As most of the nation will know by now, Piers Morgan, regular presenter of Good Morning Britain (GMB), left his presenting post after calls for his resignation flooded the internet when he made some heinous and quite frankly outrageous comments about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview. It is clear to anyone with eyes that for months – if not years – Morgan seems to have had a vendetta against Meghan Markle. It is possible his feelings were hurt when she did not get in contact with him again after a meeting in the pub, or maybe he is just a typical power-hungry male who cannot handle when a woman takes her power back. Either way, he very clearly had a problem with her.
In the highly anticipated Oprah interview, Markle stated that at a point, her mental health was so horrendous that she not only considered suicide but felt she could not be left alone with herself in fears she would act on these dark thoughts. She said that she had asked for help from the Firm – essentially the man behind the curtain of the Royal Family – but that they had said no. She then sought comfort from her husband – Prince Harry – who tried to console her and made sure he could stay by her side. He then made the decision to remove his family from the immediate impact of the Royal Family and more specifically the UK media; a decision any reasonable person would make in the same situation.
This revelation, however, was apparently not believable to Morgan. A thought he aired to the nation during GMB the next day. This statement alone – that he did not believe that Markle wanted to end her life – was disgusting enough. It was made worse by the fact that ITV, the channel GMB airs on, is at present running a ‘Britain get talking’ mental health campaign. Meghan talked; Piers told her to shut up. The irony is unreal.
This is something we see far too often. Big companies and broadcasting networks push these mental health campaigns in an apparent attempt to de-stigmatise mental health conversations but then the people who work for them act in the complete opposite way, typically with no consequences. Since the beginning of March alone, Morgan has tweeted about Markle 45 times. 45 times. If that’s not an obsession I don’t know what is. Most of these tweets were also completely abhorrent yet nothing was done until 41,000+ Ofcom complaints led to Ofcom opening an investigation into Morgan’s comments. Then a statement was swiftly released by ITV stating that Morgan had decided it was his time to leave; more like he was told to leave before the network was tarnished beyond repair.
Even now, Morgan refuses to apologise for or retract his comments. He claims his freedom of speech allows him to hold and publicise these opinions. It is amusing, however, that when challenged on his opinions by a GMB colleague Alex Beresford, Morgan stormed off the set like a 4-year-old child having a tantrum. Apparently, he cannot take even a fraction of what he dishes out.
You are allowed to have your opinion on Meghan Markle, that is the point of freedom of speech. What you are not allowed to do, however, is decide whether or not she contemplated suicide. That is not your right, your job, or your concern. I, and many others, are sick of mental health lip service. Big companies and broadcasters tell us they care but where is the evidence? They continue to give loudmouthed bullies such as Morgan a platform. He may have lost his GMB gig for now, but we all know he will pop up elsewhere spewing his hatred for the world to grimace at.
It is high time we start to see companies and broadcasting networks doing the work needed to protect the nations mental health. The current pandemic has pushed many to breaking point and we simply cannot continue to allow people like Morgan a platform to tell the nation they do not believe peoples calls for help.
We see you. We believe you. We will listen.
If you have been affected by this story, please contact any of these organisations for help.
Samaritans – 116 123
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
Papyrus (under 35s) – call 0800 068 41 41 or text 07860039967
SOS Suicide of silence – 0300 1020 505 – 8 am to midnight every day
Shout Crisis Text Line – Text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258