By Kristy Puchko | TV | November 27, 2018 |
By Kristy Puchko | TV | November 27, 2018 |
In America, we might like to think Piers Morgan is just some Twitter troll who obnoxiously and ignorantly mocks famous fathers, pop stars, and political advocates. But on top of a whopping 6.4 million Twitter followers, Morgan has a national UK audience each day on Good Morning Britain, where he spews an odious array of horrid opinions. The latest of which was a transphobic declaration that condemned gender fluid children.
On the November 27th episode, Munroe Bergdorf, who made history as the first transgender model in the UK for L’Oréal, discussed with Morgan the news that a Brighton school has a student body that includes 36 children who identified as gender fluid. In a clip viewable at Digital Spy, Pierce claimed to be supportive of transgenderism, but dismissed gender fluidity as a “fad,” a “farce,” and “ridiculous.”
First off, Morgan is not a supporter of the transgender community. To borrow a line from his beloved Donald Trump: Fake News. In 2017, Pink News ran a list of Morgan’s transphobic remarks, which included comparing non-binary children to a “contagion,” asking Caitlyn Jenner about her genitals, and described “the absurd gender fluid moment” as his “number one pet hate.” And that list could stand an update. When researching this article, I came across an incident from September in which Morgan used the platform of Good Morning Britain to denounce Girl Guides for its inclusive policy that allows trans girls to join. Attitude reports Morgan told transgender activist Susie Green, “I think a transgender girl who still has male genitals, shouldn’t be with girl guides until fully woman.” Apparently, Morgan believes gender is all about genitals, and he’s happy to spread that misconception far and wide.
Thankfully, neither Green nor Bergdorf would stand for it. In September, Green said, “Girl Guides is about allowing children to be children. Trans girls should be allowed to take part in the same way as everyone else.” As for Bergdorf, she called Morgan out fearlessly and repeatedly during her appearance.
When Morgan claimed he supports “genuine transgenderism,” Bergdorf calmly interjected, “But you don’t, Piers. Because you bring gender-neutral people and non-binary people onto your show constantly and berate them. Very consistently.” He argues his only issue is with gender fluidity, which is a poor argument because as Bergdorf points out “that’s still under the trans bracket.” Morgan attempts to debate that basic fact with, “Well, maybe—” but Bergdorf won’t allow this. “No. Not maybe. Absolutely.”
When Morgan calls gender fluidity a “farce,” Bergdorf calls it out as his “bigoted opinion.” And then there’s the most telling exchange:
Morgan: People who decide one day they’re male, the next they’re female, the next day back to male, I think it’s ridiculous.Bergdorf: That’s because you’re a cis straight man.
Morgan: Maybe. Or maybe I’m right.
There it is. Morgan believes that as a white cis-het-man, he knows better than every trans person about their lives. He believes he is “normal,” and therefore “good” and can be an arbitrator of how everyone else should behave. And we can roll our eyes at his tone-deaf remarks or his outright bigoted declarations, but Morgan is confident in their value because he gets to pronounce them again and again, not only on Twitter but on a national morning show that boasts between 700,000 to a million viewers each day. He feels his platform and position proves him right. That’s why he makes jokes like this:
To those asking, I am only identifying as Brad Pitt today.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 27, 2018
Tomorrow, I will be identifying as Angelina Jolie. #genderfluid
And he’s validated. That tweet has 11 thousand likes and only 888 comments. It wasn’t ratio-ed. Meaning more people agree with this transphobic “joke” than took public issue with it. It’s a numbers game, and ignoring Morgan helps him win it.
I know some of our readers loathe us writing about Morgan. You feel he is a self-important fool whose bad takes deserve no notice. But just because you think he’s a clown doesn’t mean he’s not important. Like Trump, Morgan speaks to and for a willfully ignorant and hateful contingent that will go after the marginalized with a crocodile’s smile. And let’s remember, the base of this particular discussion wasn’t a celebrity who might be inured to the slings and arrows of creeps like Morgan. It was children. Piers Morgan took another segment on Good Morning Britain to decry trans children to the world. His every snarky tweet and TV declaration against trans children emboldens the bigotry of those who like his tweets and cheer for him over their coffee. He’s repeatedly called gender fluidity “confusing,” which to him is the end of the discussion. He doesn’t understand it, won’t try, and so you shouldn’t either. By spreading that cold rejection in every way he can, Morgan spreads transphobia like a disease. That is not something we can ignore.
Twitter should ban him. Good Morning Britain should can him. And until then, we’ll keep calling out the bigoted and dangerous trash he chooses to spread on both of those powerful platforms.