Piers Morgan Branded Hypocritical For Naomi Osaka Rant Following Good Morning Britain Storm Off
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Piers Morgan has been branded a hypocrite for describing Naomi Osaka as an ‘arrogant spoiled brat’ after she announced she would no longer appear at press conferences.
The four-time Grand Slam singles tennis champion cited mental health as the reason for her decision, explaining she’s often felt ‘people have no regard’ for athletes’ mental health, and that this ‘rings true’ whenever she takes part in press conferences.
Sticking to her decision, she refused to do a post-match press conference following her win against Patricia Maria Tig during the French Open Roland-Garros tournament on Sunday, May 30. This resulted in a $15,000 fine, and Osaka ultimately quit the tournament.
In the wake of the events, Morgan released a column in the Mail Online in which he said the tennis player’s fame and fortune ‘appears to have inflated her ego to gigantic proportions’.
He claimed this was the only explanation for her decision, accusing Osaka of attempting to ‘avoid legitimate media scrutiny by weaponizing mental health to justify her boycott’.
Morgan makes clear that he disagrees with Osaka’s refusal to interview, but in doing so appears to conveniently overlook the fact that he did something very similar just a couple of months ago.
In March, Morgan butted heads with his co-star, Alex Beresford, over comments about Meghan Markle. Morgan ended up walking off set in the middle of the live show, and a short while later it was announced that Morgan would be leaving the show for good.
Though the presenter appears to have forgotten this series of events, Twitter users were more than happy to remind him of them and highlight his hypocritical comments about Osaka.
One tweet read, ‘Piers Morgan walked off his own show’s set after 90 seconds of gentle critique but can’t understand why Naomi Osaka withdrew from one tennis match after years of media ignited mental health struggles.’
Another user commented, ‘Piers Morgan, who literally walked off the set in the middle of his own show after getting the mildest possible pushback for his obsessive criticism of a female POC, has some thoughts about how a female POC should honor her professional obligations.’
Though only Osaka knows how press conferences impact her mental health, Morgan refused to believe her mental wellbeing was the reason for her announcement regarding interviews, writing, ‘One thing’s very clear: this has got nothing to do with mental health.’
He continued:
What Osaka really means is that she doesn’t want to face the media if she hasn’t played well, because the beastly journalists might actually dare to criticize her performance, and she’s not going to ‘subject’ herself to ‘people that doubt me.’
When she announced her decision to withdraw from the tournament, Osaka said she ‘never wanted to be a distraction’ and stressed that she ‘would never trivialise mental health’.
She revealed she had suffered ‘long bouts of depression’ since 2018’s US Open, and expressed hopes that she will be able to work to ‘make things better for the players, press and fans’ in the future.
If you’re experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They’re open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you’re not comfortable talking on the phone.
Topics: Celebrity, Good Morning Britain, Mental Health, Naomi Osaka, Now, Piers Morgan, Sport, Tennis
