Ofcom has cleared ITV over those Piers Morgan comments about Meghan Markle and her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired earlier this year.
Morgan, who continues to call Markle “Princess Pinocchio,” famously quit “Good Morning Britain” after facing a record 58,000 complaints, one from the Duchess of Sussex herself, for questioning whether she was telling the truth in the Winfrey chat.
Morgan insisted at the time that he “wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report” while discussing Markle’s claims about an unnamed member of the Royal Family questioning “how dark” her son Archie’s skin might be. She also said she had suicidal thoughts.
Ofcom said Wednesday that it had been “a finely balanced decision” and that although “Mr. Morgan’s comments were potentially harmful and offensive to viewers” they also “took full account of freedom of expression.”
Today we’ve concluded our investigation into Piers Morgan’s comments on Good Morning Britain in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Read our decision and the reasons for it here (pdf) ➡️ https://t.co/bzU8cZ4Saz pic.twitter.com/cc8x7ct7av
— Ofcom (@Ofcom) September 1, 2021
They added in a summary, “This program focused on the interview between Oprah Winfrey and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
“It contained statements about suicide and mental health which had the potential to be harmful and highly offensive.
“However, our decision is that overall the program contained sufficient challenge to provide adequate protection and context to its viewers. We also considered that the comments about race in the program could have been potentially highly offensive, but that the comments were sufficiently contextualized. Therefore, our decision is that the program did not breach the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.”
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Morgan, who also walked off the program at the time after clashing with weather presenter Alex Beresford, posted:
I’m delighted OFCOM has endorsed my right to disbelieve the Duke & Duchess of Sussex’s incendiary claims to Oprah Winfrey, many of which have proven to be untrue. This is a resounding victory for free speech and a resounding defeat for Princess Pinocchios.
Do I get my job back? pic.twitter.com/czhzeejYpa— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 1, 2021