Piers Morgan in online spat with Ariana Grande and her mother over his Little Mix comments
PIERS Morgan has been locked in a bitter Twitter feud with Ariana Grande and her mother Joan.
The GMB presenter took to social media to clam Little Mix , as he claimed the band copied the Dixie Chicks ' Entertainment Weekly magazine cover when they stripped down and had slurs emblazoned across their nude bodies to promote their single Strip.
Piers tweeted:"Hey @LittleMix - when are you going to admit you stole this idea from @dixiechicks?"
But the journalist's comment has received a huge amount of backlash, including Ariana Grande and her mother, Joan.
Joan replied to Piers' comment, she said: "Honestly what is wrong with you @piersmorgan ? Didn’t your mother ever teach you, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it! You came for @TheEllenShow yesterday which was disgraceful, she is an angel. @LittleMix today, did you ever hear of paying homage? And..well never mind.
Piers continued his onslaught by taking aim at Joan's 25-year-old daughter. He said: "Hi Joan, my mother taught me to speak my mind & never be afraid to express honestly held opinion.
"Ellen's a hypocrite - and as for Little Mix, I'd just prefer they use their talent to sell records rather than their nudity. As your own daughter does...!"
Joan continued to call Piers out on his 'trash talk'.
She added: "We all know in America that everyone has the right to speak their minds, but trash talk for the sake of denigrating women doing their jobs is at best misogynistic and at worst undignified and ignorant!"
But Piers went on to blame Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall for starting the feud.
He said: "The only ‘trash talk’ came from Little Mix who called me a ‘tw*t’ on the radio. I suggest you call THEIR mothers to tell them to wash their mouths out with soap."
Ariana jumped to defend herself, as well as Ellen DeGeneres and Little Mix. She fumed: "Ellen is an incredible & kind human being."
The God Is A Woman hitmaker continued: "I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because i choose to. women can be sexual AND talented. naked and dignified. it’s OUR choice. & we will keep fighting til people understand. i say this w all due respect but thank u, next.
"Also @piersmorgan, i look forward to the day you realize there are other ways to go about making yourself relevant than to criticize young, beautiful, successful women for everything they do. i think that’ll be a beautiful thing for you and your career or what’s left of it."
Piers went on to defend his critical comment. He replied: "Hi Ariana! How lovely to hear from you so soon after your mother. Of course, women can do what they like - but if they/you use nudity to sell records to impressionable young female fans, I'll continue to call them/you out on it. All due respect, but thank YOU. Next..."
However, Piers did not take too kindly to his career coming under fire.
He added: "Now now, young lady - my career's doing just fine thanks. For the record, I criticise/praise everyone - male, female, gender-fluid. Indeed, I've written columns praising AND criticising you, and you deserved both."
Ariana continued to hit out at Piers, as she insisted the presenter's tweet was hypocritical after he shared an image of his face superimposed on a semi-naked male body, which he had posted earlier in the day.
She wrote alongside the image: "When u do it it’s ok tho right?"
Piers jokingly replied: "Is that your screensaver?", before Ariana hit back.
She retorted: "Nah and it ain’t ur girls’ either i can promise u that."
Despite the war of words, Piers joked he was grateful for the attention as his name started trending on the micro-blogging site.
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Alongside an image of the list of worldwide trends, he wrote: "Thanks @ArianaGrande !"
Piers even went on to invite Ariana and Joan onto his breakfast show, which he co-hosts alongside Susanna Reid.
He tweeted: "Since I've got your attention @ArianaGrande - want to come on @GMB on Monday to settle this like mano-to-womano? We can bring our mothers too, if you like."
However, this was not the first time Piers had hit out at Little Mix, as on GMB earlier this week the star shared his cynical view of the group.
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