GOOD Morning Britain’s Ben Shephard made an awkward joke about Piers Morgan on today’s show – referencing the star’s walk-out before he quit the programme.
It has been a dramatic week for the breakfast show, with the 55-year-old host sensationally clashing with co-star Alex Beresford on Tuesday, and ITV announcing his departure just hours later.
Today’s programme was hosted by Kate Garraway and Ben, and the latter couldn’t resist making a cheeky quip at Piers‘ expense during the ‘discuss the headlines’ segment.
He and Kate were going over today’s newspaper front pages with a host of guests – including pundit Iain Dale.
After discussing the latest following Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell Oprah interview with royal expert Chris Ship, Ben said to Iain: “Iain, we’re not going to come to you on Harry and Meghan as I imagine you may leave and we don’t want that.”
Iain wiped his brow in faux relief, as Ben went on to joke: “We’ve had enough of that this week!” – with Kate giggling beside him.
The exact reason for not asking Iain about the royals was unclear; although the right-wing broadcaster has spoken against them in the past.
Piers caused shockwaves on Tuesday’s episode of the show when he stormed off set after Alex confronted him for comments he’d made about Meghan the previous day.
The host refused to listen to his co-star, instead getting upset as he said: “I’m not doing this” and made his way to the studio exit.
He was off-air for almost 20 minutes, with he and Alex going on to clash dramatically for the remainder of the three-hour show.
That afternoon, it was revealed that Piers’ remarks about Meghan on Monday’s show had already received over 40,000 official Ofcom complaints.
Hours later, ITV confirmed that the star would not be returning to the programme after quitting.
Susanna Reid issued an emotional tribute to her long-time co-star on Wednesday, and yesterday fans were confused when she wasn’t on the breakfast programme as usual.
Meanwhile, Alex broke his silence on the incident yesterday afternoon – insisting that he never wanted Piers to leave the programme – just to “listen”.
