Piers Morgan has quit Good Morning Britain, ITV has announced.
In a short statement released on Tuesday evening (9 March), the channel said that Piers had decided to leave the show.
They said: “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain.
“ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”
The Sun newspaper subsequently claimed that Piers left after refusing to apologise over comments made about Meghan Markle.
A source alleged: “He was asked to make an apology but refused. He says he is entitled to his opinion and is always going to stand by it.
“When he refused to apologise, there was a stand-off. And ultimately it ended with him telling producers he would not host the show anymore.
Piers himself took to Twitter today (Wednesday, 10 March) to comment: “On Monday, I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t.
“If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on. Thanks for all the love, and hate. I’m off to spend more time with my opinions.”
It follows TV watchdog Ofcom announcing an investigation into Monday’s episode (8 March) of the show over comments made by Piers about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Piers has faced criticism over his remarks about Meghan after she opened up about her mental health.
Ofcom said: “We have launched an investigation into Monday’s episode of Good Morning Britain under our harm and offence rules.
“As of 14:00 on Tuesday 9 March, we have received 41,015 complaints about the programme.”
In today’s show (9 March), Piers addressed the backlash to his comments and said: “When we talked about this yesterday, I said as an all-encompassing thing I don’t believe what Meghan Markle is saying generally in this interview, and I still have serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what she said.
“But let me just state on the record my position about mental illness and on suicide. These are clearly extremely serious things that should be taken extremely seriously, and if someone is feeling that way they should get the treatment and help they need every time.”
This morning’s episode also saw Piers Morgan walk off set after a clash with fellow presenter Alex Beresford.
“I understand you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one, and she cut you off,” Alex said as he confronted Piers about his comments. “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.”
Good Morning Britain, which started on ITV in 2014, airs weekdays between 6AM and 9AM.
After joining the show in 2015 Piers typically hosted the show alongside Susanna Reid on the show together with a rotating team of guest hosts, newsreaders and weather presenters made up of Ben Shephard, Kate Garraway, Ranvir Singh, Sean Fletcher, Alex Beresford, Laura Tobin and Ranvir Singh.
As well as watching on TV you can watch Good Morning Britain online and catch up via the ITV Hub.
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