Piers: You can’t call me a racist just because I didn’t believe Meghan
‘Whiny, privileged celebrities exploit victimhood to suppress free speech’
PIERS Morgan yesterday savaged today’s so called “cancel culture” – and denied being racist for refusing to believe the Duchess of Sussex.
The former Good Morning Britain host, 55, stormed off the ITV show on March 9 after being challenged on air by colleague Alex Beresford, a day after Meghan and Prince Harry’s Oprah Winfrey interview was shown.
Piers said doubting Meghan, 39, was dubbed a race hate crime and it was time to “cancel the cancel culture before it kills our culture”.
He said he could not be labelled racist just because he did not believe parts of Meghan’s interview. He also attacked Harry for a “disgraceful betrayal” of the Queen.
Piers added the Duchess’s credibility had been eroded by news she and Harry, 36, had not in fact wed in private three days before their official wedding – after telling US chat queen Oprah they had.
He also insisted he was not making light of Meghan saying she had suicidal thoughts as a royal, but doubted her claim that she was told by court officials not to seek help.
In an article yesterday, Piers said it was outrageous Sharon Osbourne had been “driven out” of US show The Talk “for the crime of defending me” against a colleague who said he was racist.
Backlash
He said of Meghan: “She is just one of many whiny, privileged, hypocritical celebrities who now cynically exploit victimhood to suppress free speech, value their own version of the truth above the actual truth, and seek to cancel anyone that deviates from their woke world view or who dares to challenge the veracity of their inflammatory statements.
“No, it’s about a far bigger issue than one delusional duchess and that’s everyone’s right to be free to express our honestly held opinions, forcefully and passionately if we feel like it.”
“If our rights to free speech are denied, then democracy as we know it will die.”
The presenter said the backlash on him and his family included his three sons being trolled on social media and people saying he was racist and “mocking mental illness” by doubting Meghan’s claims. Piers said although he had not voiced anything racist and cheered the presence of a mixed-race woman in the Royal Family, he was left to conclude that “questioning Meghan’s forktongued ‘truth’ is now a racist hate crime”. The former Daily Mirror editor said the ex-Suits actress had endured no worse media treatment than other royal brides like Diana, Sarah Ferguson, Kate, Camilla and even Wallis Simpson.
But he said Meghan was quick to claim negative press was motivated by racism, “a very dangerous charge to make with so little to back it up”.
Piers also recounted his dramatic exit from the GMB set after what he called weather presenter Alex Beresford’s “censorious lecture”.
He said Alex insisted that even if Meghan’s debunked claim about her son Archie being barred from the title of prince because of his skin colour was untrue, it was still her “lived experience” and should be respected.
Piers claimed that view was ridiculous, since someone could not have a lived experience of racism when “the fact you’re basing it on is false”. He added: “Sadly, this is where we’ve now arrived in society: the truth can be whatever someone decides it is, so Meghan Markle must be believed because it’s ‘her truth’. And if you don’t believe her, you’re a racist.”
Support
Piers said after being told by ITV to apologise or leave GMB, he remembered a refrain from his exmanager, the late John Ferriter, to “trust your gut”.
He decided that in a free society he should be allowed to not believe someone and say so.
The presenter said had he said he now believed Meghan, he would be lying to his audience, “the very thing I’ve accused her of doing”.
Piers said the following morning he received more than 1,000 emails and texts, including backing from Bear Grylls, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps – and even his old foe, ex-Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson.
Former Tory minister Michael Portillo also said: “I didn’t know that disbelieving Meghan was a sackable offence. Interesting. Presumably not believing Boris would not be?”
Piers wrote that one of his favourite messages was from a woman to his local pub.
She insisted she would buy his first post-lockdown drinks “as a thank you for the way he has held the Government to account since the beginning of the pandemic and his support for NHS workers”.