Last night, Prince Harry made a surprise appearance at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, presenting the final award of the night to GQ’s Heroes of the Year – the team responsible for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Zooming in live from California, the Duke of Sussex delivered an impassioned speech about the teams unprecedented accomplishments, resulting in a standing ovation. One person less than enthusiastic about it? Piers Morgan. The former Good Morning Britain presenter was in the audience when Harry popped up on screen, later tweeting ‘awks’ in reference to the speech.
Particularly awkward will have been the subtle nod to Piers in Harry’s speech, at least that’s what people are assuming. In presenting the award, Harry referenced the importance of delivering vaccines to developing countries and cited misinformation across ‘news’ media and social media for creating vaccine hesitancy.
‘Less than two percent of people in the developing world have received a single dose at this point, and many of their healthcare workers are still not even vaccinated,’ Harry said. ‘We cannot move forward together unless we address this imbalance as one. At the same time, families around the world are being overwhelmed by mass-scale misinformation across “news” media and social media, where those who peddle in lies and fear are creating vaccine hesitancy, which in turn is dividing communities and eroding trust.
‘This is a system we need to break if we are to overcome COVID-19 and the rise of new variants.’
It may seem a far stretch to assume Harry was directly prodding Piers - who has actually urged people to receive the covid vaccine - but given the timing of the speech and Piers ‘awks’ reaction, he does appear to have taken it personally. In fact, this morning ‘Piers Morgan Harry response’ was trending on Google as people sought out more information about the exchange.
Just yesterday, Piers was cleared of breaching broadcasting guidelines when he said he did not believe Meghan Markle experienced suicide ideation on Good Morning Britain earlier this year. Media watchdog Ofcom, which received near 60,000 complaints in one week due to the comments, published a 97-page ruling concluding that Morgan’s remarks were ‘potentially harmful and offensive’ but were permitted regardless due to freedom of expression.
‘This was a finely balanced decision,’ an Ofcom spokesperson said. ‘Mr Morgan’s comments were potentially harmful and offensive to viewers, and we recognise the strong public reaction to them. But we also took full account of freedom of expression. Under our rules, broadcasters can include controversial opinions as part of legitimate debate in the public interest, and the strong challenge to Mr Morgan from other contributors provided important context for viewers.
‘Nonetheless, we’ve reminded ITV to take greater care around content discussing mental health and suicide in future. ITV might consider the use of timely warnings or signposting of support services to ensure viewers are properly protected.’
At the time, Piers was condemned by mental health organisations and later called out by colleague Alex Beresford for letting a personal vendetta impact his commentary on Meghan’s mental illness.
‘I understand you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one, and she cut you off,’ he said. ‘She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has but yet you continue to trash her.’
Since the Ofcom ruling, Piers has doubled-down on his condemnation of Meghan, even disgracefully dubbing her ‘Princess Pinocchios’ in a tweet celebrating the result. Naturally then, it’s no wonder people have assumed Harry was sending a secret message to Piers in his speech about media misinformation.
We were hoping for a more direct insult, to be honest.
Read More:
Here's The Story Behind Piers Morgan's Weird Obsession With Meghan Markle
By Refusing To Name Which Royals Thanked Him, Piers Is Doing The Same Thing He Accused Meghan Of