PiersMorgan was forced to apologise after being accused of “regional prejudice” towards a Scots guest on Question Time last night.
The TV host branded Darren McGarvey a “raging lunatic” and “ranting Scottish rapper” following his appearance on the BBC politics show.
But after a heated Twitter debate between the pair, the Good Morning Britain star admitted he’d been a “little harsh” and offered his apologies, and a promise to read some of the writer’s prize-winning books.
Daily Record columnist Darren, also known as Loki, was speaking on the show from his home in Glasgow.
Journalist Morgan shared a picture of the author, asking “who is this raging lunatic?”and in a second post, deemed the episode an “absolute shocker”.
Social media users were up in arms, splitting into two camps on the site after Loki replied with a tongue-in cheek reference to his Orwell Prize and books. and a video explanation.
He said: “Thanks for checking out Question Time, thanks for all the support.
“I’m getting some tweets implying that I cut over the top of people. There’s a delay, some sort of technical issue, and I only spoke when the conversation referred to me.
“If Fiona Bruce is physically try to indicate to me that I have to stop talking, I can’t see Fiona Bruce I’m just sitting in my living room with a cameraman standing two metres away from me.
“I’m sorry if it looked like I was too keen to come in or I was trying to dominate it but I certainly wasn’t.”
Loki also blasted Morgan for the comments, and accused him of being prejudiced against his Glaswegian accent.
McGarvey added: “I don’t know what Piers Morgan’s talking about because there was no anger coming through from me, I tried to be as calm and precise as possible.
“I can only assume that there’s some sort of prejudice at work there around the regional language and regional accents.
“But I can assure you that my grasp of English is firmer than the vast majority of people that are currently talking s*** about me on Twitter.”
Those supporting Morgan said they agreed that the rapper had been hard to understand and had spoken over other guests.
One said: “He tried to dominate @bbcqt with a stream of conscious bollix in an impenetrable Glaswegain accent. Barely comprehensible. Ill-mannered towards panelists. Yuck.”
One said: “It’s the only Jock they could find that could talk this time of night.”
Another added: “I’m sat here absolutely baffled by what he is even ranting about, I don’t think he came up for air once!”
And one said: “Im sat here absolutely baffled by what he is even ranting about, I don’t think he came up for air once!
But many jumped to the defence of the acitivist.
One said: “Nothing beats a bit of anti-Scottish racism from a London-centric walloper. Haud yer wheesht, ya eejit.
Another said: “Shame so many have not encountered @lokiscottishrap He’s a very strong voice for the often forgotten members of society #bbcqt
One Twitter user added: “He was talking. He was talking in his accent. If you find that raging and in some way “lunacy” then I think the problem is with you.”
And one said: “I think he is incredibly articulate actually and is speaking up for the forgotten poor & disadvantaged. If you could only get over your prejudice of his accent & listen to what he is saying you might learn something.”
High profile fans also had their say, with lawyer Aamer Anwar saying: “Oh I need to watch this now @lokiscottishrap & know for certain you gave it laldy!”
This morning, Morgan had clearly had a think about his comments, and revealed he was not above admitting defeat, despite his controversial reputation.
He said: “Fair enough. I may have been a little harsh on you, apologies. Many people have told me to read your prize-winning book to better acquaint myself with your work. So I will.”
Loki showed there were no hard feelings and replied: “Much appreciated.”
Loki’s Poverty Safari, a personal social commentary of hardship, exploded on to the literary scene in 2017 and changed his life forever.
JK Rowling described the book, which won the Orwell Prize in 2018, as both powerful and necessary, and “an unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty”.
Last year the star, who was brought up in Pollok in Glasgow’s southside, presented Darren McGarvey’s Scotland for the BBC Scotland channel, which was an exploration into the rise of poverty and inequality across the country.
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