect for you, Piers.”
He added: “I’m tired of finding a different way to explain not to you, but to so many people on why what has been said is so wrong. I’ve walked into institutions as the only person of color and experienced covert and overt racism on so many occasions and why the Meghan interview really resonates with me is because an ex-work colleague — not on this show — asked me if I was worried about the shade of cocoa that my son was going to come out. So I fully understand the hurt that is behind all of that.”