Piers Morgan brands squirming This Morning star a ‘ridiculous victim’ as he reignites feud live on air and slams her for ‘playing the woke violin’

Piers Morgan branded This Morning star Ashley James a “ridiculous victim” by reigniting their live-on-air feud and criticizing her for “woke fiddling” on Wednesday.

The 60-year-old actor and Ashley, 38, appeared on the ITV show to chat to hosts Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 48, about the latest headlines.

One of the topics that came up in the conversation was whether we are too quick to take offense these days, and the topic soon became personal.

They recently discussed how Nick Clegg explained how he ran into trouble as soon as he arrived at the headquarters of tech giant Meta, upsetting the ‘woke’ staff.

Ashley asked Piers: ‘This idea of ​​waking up, what do you think waking up means? Being woke means being aware of social injustice and other people’s lived experiences. These are all woke tools and have been weaponized by people like you!’

Unimpressed, Piers replied: ‘Oh Ashley, do me a favour…

The 60-year-old actor and Ashley, 38, appeared on the ITV show to chat to hosts Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 48, about the latest headlines.

One of the topics that came up in the conversation was whether we get offended by things too quickly these days, which led to the pair clashing over their ideas.

‘I’ll give you an example of waking up. I mentioned this a while ago. The last time I was here with you, you were a classic loser that day.

‘We had a strong exchange of views, disagreed on some things, everything was quite respectful and I watched your Instagram for the next three days; there you played the most ridiculous, violin-laden victim, posting endless little comments from your fans about how you escaped the monster, how brave and daring you were.’

‘I need to experience this again!’ Ashley responded.

She continued: ‘I feel like poor Ashley.’

Piers said: ‘But that’s the thing, you’re not poor Ashley. ‘You are a strong woman, an independent woman.’

Ashley told her: ‘But waking up doesn’t make you skinny! Many people who care about the lived experiences of others and who used to go to work were offended by many jokes.

‘We see this joke excuse all the time, and we also see how it creates a culture where more serious things are swept under the rug.’

Agreeing with him, Piers said: ‘That’s true.’

Ashley asked Piers: ‘Do you know what being woke is? Woke means awareness of social injustice. These are all woke tools and have been weaponized by people like you!’

But he continued: ‘But it’s the chicken and the egg, right…

‘You say people like me are fueling these things, these culture war things, but what I’m actually trying to do is protect what this country was really built on.

‘So, you can have fun at work, you can joke around, meanwhile you can have romance at work.

’40 percent of marriages started at work. Now how do you do this? ‘Nobody can even look at each other without being arrested.’

Ashley applauded: ‘They also had to tolerate having their waists touched, which made them uncomfortable.’

He continued: ‘Meanwhile, being alert and professional at work is for everyone, men, women and everyone.’

Unfortunately, the pair continued talking to each other and Ben and Cat had a hard time regaining control of the discussion.

Presenter Ben then asked the camera: ‘Quick check of the gallery… Can Piers hear you?’

Piers even joked that This Morning ‘changed Ashley’s hair color so she couldn’t tell it was her’.

Cat added: ‘Do we need a bell?’

But Piers continued: ‘We should be allowed to have fun. You don’t want to cross the line…”

Ashley told her, “Of course you can have fun, but there’s a line where you can’t have fun if people are telling you they’re uncomfortable.”

Piers said: ‘The problem with the woke brigade is that they get annoyed by everything. If you give them an orange they get triggered because it’s not an apple.

‘Everything has become so ridiculous. We’ve got this ridiculous snowflake thing – stop it!

‘Everyone should chill out and have some fun.’

The pair were last seen on the ITV show in September, where they argued over Prince Harry reuniting with King Charles.

Speaking about Price Harry, Ashley said: ‘He’s done a lot for his mental health.’

Piers questioned what it was doing to ‘his family’s mental health’.

He told Ashley: ‘You paint him as this idyllic picture of this heroic character. ‘He gave up his royal duties but kept his royal titles so he could continue making money.’

Ashley, “relentless media interference, your [Piers] ‘The mouth is one of these mouth parts.’

But this isn’t the first time they’ve clashed head-on with each other over the years.

They clashed in 2017 after Emma Watson said her topless shoot in Vanity Fair was “hot hypocrisy”.

Ashley excitedly said: ‘There’s a chauvinistic point of view, it’s like the Emma Watson thing.

‘You can be a feminist and still be sexual and I think it’s such a male patriarchal view that feminism isn’t a bunch of grumpy old women hating on men, that’s not the point.

‘Feminism is not a scary movement, it’s just about equality.’

This Morning airs on ITV1 from 10am on weekdays and is available to watch on ITVX.