Broadcaster Piers Morgan defended Sharon Osbourne, criticized CBS and decried “woke mob lynching” with a pair of lengthy columns in recent days addressing the fallout from his comments about Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
In a column for the Daily Mail on Saturday, Morgan provided a timeline leading up to his storming off the set of “Good Morning Britain” and his eventual departure from the show. Then on Monday, in another Daily Mail column, he attacked CBS for parting ways with Osborne after she came to his defense on “The Talk.”
Morgan on Saturday repeated his criticism of Meghan, calling her “one of many whiny, privileged, hypocritical celebrities who now cynically exploit victimhood to suppress free speech” and “seek to cancel anyone that deviates from their woke world view or who dares to challenge the veracity of their inflammatory statements.”
He said he left ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” after he refused to apologize for dismissing Meghan’s revelations to Winfrey that she struggled with depression and suicidal ideation.
“I wasn’t going to apologize for disbelieving Meghan Markle because the truth is that I don’t believe Meghan Markle. And in a free, democratic society, I should be allowed not to believe someone, and to say that I don’t believe them. That, surely, is the very essence of freedom of speech?” Morgan wrote.
Morgan said at the time he was “sickened” by the Meghan and Harry’s interview and called it a “trash-a-thon” of the monarchy. He criticized the couple for dropping a “race bombshell” regarding an alleged conversation in which a family member questioned how “dark” their children’s skin would be.
“I don’t believe a word she says, Meghan Markle,” Morgan said. “I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report, and the fact that she fired up this onslaught against our royal family I think is contemptible.”
The United Kingdom’s Office of Communications said earlier this month it was investigating the show’s episode under its “harm and offence rules” after receiving more than 41,000 complaints following the broadcast of Morgan’s remarks.
In his Sunday column, Morgan defended himself and Osbourne, who left CBS’ daytime talk show “The Talk” on Friday following remarks she made supporting him.
“I’m not a racist and neither is Sharon Osbourne but that didn’t stop the woke mob lynching her just for defending me,” Morgan wrote in the headline.
Morgan said he believes they were both entitled to their opinions “without being deemed a racist” and called CBS the “Cowardly Broadcasting System” that “pathetically bowed to the woke mob illiberally baying for blood like a bunch of crazed language-policing fascists.”
“The fact we’ve both lost our jobs is not just an appalling attack on free speech, but it’s also a terrible indictment of woke cancel culture bulls*** and the stinking hypocrisy that lies at the heart of it.”
CBS has not publicly addressed Morgan’s column, but the company said in a statement Friday announcing Osbourne’s departure: “As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace.”
On an episode of “The Talk” earlier this month, after Morgan’s departure from “Good Morning Britain,” Osbourne expressed her support for his remarks about Meghan and said she shouldn’t be criticized for standing by her friend.
“I feel even like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is a racist so that makes me a racist,” Osbourne said.
Co-host Sheryl Underwood, who is Black, asked Osbourne, “What would you say to people who may feel that while you’re standing by your friend, it appears you gave validation or safe haven to something that he has uttered that is racist, even if you don’t agree?”
Osbourne responded, “You tell me where you have heard him say … educate me, tell me when you have heard me say racist things! Educate me, tell me!”
After the heated exchange with Underwood, Osbourne tweeted an explanation.
“Please hear me when I say I do not condone racism, misogyny or bullying,” she said. “I should have been more specific about that in my tweet. I will always support freedom of speech, but now I see how I unintentionally didn’t make that clear distinction.”
CBS said in its statement, “Going forward, we are identifying plans to enhance the producing staff and producing procedures to better serve the hosts, the production and, ultimately, our viewers.”
The network said “The Talk” would return April 12.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
