From miniskirts to Meghan Markle, Piers Morgan’s misogynistic comments have no place in modern Britain

Piers Morgan began the day on Good Morning Britain, bright and early, with a comment about the length of his co-worker’s dress – the latest example of white male privilege in action.

After a brief ramble about what the first signs of spring and summer are traditionally thought to be, Morgan, with all the pomposity and spite of a villainous headmaster, rounded on co-presenter Charlotte Hawkins.

“Up you get! Up you get!” he chided, with supposedly good-natured bonhomie, while Hawkins tried to deflect his comments, saying: “It’s just a dress!” Eventually, she stood; and the camera panned up her body: a perfect illustration of the male gaze in action. In the background, Morgan could be heard saying, “it’s not a dress!” over her protests.

But when does “good natured teasing” become sexism – or bullying? I would say it is when the perpetrator refuses to acknowledge how uncomfortable their “joke” is making the victim; or when someone persists in pulling apart someone’s character – on live television – as we’ve seen repeatedly with Morgan’s comments on Meghan Markle.

In fact, Morgan’s own colleagues are seemingly so disappointed in the way he’s appeared to persistently demonise Markle, including saying that he “did not believe” her disclosure that she had suicidal thoughts, that fellow presenter Alex Beresford challenged him over “trashing her” – and Morgan stormed off set.

That’s twice in one day we’ve seen a popular TV presenter make (and refuse to discuss) comments that relate to both misogyny – and misogynoir.

In making Hawkins stand up to show her legs to the camera, Morgan is targeting her femininity in the way women have been catcalled and accused of being “teases” for decades. He said his eyes “were distracted this morning” – in effect, accusing her of distracting him with what she was wearing; and is putting her on display to humiliate her – and to teach her a lesson. That is misogyny.

And Morgan is known for it. He has made comments about women that his co-host, Susannah Reid, has condemned as “mansplaining” – but he gets away with it by dressing it up as being “a free spirit” and says he wants to “get debates going”.

“I’m there to give my opinions, which I do loudly and publicly, even if the social media mob decides my opinion isn’t theirs,” he’s said in the past.

But “giving an opinion” does not excuse misogyny or misogynoir – the term used to define the toxic combination of sexism and racism, and a unique discrimination experienced by Black women.  

Morgan’s treatment of Meghan Markle has been the subject of many discussions, on and off television. The day after the Oprah interview aired, Morgan described the Duchess of Sussex’s claims – which included an allegation that members of the royal family had had a conversation about how dark her son Archie’s skin would be – as “an absolutely disgraceful betrayal”.

Morgan then went on to clash with his guest, political and women’s rights activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, going so far as to accuse her of “race-baiting” when she suggested that as a privileged white man, he might not be best placed to speak on the experiences of a mixed-race woman.

Shouting over her, Morgan declared that to be “a load of nonsense”; and, when his interruption didn’t work, he repeated himself, adding: “What a load of race-baiting nonsense.” When a Black woman refuses to yield her platform, or raises her voice to be heard, she is often discredited or admonished for displaying the same level of emotional energy as men.

So, the irony of watching Morgan walk away on live TV, saying, “Sorry, I can’t do this” – just one day after refuting any possibility of Meghan Markle needing to leave a situation for the good of her mental health – is delicious. But it is also receiving a disproportionate amount of attention online.

Morgan taking himself off for a time-out – much like a toddler might – should not be the only news we focus on. Morgan making misogynistic and outdated comments about the length of his coworker’s skirt, and calling into question the validity of a woman’s suicidal thoughts, should be given just as much of a spotlight.

But that’s the problem with men like Morgan – as we saw with former US president Donald Trump, they have so much privilege that they appear to have reached a point of self-delusion. Their actions have so few consequences that they cannot handle the slightest deviation in opinion without becoming aggressive, patronising – or losing professional dignity.

Occasionally, their bullishness works for the good. Morgan has been a consistent voice of opposition to the government’s poor handling of the Covid-19 situation. But when it comes to women, he continues to fall short – yet retains his incredibly lucrative platform.

Today, we had two clear examples of a privileged white man, exercising that privilege, to the detriment of women – in view of a mass audience. What is going to be done about it?

The answer is: probably nothing, and here is where things must change. We are surrounded by sexism, in every industry – what we’re really missing is a necessary, and long-overdue overhaul of our cultural “entertainment”.

We need to keep calling out behaviour like Morgan’s for being “pathetic and diabolical” – just as his colleagues have done.

We need to collectively demand diversity, and shine a light on institutional and systemic racism and sexism, wherever we find it. Let’s make those who go some way to perpetuate any part of it, whatever their privilege, accountable for their actions – preferably, live on television.