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Piers Morgan speaks out as '1,200 TV staff accuse him of bullying in open letter to ITV'


Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan was last week embroiled in a Twitter spat with his ex-colleague and former Life Stories researcher Adeel Amini. It began after the former ITV employee revealed on the platform that he’d “very much say no” to working with Piers again.

It comes after it was reported the Good Morning Britain presenter’s conduct is set to be reviewed by ITV.

Adeel, who now works as a producer, did not tag Piers in his initial tweet, but the broadcaster took an opportunity to respond.

Piers said he’d “rather employ a lobotomised Aardvark” than work with Adeel again.

“You spent precisely two months working on Life Stories in 2010 & judging by your CV that was the pinnacle of your TV career,” he added.

A group of TV professionals have reportedly written to ITV CEO Carolyn McCall and Kevin Lygo, managing director of media and entertainment, to address their concerns.

READ MORE: Chris Evans says he broke down in tears amid health ordeal

It reportedly continued: “Last year, conversations facilitated by The TV Mindset and other organisations, including The Coalition for Change, BECTU and the Edinburgh Television Festival, reiterated the need to eradicate the widespread issue of bullying and harassment.

“Now is the time for action. We believe silence in the face of harassment is complicity, which in turn allows abusive behaviour to continue behind the scenes at every level of programme making.”

It concluded: “In particular, the abuses of on-screen talent are all too often overlooked, at the expense of the dignity, health and safety of the freelancers they target.”

The open letter was organised by an anonymous group of freelancers.

According to Deadline, it was reported that they had gathered support from 1,188 industry professionals, including freelancers, commissioners, executive producers, CEOs, and heads of department.

TV mindset – which is headed by Adeel – is a forum which aims to support individuals’ mental health following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on contract workers.

Express.co.uk has contacted Piers Morgan and ITV representatives for comment.

The freelance TV producer previously worked alongside Piers on his ITV show Life Stories.

In a previous tweet, Adeel said: “I’m gonna poke the beast here.

“TV freelancers: would you turn down a job based on a company’s previous output / who the presenter was / what message the show sends?”

He continued: “(Full disclosure: I worked on P*ers M*rgan’s Life Stories as a researcher but now I’d very much say no).”

Following Piers’ response, Broadcast Now reported that the TV personality’s conduct was being investigated by ITV.

He retweeted the Broadcast Now article, as the TV anchor retorted that he was doing the same as Adeel.

He said: “Yes, and I am discussing abusive hypocrite @adeelamini’s conduct with ITV.”





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