Celebrities slam Piers Morgan after shock breakfast TV exit over criticism of Meghan Markle comments

Celebrities are flocking to social media to spill the Yorkshire tea on Piers Morgan after his sensational walk-off from the set of breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain.

The controversial commentator abruptly quit his high-profile gig as anchor of the top rating British morning news show after years of vocal and public criticism of Meghan Markle and her relationship with Prince Harry.

Morgan dubbed Meghan “Princess Pinocchio” in a tweet, and said live on air on Monday UK time that he “did not believe a word she said” in her explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The 55-year-old’s comments were addressed by his co-anchors, who reluctantly joined Morgan on air overnight (morning time in the UK) for an awkward period of breakfast television until weatherman Alex Beresford called Morgan out for his behaviour, triggering the furious walk-off.

But while it may look like Morgan sensationally quit, sources from within ITV have told The Sun Newspaper that the broadcaster had asked Morgan to make a public apology earlier, but say he refused to backdown, leading to the awkward on-air scenes between Morgan and his fellow anchors.

Morgan’s on-air comments from Monday attracted more than 40,000 consumer complaints to the UK’s top broadcasting regulatory authority, who confirmed they would launch an investigation into Morgan’s behaviour under its “harm and offence” rules.

ITV confirmed the departure from Good Morning Britain in a terse statement on Tuesday.

Beresford has taken to Twitter to explain why he confronted his colleague on air, saying he “didn’t have the privilege to sit on the fence”.

“In order for me to do that I would have to strip myself of my identity and that’s not something I can do,” he wrote.

Celebrities from outside the show quickly began weighing in on the unfolding drama.

Jameela Jamil

Morgan’s exit came as joyous news to actor and vocal mental health advocate, Jameela Jamil who clashed with the conservative commentator many times.

“I almost killed myself a year ago because of Piers Morgan’s relentless campaign of lies and hatred against me last February,” Jamil wrote.

“I’m glad I’m still alive today for many reasons. But watching him leave GMB today is right up there.

Chelsea Handler

The American comedian was quick to point out a perceived double standard. , “Qwhite interesting” (sic).

“It must be nice that Piers Morgan gets to leave a situation when he feels uncomfortable but criticises a black woman when she does the same,” she tweeted.

“Qwhite interesting (sic).”

Patrick J Adams

The Suits actor has been a long-time supporter of the Duchess since they worked together on the hit show. Adams was quick to quip that there “are plenty of bridges for (Morgan) to find work under”.

David Hasselhoff

It’s hard to say where The Hoff falls on the issue, but he is enjoying the drama.

Responding to Morgan’s tweet of a GIF of a clock moving with the words “tick tock”, Hasselhoff simply wrote “drama”.

Ellen Barkin

A number of former guests interviewed by Morgan have also spoken out, including Ocean’s Thirteen and Animal Kingdom star Ellen Barkin.

“Once I was on the Piers Morgan show. He ticked off the names of several well known actors’ and asked me which ones I’d slept with. Still keepin’ it classy, huh (Piers)?” she tweeted.

But Morgan was quick to clap back, sharing a copy of the transcript from the interview.

Barkin tweeted back that Morgan had access to the clip from the interview and challenged him to tweet it, before fans flooded to the comments section to post problematic tweets from the interview.

Kathy Griffin