A MESSAGE TO YOU RUDY
Good Morning Britain hit with another 135 Ofcom complaints after Piers Morgan’s explosive row with Rudy Giuliani
GOOD Morning Britain was hit with another 135 Ofcom complaints today after Piers Morgan's furious row with Rudy Giuliani.
The show's host apologised to viewers after Donald Trump's personal lawyer appeared to swear at him in an explosive clash live on air.
⚠️ Read our George Floyd protests live blog for the latest news & updates
While Ofcom couldn't break down how many complaints were about the row, the fiery row shocked many who voiced their surprise on social media.
It comes a day after the show sparked 125 complaints to the broadcasting regulator after celebrity hairdresser Adee Phelan swore in an interview with Piers and Susanna Reid.
Former New York mayor Giuliani also slammed Piers and Susanna for having him stay awake until 1am for the video call.
Giuliani was appearing on the ITV show to discuss the ongoing racial tension across the US following the death of George Floyd last week, which sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the globe.
After a friendly start, things turned sour when Piers quoted a controversial tweet from President Trump, which read: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Explaining that the words were a quote from a racist 1960s police chief before he set "guns and dogs" on young black men, Piers said to Rudy: "He should never have said it and you should be big enough to admit he shouldn't have said it."
However, the passionate Republican snapped back, saying: "You have misinterpreted him on purpose - it was an accurate warning and it actually happened - people have been killed."
Giuliani also said that Trump "doesn't have a racist bone in his body".
Piers hit back, saying: "I quoted him from his own tweet, what are you talking about?
"I don't care if he knew [where the quote came from] or not, why the hell is he using such inflammatory language?"
Giuliani replied: "I happen to be in favour of truth and justice."
Piers then said the American lawyer sounded "completely barking mad" adding "you've lost the plot."
The exchange then became personal, with Giuliani attacking Piers' career in US which ended with the British broadcaster being sacked from his high profile job at CNN.
The Trump ally said: "Everyone in America knows you're a failed journalist.
"I know what happened to your show, Piers, and I remember the mistakes you made, and I remember that you f***ed up.
"You can say anything you want about me, you are trying to create violence in the country."
Piers and Susanna quickly apologised for Giuliani's use of profanity - only for the American to insist that he had not sworn.
He said: "Now you're lying again, I didn't use profanity.
"That's exactly what you do to President Trump."
Many social media users who watched the row believe the former politician, once dubbed 'America's mayor', did not actually swear and instead used the word "sucked".
But when Susanna asked him to clarify what he said, Giuliani refused as he continued raging against Piers in an increasingly awkward exchange.
Piers told him: "I had the stomach to stand up and say that your gun culture is completely out of control and unacceptable.
"You've come on here, you've been rude and abusive. You sound unhinged, you're somebody I used to admire."
The irate American's video link eventually cut out with Susanna turning to her co-host in disbelief.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
Piers told viewers: "Just to remind our viewers, this all started when we read out a tweet from the President of the United States.
"The worry is that that's Trump's lawyer, when people who are friends with the most powerful people in the world, they should hold them to account and tell them when they're going wrong.
"What you don't say is what Rudy just said because that makes things 10 times worse."
He added: "Anyone offended by that, I'm sorry - I didn't expect it to go that way."
Topics