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Ellie Abraham
Apr 26, 2022
Piers Morgan opens show with rant at royals, 'trans trojans' and 'vegan ...
TalkTV
Friendly rival Gary Lineker has mercilessly mocked Piers Morgan over viewing figures for his new show.
Last night (25 April), Morgan made a return to news television after infamously storming off the set of ITV’s Good Morning Britain in a heated debate about Meghan Markle.
The controversial journalist helped launch the news channel TalkTV, which will include shows with people such as Sharon Osbourne and Tom Newton Dunn.
In Morgan’s debut show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, he featured an interview with former President Donald Trump, which has been described as a "toe-curling embarrassment”.
Posting on Twitter, Morgan boasted about his viewing figures, which peaked at around 400,000 though they averaged at 317,000.
A screenshot of the figures was posted by Morgan alongside the word, “BOOM!” and three fire emojis.
But, it wasn’t long before Match of the Day presenter and Morgan’s longtime rival Lineker chimed in with a hilarious put-down about his audience numbers.
Congratulations, Tubs. I can\u2019t imagine what it feels like to get such small numbers. Thrilled for you.https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1518879056686690304\u00a0\u2026— Gary Lineker \ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9b (@Gary Lineker \ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9b) 1650968404
Lineker tweeted: “Congratulations, Tubs. I can’t imagine what it feels like to get such small numbers. Thrilled for you.”
Saturday’s Match of the Day averages over 2.5 million viewers, but Morgan was quick to highlight that Piers Morgan Uncensored is his own “global” show.
Morgan responded writing: “Aww thanks Jugs! 😍 I was happy to get 60% higher ratings than BBC News.
“ps you can’t imagine what it’s like to have your own global show either, but I’ll be equally thrilled for you if you ever do…”
Aww thanks Jugs! \nI was happy to get 60% higher ratings than BBC News. ps you can\u2019t imagine what it\u2019s like to have your own global show either, but I\u2019ll be equally thrilled for you if you ever do\u2026https://twitter.com/garylineker/status/1518897694797975553\u00a0\u2026— Piers Morgan (@Piers Morgan) 1650969187
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One person on Twitter pointed out: “7.9 million followers. 400k viewers. Only 0.01% of his followers could be bothered to tune in.
“Makes a mockery of his gloating of how many followers he has as if it's an indication of his popularity.”
7.9 million followers\n400k viewers.\nOnly 0.01% of his followers could be bothered to tune in. \n\nMakes a mockery of his gloating of how many followers he has as if it's an indication of his popularity. https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1518900977755115520\u00a0\u2026— Erinn O'Connor (@Erinn O'Connor) 1650971457
Another replied: “Literally anyone with a youtube channel can claim to have a global show.”
Literally anyone with a youtube channel can claim to have a global show https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1518900977755115520\u00a0\u2026— Mike \u2692\ufe0f (@Mike \u2692\ufe0f) 1650971842
Despite not seeing eye to eye, their ongoing Twitter spat is certainly providing entertainment to other users.
Someone wrote: “Greatest beef on twitter ? Gary Vs Morgan.”
Greatest beef on twitter ? \n\nGary Vs Morganhttps://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/1518897694797975553\u00a0\u2026— jazim sohail (@jazim sohail) 1650974279
Viewers have accused Morgan's "free speech" TV show of hypocrisy as comments on YouTube were turned off.
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