Piers Morgan lights up social media.
British TV personality Piers Morgan lit up social media when he tweeted a photo of James Bond star Daniel Craig wearing his infant daughter in a baby carrier.
It wasn’t the photo itself that got people riled up. It was Morgan’s hashtag-style commentary about Craig’s “papoose,” an adopted Native American word used in Britain for a child carrier.
“#emasculatedBond,” he wrote.
Many of Morgan’s 6.5 million followers — along with countless others — were less than impressed with the dadshaming stunt.
“In case you needed evidence that people like @ piersmorgan literally just make up stuff to get upset about,” wrote one Twitter user, “apparently Daniel Craig is less of a man because he’s ... *checks* ... carrying his child?”
The response was swift and severe: The British provocateur was widely criticized for his skewed image of manhood, in which he claimed that Craig’s choice of parenting gear was a sign of emasculation rather than practicality.
“You really have to be so uncertain of your own masculinity to concern yourself with how another man carries his child,” Hollywood star Chris Evans wrote. “Any man who wastes time quantifying masculinity is terrified on the inside.”
(Morgan’s response? “Captain America wouldn’t wear a papoose.”)
Some users responded by calling Morgan names — “insecure manbaby” and worse.
Others attempted a more rational approach by explaining the benefits of baby carriers, which allow parents to keep children close, yet have their hands unoccupied while strolling on the street.
“There is nothing more masculine than a Father taking an active role in nurturing and looking after his child,” another user wrote. “About time more in the media celebrated this, I mean aren’t you rightwing oddballs always bleating on about lack of family values?”
Clearly, Morgan said, the world needs a “007 who looks sharp in a tux & wouldn’t be seen dead in a papoose.”
He nominated himself.