Martha of Baby Reindeer and Other Most Controversial Interviews of Piers Morgan

Speaking at the Royal Television Society debate about news impartiality in September 2023, Piers Morgan commented on his departure from Good Morning Britain over his remarks on Meghan Markel in the following words: “I was hired to be a deliberately provocative controversialist.” That, in a way, sums up why Piers Morgan is at the centre of some of the most controversial interviews in recent years.

Morgan, a famous but controversial English broadcaster, has had a long career in the media since 1989. Though he started in print, Morgan became internationally popular as a TV host in the mid-2000s.

He was one of the judges on NBC’s reality TV shows America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent, produced a six-part documentary Travelogue Piers Morgan On… (2008–2009), and hosted the 20-season Celebrity interview show Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (2009–2019). He also hosted Piers Morgan Live on CNN till 2014.

Morgan quit Good Morning Britain in March 2021 after refusing to apologise for his remarks on Meghan Markle. He subsequently launched Piers Morgan Uncensored (2022–) on TalkTV, a channel owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Some of the most famous figures and other significant guests have appeared on the show, which is why Piers Morgan Uncensored is where most of the controversial one-on-one interviews have taken place, including his most recent, the real-life Martha from Netflix’s drama Baby Reindeer (2024).

Most controversial interviews of Piers Morgan

The Fiona Harvey of Baby Reindeer interview

In May 2024, Piers Morgan hit the headlines once more for a controversial interview — that of Fiona Harvey, the woman who, according to BBC, was identified online as the real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer.

In the interview with Morgan, Harvey accused Netflix and Scottish comedian Richard Gadd of “lying” in their “defamatory” depiction. Gadd is the creator of the series, which is about his real-life experience of being stalked by a woman whom he named Martha in Baby Reindeer.

“They have billed it as a true story, and so has he, and it’s not,” Ms Harvey said in the interview, adding, “He is lying and they are lying.”

During the interview, Morgan asked Harvey about the emails, phone calls and letters Gadd said she sent her.

Harvey initially said that there “may have been a couple of emails” and later said there were “less than 10” emails.

The explosive interview was not received well by many. Though calling Morgan “a sharp and tenacious interviewer,” The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage said that the interview “reeked of grubby exploitation.”

Meanwhile, Morgan wrote a column for The Sun, following the interview, which read: “On a human level, I felt sorry for her that she’s been publicly dragged through the mincer like this. But there were moments in the interview where my suspicious alarm bells rang loud.”

The Donald Trump interviews

Two of the most controversial interviews of Piers Morgan involve Donald Trump. Morgan has long been a ‘friend’ of Trump until they had a ‘fallout’ over an interview and the broadcaster’s assessment of the presidency.

The first of the two controversial interviews happened in 2018 and was aired on ITV. Morgan and Trump met while the latter was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In the interview, Trump said that he was not a feminist and would have taken a tougher stand on Brexit.

Just ahead of the interview, Morgan tweeted part of what Trump said on the show.

“He tells me: ‘No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone’,” wrote Morgan, quoting Trump. The tweet triggered a volley of comments, slamming both Trump and the broadcaster.

BREAKING NEWS:
President Trump has declared he is NOT a feminist.
He tells me: ‘No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone.’
Full interview, Sunday, ITV, 10pm. pic.twitter.com/GCviovNb6o

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 27, 2018

In 2022, a then out-of-power Trump appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored. In the build-up to this interview, Morgan claimed that he had been “simmering with anger about our confrontation over the rigged election.”

In a promotional clip released by Morgan, Trump was seen walking away from the interview after the broadcaster asked a question on the alleged rigging of the 2020 US Presidential Election, stating that the Republican will “have to produce the hard evidence.”

But according to Variety, the two men laughed and thanked each other before ending the interview.

Morgan then tweeted a response on 21 April, writing, “My statement to all news organisations wanting my response to President Trump claiming ‘RIGGED PROMO!!’: it was as rigged as the 2020 Election.”

The Andrew Tate interview

Kickboxer Andrew Tate is one of the most controversial personalities in the world. His misogynistic views led to a ban from social media for some time. He was also ejected from the 2016 Big Brother after a video showing him hitting a woman with a belt went viral, though Tate and the woman later said that it was consensual.

Nevertheless, Piers Morgan interviewed him in October 2022 and questioned him over his misogynistic views. Far from apologising, Tate continued his misogynistic rants on Morgan’s show, saying that he has “managed to accumulate a large amount of affinity with the male population” because he’s echoing what “many men think and feel.” He also said that women “belong” to men in marriage.

Two months after the interview Tate and his brother, Tristan, were arrested in Romania on human trafficking and organised crime charges. Following their pre-trial detention, they were placed under house arrest in March 2023 and were subsequently placed under judicial control from August 2023. In March 2024, a court in Romania approved a UK government request for the extradition of the brothers after his criminal trial in Romania came to an end.

The Kanye West interview

Piers Morgan perhaps has the uniqueness of inviting some of the most controversial figures on his show. In October 2022, the same month when he interviewed Andrew Tate, Morgan got Kanye West, officially known as Ye, to speak about his antisemitic posts.

Ye was, at the time, banned from X (earlier known as Twitter) and Instagram for his offensive posts about Jews. Even though Morgan tried to corner Ye on his remarks, the rapper didn’t exactly apologise.

“Interview adjourned,” Ye said, walking off camera. But he returned quickly and said, “You feel like I caused hurt and confusion and I’m sorry for the families that had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through. Hurt people hurt people – and I was hurt.”

The anti-Semitic comments by Ye, who was always a controversial figure, triggered his eventual downfall and loss of billionaire status.

On the other hand, Morgan invited right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes the following month. On Morgan’s show, Fuentes went on an anti-Semitic rant.

The trans-activist interview

Piers Morgan had a live on-air argument, peppered with expletives, with a trans-activist in May 2022. The masked guest was identified as ‘Jame’ who was at a protest in Manchester, alongside the trans-activist group Trans Rise Up.

The interview started on a good note, with Morgan saying he “always supported trans rights to fairness and equality”. But it soon descended into a full-blown verbal tiff.

‘Jame’ interrupted the host, saying: “That’s bulls***, bro.”

“You can say ‘bulls***, bro’ and you’re entitled to. It’s an uncensored show and you’ve just proven it,” Morgan responded.

The point of the argument was Morgan’s opinion that it is “very unfair that trans women should be competing against women born to female biological bodies” in sports.

As ‘Jame’ continued swearing, Morgan apologised to his audience. Morgan also tried to reason with ‘Jame’ on the grounds of “safety for women.”

“Piers, shut up, bro. Do you understand that a majority of women athletes do not give a s*** about trans women in Sports?” ‘Jame’ countered.

The argument ended with ‘Jame’ telling Morgan, “I wanted to say you’re a c***.”

“Unfortunately, a complete idiot,” Morgan told viewers after ending the interview.

The Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen interview

In May 2022, Piers Morgan interviewed Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen. At the time, around nine months had passed since the Fall of Kabul to the Taliban. It remains one of the biggest failures of the US government in ensuring the safety of its own people and led to Afghans, who didn’t want to live under Taliban rule, finding ways to escape the country. The Taliban quickly enforced its authoritarian rule, which led to a ban on the education of girls.

Morgan’s interview with Shaheen revolved around girls’ education and the mandatory hijab policy of the Taliban.

“The issue of secondary-school education for girls. They are under consideration,” Shaheen said when Morgan spoke about the near-ban at upper-grade levels.

Commenting on hijab laws, Shaheen claimed that many Afghan women choose to “observ[e] hijab.”

However, Shaheen admitted on the show that his daughters go to school.

“Of course, yes. They are observing hijab, and so that means we have not denied for[sic.] our people,” Shaheen said in the tense exchange.

“So your daughters get an Education because they do what you tell them,” Morgan countered.

The Larissa Kennedy interview

Larissa Kennedy, a student, confronted Piers Morgan on the latter’s show in June 2022 over a Higher Education Policy Institute report, which revealed that students were themselves calling for more censorship. The report said that around 40 per cent of the surveyed students wanted the Student Union to ban all speakers who could cause “offence” and 76 per cent wanted universities to remove “offensive” historical figures.

“Why do you all get triggered by everything and why have you all become such snowflakes?” Morgan asked Kennedy.

“Yes, we need to uphold freedom of speech, but we also need protection so we can ensure our campuses are a safe space for evolving people. And if you want to ask what that means, it means if you have got someone with views which are obviously going to spark outrage, that you give a heads up to the people coming,” Kennedy responded with conviction.

The situation quickly became heated as Morgan kept interrupting Kennedy.

“I can never finish a point, what was the point in asking me on here?” Kennedy responded.

“Clearly you’re not used to debating as you are not letting me get a word in,” Kennedy said, before calling Morgan a “snowflake.”

When Morgan asked Kennedy what her idea of free speech was, she replied: “My idea of free speech is people being able to express themselves, whether that is through speakers on campus or through protests.”

The Cristiano Ronaldo interview

Cristiano Ronaldo was going through a tough second stint at English Premier League club Manchester United when he appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored for what is known as one of the most controversial interviews of a sportsperson.

It is widely known that Morgan is a strong supporter of the Portuguese footballer and was vocal about the treatment Ronaldo was receiving at Manchester United at the time.

The interview gave Ronaldo the ammo to lash out at the club, with which he once had a fairytale run early on in his career.

He said he felt “betrayed” by the team and lashed out at manager Erik ten Hag. Ronaldo accused the team management of not allowing him to “shine” and having “cut his legs.”

Three days after the interview aired on 19 November 2022, Manchester United announced that Ronaldo was leaving the club “by mutual agreement, with immediate effect.”

The footballer then made a record-breaking move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.

(Hero image: Piers Morgan Uncensored/@PiersMorganUncensored/YouTube; Featured image: IMDb)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

– Which is the most controversial interview of Piers Morgan?

Several of the interviews that Piers Morgan has conducted in recent years are among the most controversial. These include those with Andrew Tate, Ye (earlier known as Kanye West) and Donald Trump.

– Where can I watch Piers Morgan’s interviews?

Piers Morgan’s interviews are available for streaming on the YouTube channel of his show, Piers Morgan Uncensored.