Culture

JK Rowling vs Piers Morgan: A timeline of Twitter’s tastiest feud

  • Jun 27 2017
  • Written by Bea Mitchell
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Until yesterday, Piers Morgan and JK Rowling’s ongoing spat had calmed down a bit. But, on the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter, Piers re-ignited the feud.

JK Rowling tweeted yesterday in celebration of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (‘the Sorcerer’s Stone’ in the US), which was released 20 years ago, on 26 June, 1997.

She wrote: “20 years ago today a world that I had lived in alone was suddenly open to others. It’s been wonderful. Thank you.”

Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain
Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain (ITV)

Morgan, a vocal critic of JK and the Harry Potter franchise, hit back with: “20 years of conning the easily mesmerised masses with execrable literary hogwartwash. Congrats.”

Rather sensibly, Rowling is yet to respond to Piers – but, after his latest dig, we’ve done a different kind of digging and catalogued the pair’s feud from the beginning.

Here’s where the Piers Morgan vs JK Rowling vitriol started…

British journalist and Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan first clashed with author and Twitter boss JK Rowling earlier this year after he was told to “fuck off” live on TV.

Sharing a clip of Piers debating President Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’, JK tweeted her delight.

“Yes, watching Piers Morgan being told to fuck off on live TV is *exactly* as satisfying as I’d always imagined.”

Piers replied with a barb of his own, writing: “This is why I’ve never read a single word of Harry Potter.”

“Because you had a premonition that one day the author would roar with laughter at seeing you called out for your bullshit on live TV?” JK hit back.

This sparks an enormous day-long feud…

Yep, the sparring continued throughout the day – and here’s how things unfolded:

“Everything I said was factual,” Piers wrote. “If you think screaming ‘FUCK OFF!!!’ at me changes that, then you’re mistaken.”

“The fact-free, amoral, bigotry-apologism of celebrity toady Piers Morgan is, of course, why it’s so delicious to see him told to fuck off,” JK snapped back.

“Peak foul-mouthed, minor celebrity anti-Trump hysteria at its most deliciously supercilious,” Piers continued.

“If only you’d read Harry Potter, you’d know the downside of sucking up to the biggest bully in school is getting burned alive,” JK wrote.

“No bigger bullies right now than the shrieking, hysterical anti-Trump celebrity brigade,” Piers added. “You lost, so suck it up Dolores.”

(Yes, he’s referring to Dolores Umbridge, suggesting that he has, indeed, read Harry Potter.)

JK Rowling throws some shade:

In the midst of this row, Rowling tweeted out a picture from when she won British Book Awards’ book of the year, over Morgan’s autobiography alongside the hashtag: #StillHurts.

And Piers Morgan’s son Spencer gets involved…

We almost forgot about this gem – Piers’ son Spencer decided to side with JK, uploading a picture of the Deathly Hallows symbol he’s got tattooed on his bicep

Spencer shared it with both his dad and Rowling, captioning the snap: “Well this is awkward.”

He then shared a photo of himself holding a Gryffindor scarf while standing outside a model of Hogwarts, and a photo of himself waiting to go into the Cursed Child play, AND a pic of himself standing outside Harry’s house on Privet Drive.

He also called his own dad “Vernon Dursley”…

Piers joked back: “My son will be sorrier, I just cut him out of my will. cc @spencermorgan93.”

Next up comes JK Rowling’s Valentine’s Day trap

Not long after the explosive row of February 11th, Rowling set a romantic Valentine’s Day trap, and Piers fell right into it.

It kicked off when the Harry Potter writer tweeted: “Just been sent this! Could the writer let me know who he is? I’d love to thank him! #Valentines.”

Attached was a passage praising her for refusing to “play any part of the celebrity game”, adding: “Ms Rowling definitely matters.”

Check out the full extract from the article below:

“She’s sold over 400 million copies of her Harry Potter books, and also the movie rights for some of the biggest-grossing films in history, creating a global brand that’s worth an estimated £7 billion, making her over £500 million personally; she’s won squillions of awards; and she was even named the 48th most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine. So Ms Rowling definitely matters.

“She would hate to be called a celebrity, and guards her private life intensely, so she doesn’t play any part of the celebrity game. And that’s why I’ve marked her quite far down my list. But by encouraging children to read, feel inspired and be creative, she has had a greater impact on the world than most of the other names on it.”

Of course, Morgan was quick to attack her over the post, retweeting it and writing: “Priceless #humblebrag BS. Nobody plays the celebrity game more abusively or ruthlessly than you, Ms ‘Intensely Private Billionaire’.”

Except, the glowing description of JK Rowling comes from a 2010 Daily Mail article titled ‘The 100 British Celebrities who really matter, by Piers Morgan’. So it turns out JK’s secret admirer is… Piers.

Morgan attempted to save face by writing: “I knew what it was. Just surprised I put her as high as 97th.” We’re not buying it.

Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James gets involved

In a shock twist (no?), the author of the Fifty Shades series joined forces with JK in trolling Piers, after he tweeted James asking: “Any chance you could start tweeting me one of your books? I need some relief from this Harry Potter crap.”

EL responded to Morgan with what appeared to be a quote from one of her own books, writing: “I believed that the more exposure I got in the press, the better my career would progress. Trouble was, I became overexposed.”

However, in a later tweet, James revealed that the quote was actually from Gilderoy Lockhart, a character from Rowling’s Chamber of Secrets.

Piers Morgan briefly re-ignites the feud

Later on in February, Piers took another dig at the Harry Potter author during an episode of ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Discussing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’s Oscar win for Costume Design – the franchise’s very first Oscar – Piers said: “I wouldn’t know one end of a muggle from a Voldemort.

“I’ve never read them. JK Rowling was incredibly irritating. I’ve never got it,” he added.

The Piers Morgan vs JK Rowling feud calms down…

JK didn’t bother responding to that one, mind – and since then it’s been all quiet on the feuding front.

That is, until yesterday.

We can’t wait to see if JK responds, and we’ll be sure to update our comprehensive guide to JK vs Piers.

Until then, we’ll leave you with Piers’ son Spencer’s latest Instagram pic, where he celebrated Harry Potter’s 20th anniversary…

“Happy 20th birthday to my oldest and dearest friend ⚡️.”

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