The bad news is that Piers Morgan is returning to U.S. TV screens. The worse news is that it’s part of a new mega-deal with Rupert Murdoch.
In a press release Thursday, Murdoch’s News Corps announced that Morgan will front a “global TV show” airing in the U.S. as well as Britain and Australia. As part of the deal, Morgan has also been handed weekly columns in Murdoch newspapers the New York Post and British tabloid The Sun, and he’ll write a book under News Corp’s HarperCollins.
It will be Morgan’s first TV job since he stormed off the set of Good Morning Britain in March, then resigned, following heavy criticism over crass remarks he made about Meghan Markle’s mental health struggles. It will be his first return to U.S. TV since his CNN talk show, Piers Morgan Live, was cancelled in 2014 due to underwhelming ratings.
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The new weeknight show will air on talkTV in Britain—a freshly announced Murdoch-owned news network set to start broadcasting next year—as well as the Fox News subscription streaming service Fox Nation.
Morgan said in a statement: “I’m thrilled to be returning to News Corp which is where I began my media career more than 30 years ago. Rupert Murdoch has been a constant and fearless champion of free speech and we are going to be building something new and very exciting together.”
The broadcaster promised that his show will be a “fearless forum for lively debate” that “celebrates the right of everyone to have an opinion.” He told his fans: “I’m going home and we’re going to have some fun.”
In his own statement, Murdoch said: “Piers is the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire. Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling.”
Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott described Morgan as an “exceptional talent” and said he will soon be appearing on all Fox News platforms. “Especially FOX Nation, where our subscribers will love his new show tackling the subjects everyone is talking about,” said the CEO.
In March, Morgan stormed off the set and subsequently quit Good Morning Britain after refusing to apologize for his comments about Markle. A record 57,793 complaints—including one filed by the duchess herself—were made against him after he said he didn’t believe her admission that she felt suicidal inside the British royal family.
British regulators cleared him of wrongdoing earlier this month.
