Piers Morgan received a record number of Ofcom complaints due to his Meghan Markle comments (Image: PA)
Piers Morgan has reacted after Ofcom released an official list declaring his Meghan Markle moment the most complained about in the history of television. Reposting a release from its Twitter account, confirming that his actions were "not in breach" of the guidelines, he delivered a short and snappy response.
The TalkTV star, who was later in disbelief that he'd lost his job over the comments, chose to react with a sunglasses emoji. The episode of Good Morning Britain where he'd stated he didn't believe Meghan Markle's account of life in the royal family, on March 8 2021, attracted almost 55,000 complaints.
In fact, the third complaint on Ofcom's Top 10 list - concerning 2018 episodes of Celebrity Big Brother - had received less than half the number of complaints. Some campaigners believed Piers had been dismissive of suicide when he'd questioned Meghan's references to her mental health status.
The duch*ess herself was counted among those who'd made a complaint to the regulator, as well as to ITV. However, Ofcom opted not to take action against him for his opinion, claiming that to do so would be a "chilling restriction" on freedom of speech.
The regulator did express "concern" over his approach to suicide, but equally stated that ITV had "provided adequate protection to viewers from potentially harmful and highly offensive statements about mental health and suicide". He was also challenged by co-hosts such as Susanna Reid, which the regulator suggested offered balance.
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey (Image: GETTY)
On Monday, Ofcom dropped the bombshell as it revealed on Twitter: "These are the 10 most complained about programmes to Ofcom in our history.
"To mark the 500th edition of our Broadcast Bulletin we've looked back [on] the total number of complaints, fines, and milestone moments in broadcasting," it added.
While the GMB episode that ruffled feathers received 54,595 complaints, the second programme on the list, a January 2007 episode of Celebrity Big Brother, attracted almost as many with 45,169 complaints.
That was ruled "in breach of broadcasting rules", although the third complaint, also about CBB, but in 2018, received just 25,327 calls and was decided not to have breached guidelines.
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Ofcom released its top 10 most complained about moments in a new Twitter post (Image: TWITTER)
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Other complaints included one against Britain's Got Talent, which was "assessed but not pursued", yet made the number four position on the list.
A Love Island episode was included in the top five, due to accusations of bullying, while other divisive TV moments included Julia Hartley-Brewer's words to an Palestinian MP on TalkTV, plus episodes of the Dan Wootton Tonight show on GB News, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and Jerry Springer The Opera.
Even King Charles III's Coronation didn't take place without controversy, attracting more than 8,000 complaints, after Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh described the royal family as "terribly white" during a live broadcast.
Ofcom stated of Piers at the time: "Consistent with freedom of expression, Mr Morgan was entitled to say he disbelieved the Duke and duch*ess of Sussex's allegations and to hold and express strong views that rigorously challenged their account.
"The [Ofcom broadcasting] code allows for individuals to express strongly held and robustly argued views, including those that are potentially harmful or highly offensive, and for broadcasters to include these in their programming.
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