Piers Morgan under fire for transphobia after repeatedly referring to trans woman as a ‘former man’
Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan
Journalist and trans rights campaigner Janet Mock has accused CNN presenter Piers Morgan of attempting to “sensationalise” her life after she was featured as a chat show guest on Piers Morgan Live, where she was repeatedly referred to as a “former man.”
On Wednesday, Buzzfeed reported that Morgan had ended the first segment of his chat show interview by saying that Mock at one point had to tell the man she was dating that “you used to be yourself a man,” even though she had never identified as such.
He followed up in remarking: “Had I not known anything about your story, I would have had absolutely not a clue that you had ever been a boy, a male.”
After the interview, the Piers Morgan Live Twitter account asked its viewers: “How would you feel if you found out the woman you are dating was formerly a man?”
Mock told Buzzfeed that Morgan’s talk show veered into topics that tried to “sensationalise” her life rather than empathise with her story as a trans woman.
She added that her book ‘Redefining Realness’ spoke very little on the topic of her relationship, and yet Morgan seemed to focus on this aspect more than anything.
“He’s trying to do info-tainment. He doesn’t really want to talk about trans issues, he wants to sensationalize my life and not really talk about the work that I do and what the purpose of me writing this book was about,” she said.
On Twitter, she responded to the show directly with her complaints:
.@PiersMorganLive I was not “formerly a man.” Pls stop sensationalizing my life and misgendering trans women. #redefiningrealness
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 5, 2014
Additionally, Mock discovered that an on-screen caption had also claimed she “was a boy until age 18.” She responded:
“Was a boy until 18.” @PiersMorganLive get it the f*k together. #redefiningrealness
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 5, 2014
Speaking to Buzzfeed further, Mock added: “We’re not real women, so therefore if we’re in relationships with men we’re deceiving them.”
“So, it just feeds into those same kinds of myths and fears that they spread around, which leads to further violence of trans women’s bodies and identities.”
Following the incident, Morgan responded with a string of furious tweets directed at both Mock and her supporters accusing him of transphobia:
Being transgender doesn’t give you the right to slur, distort & ridicule someone who supports the issue 100%. Shame on you @janetmock .
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 5, 2014
He complained he had an “incredibly annoying day” and also berated Mock saying, “I wish I’d never booked her.”
In a more recent Tweet, he followed up with a challenge to Mock:
Come back on my show again tonight @janetmock and let’s debate my supposed ‘offensiveness’ live on air. #CNN
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 5, 2014
