Piers Morgan leapt in to defend Laura Kuenssberg. It didn’t end well.

Piers Morgan and Laura Kuenssberg


Support us and go ad-free

On 18 September, #SackLauraKuenssberg started trending on Twitter. Social media users expressed outrage after she tweeted that the man who confronted Boris Johnson at a children’s ward was a Labour activist and then identified who he was. People claimed that by identifying the man, Kuessenberg was ‘inciting’ a Twitter pile on.

But Piers Morgan came to Kuenssberg’s defence by claiming her critics are “ignorant bug-eyed bullies”:

Unsurprisngly, it didn’t end well.

Related articles

Read on...

Support us and go ad-free
Who’s the bully

Some people argued that Morgan himself is a bully:

And as others pointed out, having Morgan come to your defence isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement:

You know you’re in trouble when…

But it wasn’t just Morgan who leapt to Kuenssberg’s defence. And some of the other people rushing to defend the BBC‘s chief political editor didn’t do her any favours.

Her fans included Julia Hartley-Brewer:

And editor of Brexit Central Jonathan Isaby:

And if that wasn’t enough, the right-wing Spectator stepped in to defend Kuenssberg:

This speak volumes

The BBC is supposed to be an impartial broadcaster. Time and again, Kuenssberg and her colleagues have shown this often doesn’t happen. But it’s because of this supposed neutrality that people feel the need to call her out – especially when they believe her tweet could open up someone to abuse.

The people rushing in to defend Kuenssberg speaks volumes. And when your loudest defenders are people like Morgan, it has to be obvious you’re going to be on the wrong side of history.

Featured image via Wikimedia/Pete Riches and screengrab

Support us and go ad-free

We need your help to keep speaking the truth

Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.

Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.

We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.

In return, you get:

* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop

Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.

With your help we can continue:

* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do

We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?

The Canary Support us

Related articles