‘This ain’t a shocking incident pal’: Stormzy shuts down Piers Morgan for saying he shouldn’t be allowed to tell school children Boris Johnson is a bad man
‘The kid asked me a question and I replied truthfully,’ artist says
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Stormzy has dismissed Piers Morgan after the TV presenter attacked him for telling a group of schoolchildren that Boris Johnson is a “very, very bad man”.
The Good Morning Britain presenter said the grime artist should “wield [his] power more carefully” after he answered a question from a Year 3 pupil at his old school about what he thought of the prime minister.
“He shouldn’t have done this, and shouldn’t have been allowed to do this,” Morgan said on Twitter.
“The kid asked me a question and I replied truthfully,” the rapper replied. “Nothing wrong with that Piers lol.”
The artist had compared the prime minister to “the big bad wolf”. He said: “He is gonna come down and blow your house down – that’s why we don’t like Boris.”
“Saying stuff like that to a bunch of very young schoolkids isn’t cool,” Morgan said. “You’re a hugely influential role model now to so many youngsters, wield that power more carefully.”
Stormzy replied: “It isn’t cool, it’s the truth.”
He said: “I gave em my opinion, they’ll grow up and be able to make their own, this ain’t a shocking incident pal.”
It is not the first time the rapper has expressed strong opinions towards the prime minister.
His No 1 single “Vossi Bop”, released earlier this year, includes the lyrics “f*** the government and f*** Boris yeah”.
He also endorsed Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn during the general election, saying ”for the first time in my 26 years of life, there is a man who man trusts”.
He said: “I wouldn’t use my platform and my voice to say that to you guys if I did not wholeheartedly stand by that.”
Morgan criticised Stormzy, who released his second album Heavy Is the Head last week, for remarks made during a Noisey video which saw him answer questions from children at his old school in south London.
He told his Twitter followers he was “not defending Boris” but rather “defending young kids who shouldn’t be exposed to that kind of hyper-partisan political rhetoric in their classrooms, and especially not by a guy they all look up to”.
Morgan claimed he was still a “big fan” of Stormzy and hailed the rapper as a “hugely important new cultural voice”.
According to voter registration figures from GOV.UK, there was a huge spike in visitors to the site around the time of Stormzy’s tweet urging his followers to vote in the December elections.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments