Am I the Only One Who Can't Stand Piers Morgan?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Before I posted this I thought I'd look him up on Wikipedia. Turns out he's even worse than I thought. CNN does it again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Morgan

Snipped from Wikipedia:

In 1994, aged 28, he was appointed editor of the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch, becoming the youngest national newspaper editor in more than half a century. He quickly gained notoriety for his invasive, thrusting style and lack of concern for celebrities' right to privacy, claiming that they could not manipulate the media to further their own ends without accepting the consequences of a two way deal.

-----

In 2000, he was the subject of an investigation after Suzy Jagger wrote a story in The Daily Telegraph revealing that he had bought £20,000 worth of shares in the computer company Viglen soon before the Mirror 's 'City Slickers' column tipped Viglen as a good buy.

-----

Morgan was fired from the Mirror on 14 May 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs allegedly showing Iraqi prisoners being abused by British Army soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Within days the photographs were shown to be crude fakes.

-----

Morgan appeared as a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in 2007, to raise money for Comic Relief. During filming, he and Alastair Campbell reduced fellow contestant Trinny Woodall to tears when they tried to sabotage her team's event, and were involved in a brawl with her. Upon his team losing, Morgan was selected by Sir Alan Sugar as the contestant to be fired.

-----

In 2007, Ian Hislop chose Morgan as one of his pet hates on Room 101. In doing so, Hislop spoke of the history of animosity between himself and Morgan and revealed that after their exchange on Have I Got News For You (which was shown as a clip), Morgan's reporters were tasked with trying to get gossip on Hislop's private life (including phoning acquaintances of Hislop), and photographers were sent in case Hislop did anything untoward or embarrassing while in their presence. Neither the reporters nor the photographers succeeded.

-----

In March 2004, at the British Press Awards, journalist and television personality Jeremy Clarkson punched Morgan three times in a clash over The Mirror's coverage of his private life, and accusations that Clarkson did not write for his column in The Sun himself.

-----

Morgan has attracted criticism particularly for his TV work, with claims he is "smarmy", "arrogant", "self-satisfied" and "too full of himself". His show on CNN, "Piers Morgan Tonight", has been described by one critic as "droning", "unnecessary" and "rubbish".

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. Cute

:popcorn:

[Hardrada]

2. I pick "Rubbish," Alex for 100!

[patricia92243]

3. Actually, I like him pretty well until I read your articles. As badly as Americans need work, I

wish CNN had hired someome "local."

[jp11]

4. I never cared for LK and haven't watched more than a few minutes of this guy

so can't comment on him other than I never got 'hooked'.

[virgogal]

5. Never seen him but how the hell do guys like this who screw up over

and over again get very well paid jobs?

I just don't get it,especially when so many hard working people,like someone in my family,can't find decent work.

What a world.

[bigwillq]

I don't like him so I don't watch him (nt)

[Skip Intro]

6. I like him on America's Got Talent. Those shows need a jerk,

and he's pretty good at being a jerk.

I will say, though, begrudgingly, that I can't help but admire his seeming resolve to speak his mind despite how others might react.

[sabrina 1]

7. He was also a judge on Britain's Got Talent which is

where American audiences first became acquainted him. That happened because he was one of the judges when Susan Boyle first appeared on the show and wowed the audience, after they, and the judges, mostly mocked her. It was from that video which probably got the most views ever, that people here came to know Piers Morgan.

He was criticized for using Boyle's simple statement that she had a 'crush' on him because he 'has a nice face', when he appeared on Larry King with Boyle in London and pretended to have an interest in her. To his credit after it became clear that Boyle had acquired an enormous worldwide fan base who did not like him or anyone else playing on her feelings, he became a defender of Boyle against the tabloids out to get her before the finals of BGT.

I doubt anyone would know who he is if it were not Susan Boyle. She is a sweet, wonderful woman and I hope she has gotten over any crush she may have had on him. But he can thank her for coming to the attention of CNN. I wonder if he has.

[zalinda]

10. He actually became well known in the US because

of his stint on Celebrity Apprentice a couple of years ago, in which he won. He knows many famous people, including Simon Cowell and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. I have to wonder if his TV persona is quite different than he is in his personal life. One thing is for sure, he seems to be a very smart man, who came from very humble beginnings. And he proved on the Apprentice that he says what he means. Omarosa certainly found out that this is one man you don't want to get angry at you, because he gets even.

zalinda

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Not 'very humble beginnings' - he went to a private school till he was 13

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3689768.ece

No, I think he's a jerk in his private life too. I know someone who met him, and they say he was a shameless brown-noser to those with influence. He doesn't 'say what he means'; he lies, about share fraud and photos, for instance. And he participated in the phone hacking:

Moron, meanwhile, is enjoying the limelight as a celeb interviewer on cable TV. Former Mirror hacks have this week been reminiscing about the occasion when Moron serenaded their newsroom with the Beatles song “And I Love Her” during a period of pre-wedding froideur between Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, and then informed them that “It’s the message he sang to Heather to make it up — you should hear the tape.”

http://www.matthewcharlesdavis.com/2011/02/14/you-should-hear-the-tape/

He was oh-so-sad about how an ex-newspaper editor had to resign his job as Tory communications director because his paper had been breaking the law left, right and centre, just like Morgan had been:

12.04pm: This tweet from Piers Morgan, another editor who had to quit (the Mirror) amid scandal, in this case the alleged doctoring of photographs showing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers.

Very sad to hear news about Andy Coulson - good man, good friend. How many times does @guardian want people to quit over same thing?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/21/andy-coulson-phone-hacking-statement

Well, Piers's cushy little job on CNN might be at risk Americans are reminded of his lack of journalistic ethics too often, so he would be sad, wouldn't he? Top tip for any interviewee who wants to avoid a question he asks:

Private Eye reports that there were some strange omissions from the ITV interview that Lord Sugar gave to Piers Morgan before Morgan headed off to present a new show on CNN.

Apparently, whenever Morgan asked Sugar a question he didn't want to answer, Sugar said the word "Viglen". That, of course, is the name of Sugar's computer company, coincidentally the company that almost got Morgan into a lot of trouble.

In January 2000, when he was Mirror editor, he bought £20,000 of Viglen shares. The following day the Mirror's City Slickers column told readers to buy Viglen shares. In the controversy that followed, the City Slickers writers Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell were sacked. Bhoyrul was evenutally sentenced to community service and Hipwell went to jail, but Morgan was not prosecuted.

Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/computeractive-blog/1938629/piers-morgans-viglen#ixzz1M2L49Z6J

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. He can be a real jerk.

He called Jesse Ventura a coward.
Jesse Ventura said, "Young man, I did things when I was a Navy SEAL that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end."

Piers seemed to be horrified when Jesse told him that our government lies to us all the time. That was a complete shock to Piers.

[theHandpuppet]

21. I had watched him on occasion

Not having been familiar with PM before his CNN stint, he struck me as a pompous social climber who, more than just interviewing his guests, was always looking for an opportunity to tear them down. However, as I said, not being familiar with him I thought I might have been a bit harsh in my initial assessment. After the Ventura interview, I realized that assessment was much too kind. Haven't watched the show since.

[JI7]

9. i actually think he is ok when discussing serious political issues, especially foreign policy

his interview with rumsfeld was pretty good.

but i hate his interviews with any celebs even when they discuss politics because he does nothing but kiss their ass and it just sucks.

Larry King was a lot more enjoyable to watch. and he made it kind of interesting also because it never seemed like king was looking to please his guests .

[WillowTree]

11. Not by a long shot.

[TheKentuckian]

12. Arguably. You're the first person I've heard of that watches him.

He seems sucky enough on the commercials for me to evade him with extreme prejudice.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

23. I've only watched his show a few times during commercials

on another channel. He seemed like a phony weasel.

[K8-EEE]

14. Who??

I honestly wouldn't know him if he knocked on my front door but sounds like CNN made another brilliant call (NOT)

[Liquorice]

15. I don't understand why they chose him to replace Larry King. nt

[Duppers]

16. amen!

never could stand the fucker.

[intaglio]

17. NO! we don't want him back

You keep him.

The British satirical mag, Private Eye, always refers to him as "Piers Moron"

[LeftishBrit]

18. Definitely not! At least among Brits, there aren't that many who *can* stand him!

[Cass]

19. His celebrity fluff interviews are awful and boring but he does ok on the live

shows when there's news happening.

CNN could have found a better replacement for Larry King.

[Fly by night]

22. No. But you're the only one who cares enough to post a DU thread re: your disdain.

Set the TV remote on the ground and back slowly away from it, showing us your hands at all times. You'll (we'll) be better for it.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

24. He must be stopped! :-0