PIERS Morgan has insisted ITV “didn’t get rid of me” – instead revealing he left for refusing to apologise to Meghan Markle over his fiery rant.
The former Good Morning Britain host took another swipe at the Duchess of Sussex, branding her “Princess Pinocchio”.
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The 56-year-old sensationally quit GMB in March after accusing the duchess of lying about being suicidal during her and Prince Harry’s bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview.
It later transpired that Meghan, 39, had contacted ITV boss Carolyn McCall and complained to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.
She accused Piers of dismissing her claims of “not wanting to be alive anymore” and potentially harming those with mental health issues during an on-air row with weatherman Alex Beresford.
Piers refused to apologise and ITV released a statement to confirm he would not be returning to the breakfast show after 41,000 viewers complained.
A day after he quit, Piers tweeted that “freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on”.
But yesterday he posted another tweet insisting: “ITV didn’t get rid of me. I left GMB because I declined to apologise for disbelieving Princess Pinocchio.
“But I still work for ITV, as you’ll see tomorrow when my Life Stories show with @Joancollinsdbe airs at 9pm.”
He was responding to a user who claimed ITV had “gotten rid of him for crossing the line”.
Although stating he was not sacked, Piers has previously blamed “liar” Meghan for his dramatic exit the show in a scathing attack over her “downright lies”.
Speaking on 60 Minutes Australia, he said: “I didn’t know this at the time but Meghan Markle had complained to my boss at ITV on the Monday night.
“It was demanded I apologise for disbelieving her otherwise I would have to vacate my chair.
“I thought there was hypocrisy, I thought there were downright lies coming out in the interview.
“I saw my job to hold them to account like I would to a government minister and for doing that, within 36 hours I had to leave the job.”
Piers also branded Meghan a “liar” in the explosive interview with Aussie journalist Karl Stefanovic.
He said: “You’re not allowed to have strong opinions about things, you’re not allowed to disbelieving a liar like Meghan Markle.
“I’m sorry to call her that but she tells lies. We’ve demonstrated and proven that.”
Piers actually returned to GMB earlier this month – but only to promote his ITV Life Stories series.
He appeared ahead of his bombshell chat with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Although he hasn’t made an official return, Piers exclusively told The Sun that producers are desperate for him tocome back to the breakfast show due to its plummeting ratings.
In his first newspaper interview since leaving, he said: “I have no doubt I could take the ratings back to where I left them — but the doubt is, would anyone be allowed to do it that way again?
“I was hired to give very strong, honestly held opinions, which I did. But in the end I was asked to apologise for a genuinely held opinion.”
