Piers Morgan’s Meghan Markle Comments Drew Record Number of Complaints in UK TV History

Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan Markle during a Good Morning Britain broadcast last week have broken the UK record for television complaints, according to UK media regulator Ofcom. Deadline reported Wednesday that Ofcom counted 57,121 complaints about the moment, during which Morgan questioned if Markle was telling the truth during her CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey last week — an interview in which the Duchess of Sussex described feeling suicidal following her treatment by the British tabloids and royal family.

That number of complaints pushed Good Morning Britain above the previous number-one position holder, Celebrity Big Brother, which racked up about 44,500 complaints in 2007 when houseguests Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd made vicious and racist comments about Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

Morgan himself resigned last week following the Good Morning Britain broadcast that incensed viewers and prompted an Ofcom investigation into if the controversial media personality broke broadcasting code. Morgan stormed off the set after being confronted by colleague Alex Beresford, who called out his co-host’s “diabolical” tirades against Markle and downplaying of the former Suits actress’s conversation about mental health.

“I understand you don’t like Meghan Markle. You’ve made it so clear a number of times on this program, a number of times,” Beresford said at the time. “And I understand you’ve got a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or you had one and she cut you off. She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has, and yet you continue to trash her.”

Morgan announced that he had quit the show, which ITV confirmed in a subsequent statement. The network added that “following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.” The former broadcaster has refused to apologize for his comments, tweeting amid the backlash, “On Monday, I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t. If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on. Thanks for all the love, and hate. I’m off to spend more time with my opinions.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.