Piers Morgan seems to have a weird, negative obsession with Black people — particularly Black women. He does not, to my knowledge, have any history inside the Black community in Great Britain, and has not to my knowledge been associated with any Black people in particular, other than his Celebrity Apprentice co-hosts from back in the early aughts, when he won the inaugural season. One story to emerge from that brief association is when, he accused one of his castmates, Omarosa Manigault, of trying to bed him for cash prizes in a supposed “showmance”… I promise you I’m not making this up.) I’m surprised Omarosa didn’t sue him for slander.
Interestingly enough, Piers dropped that gross, misogynistic attack on Omarosa, who — love her or hate her, and many do the latter — is just as much a celebrity as Piers, if not more so — in a book interview, and then in a 2018 column published at a time when Omarosa, who became a Trump White House aide, was in the process of publicly splitting from Trumpworld and turning on Trump, whom Piers assiduously defends, from the admittedly limited experience I have with clips of his podcast.
And then there is Meghan Markle. Hie relentless, limitless, seemingly obsessive attacks on Britain’s Black princess ultimately cost him his co-hosting seat on the morning show, Good Morning Britain. His last morning on the job saw him storming off the set because his co-host calmly reprimanded him for his obsessive-compulsive attacks on Princess Meghan (who apparently once epically ghosted him …. maybe because he creeped her out:
It’s not just a case of a journalist honing in on one woman, it’s more than that.
Piers met Meghan in 2016 when he followed her on Twitter after she messaged him saying she was a fan of his. The pair developed a virtual friendship before meeting for a drink in London when Meghan visited the UK to watch Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
‘We had two hours in the pub, she had a couple of dirty martinis and pints - we got on brilliantly,’ he said of the meeting during an appearance on the Late Late Show. ‘Then I put her in a cab, and it turns out it was the cab that took her to a party where she met Prince Harry. The next night they had a solo dinner and that was the last I ever heard from Meghan Markle. I never heard from her again - Meghan Markle ghosted me.’
From his retelling of the encounter – from his perspective – where he says she looked ‘a million dollars’ and ‘something special’, it seems as if he was hurt that someone he had developed a friendship with was no longer interested.
Of course, it makes perfect sense from Meghan’s side. You go to London and are set up with Prince Harry, you probably don’t want to divulge everything you’ve been up to to one of the most notorious tabloid reporters in the UK.
We can only imagine Harry’s face when Meghan might’ve told him about her developing friendship with Piers Morgan, given how tabloid-averse he was and the fact the couple clearly wanted to keep their relationship private at first. He would've been right too, since Piers wrote a tell-all article about his 'two hours in the pub with Harry's new girlfriend' the week Harry and Meghan went public.
And yet, it was the fact Meghan distanced herself from Piers after meeting Harry that made him conclude she isn’t a genuine person. ‘I really liked her, this is why it hurts,’ he said. ‘I just think she’s a slight social climber I’m afraid.’
The word ‘slight’ has certainly snowballed in the last few years as Piers continues to grieve the rejection from Meghan Markle. At first, he continued to tweet about her calling her his 'friend', saying his 'sole interest' in Pippa Middleton's wedding was seeing what Meghan would wear also tweeting her to ask for an invite to the wedding when it was announced.
When he clearly wasn't getting what he wanted in return, he seemed to switch - no longer referring to her as 'the friend' he professed throughout 2016-17, but a 'grasping, selfish, scheming Kardashian wannabe' and 'narcissistic whiny brat'.
That’s what’s concerning about this whole thing, isn’t it? Piers Morgan has a platform of millions to bad-mouth a woman whose criticism came from the fact she ghosted him after meeting a literal Prince. His entire basis of disliking her comes from her unwillingness to entertain a friendship or romantic relationship with him – and it's a phenomenon women know too well.\
So many Black women to hate … so little time.
Now that he’s a podcaster, Piers seems to have turned his show into a three-ring circus in which he “debates” people on the other side of the ideological aisle.
I myself have never watched any iteration of The Apprentice, and have only watched clips of Piers’ podcast, so I didn’t quite know what to expect when my PR team submitted the request from Piers’ producers to appear. I agreed, frankly against my and my husband’s better judgment (and foolishly, without consulting my adult children and other surrounding Millennials, who assure me they would have warned me to steer clear, because the man is disingenuous.) I honestly do love a good debate and appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation with people I disagree with.
But as it turns out, the entire invite was a set up.
Check out the latest The Joy Reid Show episode to hear more, including my interview with former Ohio State Senator, and social and political activist Nina Turner (who you can follow at
) who was the guest immediately after me, in the very weird, confrontational podcast that drops later today.And just for your information, here is the invite as sent to my PR team:
If you watch the Piers interview, let me know in comments if you think the interview matches the invite. And note to self: always listen to Jason and ask the kids before accepting interview invitations. The young people know! Ok, back to work.
And if you haven’t done so already, do subscribe to The Joy Reid Show podcast. It’s free and we have a good time over there, and here at Joy’s House. Cheers!
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