Piers Morgan has spoken out amid claims he’s set to take a lengthy break from his topical nightly show.
Last month, the divisive former Good Morning Britain anchor began presenting his new show Piers Morgan Uncensored, which airs on Talk TV in the UK and Fox Nation in the US.
In the weeks since its launch, reports have claimed that viewing figures for Piers’ show have taken a nosedive, with other programmes on Talk TV reportedly recording no audience at all at some points.
On Thursday afternoon, it was claimed by MediaGuido that Piers was to take a “six-week break from his show”, which put many in mind of when Andrew Neil announced a similar hiatus from the ailing GB News during the station’s infancy, only to never end up coming back.
In fact, Andrew Neil’s name even began trending on Twitter shortly after MediaGuido’s claim about Piers was posted:
Understand @piersmorgan is taking a six week break from his show, no news as to who will stand in for him with his 32,000 viewers.
— Media Guido (@MediaGuido) May 27, 2022
What’s known in the business as “doing an Andrew Neil”. pic.twitter.com/B9WyrG1qX2
— The Sun Apologies (@SunApology) May 27, 2022
Shades of Andrew Neill……
— Flaneur2020 (@flaneur2020) May 27, 2022
Ooooo reminds me of @afneil all over again 😂😂😂👍🏻
— Neil (@Neil_been_there) May 27, 2022
Isn’t this what Andrew Neil did? https://t.co/UDLH6aRdIN
— Siob, Princess of Yorkshire 💙#FBPE #FBR (@Sillyshib) May 27, 2022
Might be a while. Andrew Neil is still on his six week break from GB News https://t.co/A4tQyuSwh0
— Chris (@justachrisaway) May 27, 2022
Doing an @afneil ?
Bailing when his ‘audience’ cosists of one man and his dog?https://t.co/avIHk4hQEa
— FSM is the Dog 😷#WearAMask😷 #FBPE #GetVaxxed (@FsmDog) May 27, 2022
Following Andrew Neil’s example with GB News. Let the message go out — there’s no money to be had any more in being a hard right shock jock. We’ve finally got wise to them. https://t.co/LDAnWqKrzo
— Tim Walker (@ThatTimWalker) May 27, 2022
The ‘Andrew Neil Holiday’ https://t.co/VyrmxPYbdA
— Toby Earle 🇺🇦 (@TobyonTV) May 27, 2022
However, in The Independent’s report about Piers’ “break”, they cited “insiders” who claimed the host’s leave was pre-scheduled for later in the summer, to allow him to focus on a new project about serial killers for Talk TV.
Piers later appeared to confirm this in a tweet, which read: “Apparently, I’m ‘going on holiday for 6 weeks’.
“The good news is that a real-life hologram of me will be hosting [Piers Morgan Uncensored] for the next 10 weeks. Then I’ll be hanging out in America for a bit with serial killers. So may or may not be back depending how that goes…”
Apparently, I’m ‘going on holiday for 6 weeks’.
The good news is that a real-life hologram of me will be hosting @PiersUncensored for the next 10 weeks. Then I’ll be hanging out in America for a bit with serial killers. So may or may not be back depending how that goes.. 😳— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 27, 2022
Amid reports of struggling ratings at Talk TV, Piers previously tweeted: “Linear TV [is] increasingly irrelevant [compared] to total eyeball potential for a global show like this, especially with younger viewers who don’t really watch TV any more.”
However, this somewhat contradicts what he repeatedly used to say during his tenure on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, when he would often goad BBC rival Dan Walker over their respective viewing figures.
Source: Huff Post