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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Piers Morgan

185 replies

HavenKimmel · 16/03/2021 18:35

I'm on a group whatsapp chat with some friends. Mixed group, mostly white, one Asian, one black girl, 3 gay. I'm female, white, straight. Group is just mates talking nonesense, sharing memes etc.

White male posts a petition to reinstate Piers Morgan at GMB. Follows it up with 'I love Piers Morgan, he speaks for lots of people.'

I found this in poor taste and said so, cue a big kerfuffle, mostly denying that there was anything untoward about it. Black girl leaves the group. When contacted to ask why she left, she says she 'has a lot on and the group was a distraction' which they accept.

For context, he has form for stirring the pot, the party line is to condone, that's just x, we all know what he's like.

Was I being unreasonable to take issue?

OP posts:
BottleFlipper · 16/03/2021 19:48

Sorry but thats a bit of an over reaction. Don't agree with 90% of what he says on twitter (haven't really watched GMB) but for the most he's just taking devils advocate to extreme twattishness. A huge fallout isn't really warranted over this.

OppsUpsSide · 16/03/2021 19:50

I find it a bit surprising how much of a reaction (good or bad) he provokes in people.

JaneJeffer · 16/03/2021 19:51

It would be so boring to only have friends who agree with everything you say.

littlepattilou · 16/03/2021 19:53

@Bluntness100

This is going a bit far op. Why can’t he like piers? You’re entitled to not like him, he’s entitled to like him. You can’t control who your friends like.

And quite frankly how childish and petty, it’s not like any of you even know him. Did you all argue about Jeremy Kyle when it was on too?

My sentiments exactly!
littlepattilou · 16/03/2021 19:55

@JaneJeffer

It would be so boring to only have friends who agree with everything you say.
There does seem to be SOME people who only want friends who agree with everything they say and think.

And as I said, it's often the same kind of people too... liberal-left wokies. (Just for good measure, Piers Morgan calls them 'wokies!' ) Grin

StillCoughingandLaughing · 16/03/2021 20:00

I think a lot comes down to how you said it. If you said, ‘You must be joking - I’d rather sign my death warrant’ or similar, you’ve made it pretty clear you think he’s being ridiculous. If you just said, ‘I find this in poor taste; please stop’ or similar, it seems a bit prescriptive - a bit ‘You’re wrong, full stop’.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 16/03/2021 20:00

And as I said, it's often the same kind of people too... liberal-left wokies. (Just for good measure, Piers Morgan calls them 'wokies!' ) Grin

And I’m afraid that tells me all I need to know.

WhiteSquare · 16/03/2021 20:05

He’s allowed a different opinion like others are allowed to disagree.

sst1234 · 16/03/2021 20:09

So you are thought police now and people are not allowed to like Piers Morgan. If you have a problem with it, leave the group and stop policing others likes and dislikes.

grapewine · 16/03/2021 20:13

An echo-chamber is never a good thing, OP. The man is allowed to have an opinion that doesn't match yours.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 16/03/2021 20:43

If I'm in a friendship group on WhatsApp (as opposed to a huge website like Mumsnet) I actually would like to be in a group where everyone more or less aligns.

I don't have any Tory voting, fox hunting, fur wearing, coke snorting, porn watching, DM reading friends afaik*. If I did I'd bin them.

*these are just examples of what I don't tolerate. Obvs it will be different for everyone.

Original poster
HavenKimmel · 16/03/2021 20:46

Wow, quite the polarising subject clearly. Good to get responses on either end - mostly IABU I think, even if I discard the Daily Mail readers using the term 'woke'.

No, I don't wish to only have friends who agree with me. I see something of a difference between just liking Piers Morgan and declaring it out of the blue to friends who never asked. Particularly when some amongst them have been dealt a hand which means they face the kind of punching down Piers likes to dole out, in their day to day lives. It didn't reflect much empathy, and we might reasonably expect friends to be sympathetic to the challenges we face.

I didn't fly off the handle, just pointed out that being able to find Piers Morgan entertaining isn't a privilege afforded to all.

OP posts:
CrabPuff · 16/03/2021 21:19

Who cares who “likes” who?! Can’t imagine giving a shit to that level over a breakfast journalist.

PM is a surprisingly effective advocate for women’s rights and a really really annoying person to listen to on the Duchess of Sussex. The rest depends how I feel. I couldn’t give a shit what anyone else I know thinks though. I can barely be bothered to form an opinion myself, let alone perform a secondary (and pointless) “cancellation” of my friend!

JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil · 16/03/2021 21:33

Personally I’d be embarrassed to have a friend who loved Piers Morgan so much he felt he needed to state it on a WhatsApp group.

I wonder if those who said YABU would’ve also stated the same if he’d have said ‘Not all men’ in regard to Sarah Everard and spouted off about that?

sst1234 · 16/03/2021 22:32

OP basically you have appointed yourself as the ambassador for those you feel are punched down - as you put it. I guess you are not seeing the irony in your stance. Those that like Piers Morgan feel that he is doing exactly the same for them, since they are neglected and no one is listening.
Moral of the story is to steer clear of the permanently offended brigade. It makes you look childish and immature when you cannot take people opinions at face value and start virtue signalling pointlessly. Oh look I said ‘virtue signalling’. Hope that term isn’t to ‘Daily Mail’ for you.

Iamthewombat · 16/03/2021 22:34

Particularly when some amongst them have been dealt a hand which means they face the kind of punching down Piers likes to dole out, in their day to day lives.

Does Piers Morgan regularly dole out punchings down to members of the public? When, and in what circumstances? I thought he usually spoke to politicians and celebrities in his professional life?

BTW thanks @littlepattilou for explaining upthread why tax swerving Gary Barlow is equally marmite!

JaneJeffer · 16/03/2021 22:45

I wonder if those who said YABU would’ve also stated the same if he’d have said ‘Not all men’ in regard to Sarah Everard and spouted off about that?
What's that got to do with the OP?

tangerinelollipop · 16/03/2021 23:00

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

No one should have to lose their jobs or be ostracised by society for thinking differently to the 'approved' narrative

Justcallmebebes · 16/03/2021 23:03

I don't particuarly like Morgan and I've never watched his breakfast tv program but i signed the petition as a stand for freedom of speech as did hundreds of thousands of others and what he said was right

Justcallmebebes · 16/03/2021 23:04

10's of thousands, not hundreds

Mittens030869 · 16/03/2021 23:04

I wonder if those who said YABU would’ve also stated the same if he’d have said ‘Not all men’ in regard to Sarah Everard and spouted off about that?

Yes, that would have been an entirely different matter. But it’s a pointless question, as this friend didn’t say that, did he??? Confused

Original poster
HavenKimmel · 16/03/2021 23:12

@sst1234

Hope that works, I don't know how to reply directly to a poster.

"Those that like Piers Morgan feel that he is doing exactly the same for them, since they are neglected and no one is listening."

Who might they be exactly? Bigoted old windbags? You jest. The press is riddled with them.

And as for who he attacks, shall we just start with women, as it's MN? He's an unutterable misogynist, I found it offensive for my own sake. If you want to announce to me you 'love' a man who routinely treats women like garbage, expect some pushback.

OP posts:
Yesitsbess · 16/03/2021 23:13

I quite like early era Jay-Z. Wildly misogynistic, violent, bombastic and generally awful. The artist himself has stepped away from that version of himself. It doesn't stop me enjoying blasting out 99 problems.

I'm not a huge fan of Piers Morgan and I'm often annoyed when my opinion aligns with his. But sometimes it does. I don't let my like or dislike of him, or my friends like or dislike of him, to affect my life. He has done some loathsome things, no question.

Ghandi was problematic. And I have opinions about his sleeping alongside young girls to test his chastity, I don't write off every good thing I think he achieved because of that. If cancel culture were as evenly handed as it wants to be, he would be written off as a sex pest at best.

And I know it's a HUGE reach to put those two people in one post but I'm becoming increasingly tired of indignation aimed at the target above the parapet. Piers is clearly an arse, there are many other arses.

Iamthewombat · 16/03/2021 23:14

What evidence is there of misogyny or of Piers Morgan ‘treating women like garbage’? I am genuinely interested. Both in that and the ‘punching down’ allegation you made upthread.

JaneJeffer · 16/03/2021 23:22

How did you become friends with this person? You don't seem to like him much.