In an interview with media reporter Dylan Byers, Piers Morgan has admitted what has become painfully obvious to observers of his program: the CNN host is desperate to save his job by ginning up any sort of controversy he can to attract attention to himself.
Even though he freely admits he’s seeking ratings, it appears that pointing out Morgan’s pathetic ploy is very irritating to him. In the interview, he lashed out at his predecessor Larry King who said that Morgan has made his show more about himself more than his guests: “I think he just slightly needs to button it, because he’s talking nonsense. The reason we’re different is, I’m a journalist and he’s not. Larry isn’t a journalist, never has been.”
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the man who was a former judge on America’s Got Talent and contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, and who also got fired for publishing fake photos of supposed British prisoner abuse is now lecturing others about journalistic integrity.
Besides lashing out against Larry King, Morgan let it be known that he is also no fan of writer Andrew Sullivan, who for all his faults at least has been able to see through the CNN host’s charade. This angers Morgan:
“Andrew Sullivan is a dick. He’s an extremely bitchy, deeply unpleasant, rather confused individual who for whatever reason despises the very spittle I put on the floor. Well, good luck to you, mate. But I couldn’t give a toss.”
Yes, you read that correctly, Piers Morgan is actually calling someone else bitchy and deeply unpleasant. But then again, I suppose he is an authority on such things.
Beyond his own hypocrisy in this particular accusation, it’s hilarious that Morgan is angry at Sullivan since all he’s done is to point out the obvious. Anyone can see that Piers Morgan is nothing but a ratings whore who is latching onto the dead bodies of children in a sad attempt to save his last-place television show from cancellation.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to Morgan glory in his ridiculous confrontation with radio nutjob Alex Jones over guns:
“The best thing about Alex Jones is that 8 million people watched that video on YouTube,” Morgan told POLITICO in an extensive interview at his CNN office in New York. “I would suggest it’s the smartest booking we’ve ever made. The attention that interview got exploded this issue back onto the agenda for the entire week leading up to what Obama did today.”
“The president of the United States espoused exactly what I’ve been saying for the last five weeks,” Morgan continued, referring to the President Barack Obama’s proposed ban on assault weapons. “No one can tell me we haven’t had an influence.”
It’s hard to tell what’s more absurd, Morgan’s notion that somehow he had anything to do with getting President Obama to push for anti-gun laws that he has wanted to do for decades or his self-praise at tangling with a guy who believes in chemtrails. Later on in the interview, Morgan continues patting himself on the back as he points out one day of ratings (yes, just one) where he was not quite so far into the ratings cellar.
While he still has not managed to beat his 8pm rivals Bill O’Reilly and Rachel Maddow, it does appear that Morgan’s gambit has at least gotten him support from CNN’s new president Jeff Zucker:
In an address to New York staff earlier this week, incoming CNN president Jeff Zucker expressed support for Morgan’s decision to take a stance on the gun control issue, Morgan said. He also said that CNN needed more personality and more differentiation — all signs that Morgan’s approach is emblematic of the network’s future.
“Jeff Zucker believes you’ve got to be unafraid to expand the breadth of what news is,” he said. “There are many different ways of categorizing news. It doesn’t have to be just war and famine and serious politics. And CNN has veered too much to that in the past few years, and been too afraid to go after other stories.”
While it comes as no surprise that CNN, which once banned host Lou Dobbs for taking an opinionated stance on immigration suddenly warm to a more politically correct anti-gun stance, one wonders how long it will take before Zucker realizes that a British-accented not-quite-as-left TV host will never defeat a full-bore insane lefty on MSNBC.
