Leeds Trinity University: Piers Morgan discusses cancel culture, Meghan Markle and Donald Trump during talk

The Talk TV presenter and former editor of The Mirror discussed the highs and lows of his career as part of the institute’s annual ‘Journalism and Media Week’.

In an exclusive interview with journalist and course leader Leigh Purves, Piers confessed how he works every day, was brought up “by a group of extremely strong women” and believes the American people will stand by Donald Trump.

Giving his thoughts on free speech, Mr Morgan, 58, said that the premise of his current TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored is that people are able to debate and discuss issues without fear of being shut down by “mobs of people” or “duchesses in California”.

He said: "I’m afraid this whole woke cancel culture farce that we’re going through is illustrative of a deep attack on free speech.

“It’s not just the woke left, it’s also people like Donald Trump who don’t want to allow people to have an opinion if they don’t like it, and I think that’s equally ridiculous.”

The broadcaster had a message for the students who were watching.

He said: “I hope that this next generation who are watching this, I hope that instilled in you is an absolute understanding that people are entitled to different opinions, and even if you hate them, they’re entitled to different opinions.

“Otherwise we’re not a democracy. We become North Korea, Russia, China, somewhere where they put you in prison or kill you for having opinions.”

Referring to being fired from his job at Good Morning Britain, following more than 50,000 complaints to OFCOM over his views on Meghan Markle’s appearance on the Oprah show, he added: “I’ve had a lot of highs and lows in my career and I celebrated all of them. But some of my best celebrations have come when I’ve been fired from a job I loved because I always thought it’s just another opportunity.”

Mr Morgan also spoke about how he became friends with the former president Donald Trump – and how he thinks there is a strong possibility he will win the 2024 Presidential election.

He said: “Anyone who’s sitting there today thinking Donald Trump can’t be President again by this time next year, they’re living in cloud cuckoo land.

“The latest poll that’s come out in America shows that he’s ahead of Biden quite comfortably in five of the six swing states.”

Broadcaster and journalist Morgan, 58, who presents the nightly current affairs show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV, said that it is extraordinary that the United States is facing the prospect of having a president who has nearly a hundred criminal charges against him.

He said: “Each time he gets charged, his poll numbers go up.”

Final year journalism student Mohsin Ali said: “I thought Piers was fantastic and hilarious throughout, he’s a great example of why advocating for yourself as a journalist is so important.”

Broadcast journalism student Alistair Lawler said: “We thought Piers and his advice was amazing. So many of us were wondering how he would be but he came across as being very open and honest and we are so lucky to have had this time with him.”