Piers in creases at cricket with ITV boss – as Susanna tells of ‘shock’ at exit
OWZAT for a coincidence? Piers Morgan enjoyed a day at the cricket yesterday just days after his comments about the Duchess of Sussex were found not to have breached the broadcasting code.
But as he watched England’s fourth test against India at The Oval in London, there was a familiar face in the same box – ITV’s director of television Kevin Lygo. In March Morgan stormed out of ITV’s Good Morning Britain studio before resigning after criticising Meghan over her Oprah interview.
And now co-host Susanna Reid has spoken in depth for the first time about the ‘surreal’ moment he walked out.
She admitted she was ‘in shock’ when she saw Morgan march off the set, prompting her into calling an early ad break. Miss Reid, 50, persuaded him to return to his seat but he resigned after the show. Now, in an exclusive interview with the Mail’s Weekend magazine, Miss Reid has said she found his decision ‘intense’ and ‘emotional’.
Asked what was going through her head as the episode played out, she confessed: ‘I was in shock. It felt surreal as Piers got up and left. I went out to talk to him; we had an animated discussion. I don’t remember what I said, it’s all a bit of a blur now, but back he came.
‘I didn’t think he’d really leave the show. That was definitely another shock. The whole thing was intense, raw and emotional. Piers had been the person
I’d sat alongside and forged a successful partnership with for five years. I thought, “Whoah! What happens next?”
‘He was controversial, outspoken, stimulating and provocative. So there were going to be reverberations for me and the show.’
The mother of three hosted without Morgan the following day, declaring, stony-faced, to viewers: ‘Shows go on and so on we go.’ Of her statement, Miss Reid said: ‘I was quite emotional about our partnership coming to an end. My feelings were swirling.
‘You couldn’t inflame the situation because there were so many raw feelings – and the show was quite unsettled as well.’ More than 50,000 people complained to Ofcom about Morgan’s outburst, in which he questioned Meghan Markle’s claims about racism in the Royal Family and appeared to cast doubt on her assertion that she had suffered suicidal thoughts.
This week Ofcom ruled in favour of the show and said restricting strong views such as Morgan’s would represent ‘an unwarranted and chilling restriction on freedom of expression’.