When it was announced that the Royal Family rebels Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were tapped for a marquee TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, it's unlikely that anyone could have imagined exactly how the aftermath would play out. Arguably the biggest amount of hubbub surrounded UK journalist Piers Morgan's complaint-inspiring criticism of Markle's claims of feeling suicidal, among other things. Though his comments quickly resulted in Morgan walking off Good Morning Britain, as well as igniting a massive viewer backlash, the TV personality doesn't appear to be changing course in his first interview since making the original comments.
Piers Morgan appeared on Fox Nation's Tucker Carlson Today opposite one of the shining stars in the Fox News organization. To be expected, Carlson wasn't pushing Morgan to make any grand apologies during his video interview, and the Daily Mail editor-at-large wasn't offering any. Rather, he doubled down on several of his claims and judgment calls about Meghan Markle's allegations of racism within the monarchy, though he did offer some clarification for where he thinks the Duchess' suicidal thoughts story rings false. In his words:
It’s not for me to say whether she felt suicidal, that’s only for her to know. What I was taking issue with, is she claims she went to two members of the royal household — a senior aide and also human resources. And she told both of them she was feeling suicidal, and needed help and both of them rejected that and said that she couldn’t get help because it would be bad for the brand of the royal family and I just find that impossible to believe. That you would have two people in the palace that would be that callous to a woman telling them that she was suicidal.
During the interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle claimed that she'd had suicidal urges during her pregnancy with her and Prince Harry's son, Archie. She stated that – basically as Piers Morgan put it – when she sought out help from higher-ups in the family, she was denied mental healthcare because of how it might reflect on the establishment. A lot of those feelings reportedly stemmed from the way Markle felt as if she had little control over her own life while part of the inner circle.
According to Piers Morgan, his comments were treated in such a way that he felt as if he wasn't even entitled to have an opinion on the matter. Never mind that those opinions elicited over 57,000 complaints to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, which set a record for the most complaints filed about a singular incident. Still, Morgan claimed on Tucker Carlson Today that he maintained "universal support" of the British people.
Elsewhere in the Tucker Carlson interview, Piers Morgan also challenged the idea implied during Meghan Markle's Oprah interview that Queen Elizabeth II is inherently racist. Morgan noted that regardless of whether or not people like the Queen and her policies, he thinks most would agree that there's a certain amount of dignity and respect she commands, which is why he took such issue with derogatory claims made about her, which the Royal Family was said to be looking deeper into. In his words:
She’s the longest serving ruler of any kind in the world, [has] huge respect from many people in Britain and around the world, also head of the Commonwealth and primarily with Black citizens. [Markle is] accusing the queen or the monarch of being racist — that’s really what’s going down here.
If the Daily Mail headline-maker has proven anything in his career, it's that he doesn't back down when pushed up against a wall, and audiences almost definitely haven't heard the last from him about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Especially now that his friend and fellow former TV host Sharon Osbourne made her own TV exit from The View after her initial defense of Morgan led to a row with co-host Sheryl Underwood, which then sparked claims that she'd used racial slurs and other controversial language with past co-hosts such as Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert. Perhaps they'll start a new show together.
