Shortly after Larry King’s death was announced on Saturday, January 23, Piers Morgan came under fire on social media for a Twitter tribute to the veteran journalist.
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Initially, Morgan simply shared a photo of King and the words “RIP Larry King, 87. A television legend.” But he followed up the message with a tweet that was pronounced as ‘scratchy’, ‘tasteless’ and ‘disrespectful’.
The tweet referred to bad blood between the two that began after Morgan gave King’s lock on CNN in 2011, and changed ‘Larry King Live’, which King hosted from 1985 to 2010, to ‘Piers Morgan Live’. It also included a dig in King’s multiple marriages.
“Larry King was a hero of mine until we dropped out after I replaced him at CNN, and he said my show was ‘like watching your mother-in-law go over a cliff in your new Bentley,'” Morgan said. ‘s second tweet begins. “(He’s been married 8 times, so a mother-in-law expert). But he was a brilliant broadcaster and masterful TV interviewer.”
Twitter was so collectively outraged at the message that Morgan’s name briefly began to appear on the platform as users criticized him for turning the death of the TV icon into an opportunity for self-promotion and insults.
“No wonder he fell out with you, look at you trying to grab 5 minutes of fame through the previous association,” one user wrote in the comment.
“Who does this on the day someone dies ???” asks another.
Many of Morgan’s competitors were also offended.
BET host Marc Lamont told Morgan that his tweet was’ tasteless’ and asked, ‘Why take personal shots at a time like this? Just say something friendly. Or say nothing. There is always[s] that.”
Author Dave Grzybowski said: “what a dumb a – disrespectful tweet.”
Others dragged Morgan along because he was self-sufficient and inappropriate. However, some of the supporters of the “Good Morning Britain” fellow defended him.
“It’s honest and you still found a way to keep it respectful. I appreciate it. Hate fake things,” one person wrote in the comments.
Morgan agrees with the compliment.
“Me too,” he wrote. “Larry hated me for replacing him on CNN and never made a secret of it, which I found very sad because he was one of my heroes – but I still think he was an excellent broadcaster and one of the everyday TV -grotes. “
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“Larry King Live” was CNN’s “most watched program and the longest running program”, according to data collected by Wikipedia.
‘Piers Morgan Live’ has meanwhile been canceled due to the declining rating in 2014, just three years after it premiered.
King – who has won two Peabody Awards, one Emmy and nearly a dozen Cable ACE Awards over the course of his nearly 50-year career – has died after being admitted to hospital in Los Angeles due to complications due to Covid-19 .
He has faced several health issues over the past few years, including heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and lung cancer. King was 87.