Piers Morgan has doubled down on his defence of a segment on Tuesdayās Good Morning Britain, after he was accused of āmocking Chinese peopleā.
During the latest instalment of the ITV breakfast show, Piers and Susanna discussed Peter Phillips ā the eldest grandchild of the Queen and Prince Philip ā who recently appeared in a Chinese advert for milk.
After the ad was played on the show, Susanna was left exasperated when Piers began making noises, in what was apparently an imitation of the Chinese brandās name
āI donāt know the Chinese for āI only drinkā¦ā, whatās it called?ā he protested.
Piers then requested the ad be played again, after which he declared: āChing chang cho joā, again trying to repeat what was said in the advert.
His co-host then told him: āYou canāt say [that]... taking the mickey out of foreign languages is rather 1970s.ā
Growing louder, Piers hit back: āSurely you can take the mickey out of it! Heās using āching chang chongā milk from the Chinese state ā thatās what they said in the advert!
āI canāt repeat what theyāre saying in the advertā¦ Iām trying to mimic the wording of that advertisement.
āBy the way, itās not me flogging the Chinese state milk. Are people going to be more annoyed about me trying to mimic the Chinese State milk ad than they are about a member of the Royal family trying to flog Chinese State milkāā
āYes, Piers, do you not realise the kind of woke times weāre living in?ā Susanna responded.
āOh godā¦ā Piers then offered, after which the topic of conversation was changed.
After seeing Piersā impression of the Chinese ad, many viewers took issue with it on social media, accusing the host of racismā¦
One such critic was footballer John Barnes, to whom Piers sent a number of tweets, insisting he was not mocking Chinese people, but mocking āa member of the British royal family appearing in an advert for Chinese state milkā.
HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for Good Morning Britain for comment.
Last week, Piers was put in his place by Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, after he hit back at the suggestion the mediaās treatment of Meghan Markle has been rooted in racism.
After she accused him of having a āvendettaā against the Duchess Of Sussex, Dr Shola said: āWhatās so offensive about this Piers, especially with you. You are a man, privileged to have power and influence and you are using your platform so irresponsibly to spout out this personal vendetta with nasty and vile comments knowing fully well that your words are containing bigotry, misogyny, sexism and racism.ā
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.