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Piers Morgan has confirmed that he did get a hug from Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid after the broadcaster made a surprise return to the ITV show on Monday (3 March).
The clip of Morgan’s walk-out circulated widely on social media, with many viewers criticising the presenter for not staying and engaging in the discussion. He later quit the ITV breakfast programme. He later said he regretted the way he reacted to the situation and that it “was not very on-brand”.
After more than 1000 days away from the show, Morgan made an unprecedented return to talk to Reid and Ed Balls about Donald Trump’s unprecedented spat with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday (28 February).
Confirming the news on X/Twitter on Sunday evening, Morgan wrote: “BREAKING: It’s been nearly 4yrs (1,453 days to be precise!) since I departed @gmb rather hastily… but tomorrow morning, for the first time, I’m going back. I’ll be on with @susannareid100 & @edballs at 8.15am.”
However, his reunion with Reid wasn’t exactly the warm reception the journalist was hoping for. In an awkward moment, Morgan tried to give Reid a hug, but she firmly refused, saying, “No, no, I don’t want to hug.” In response, host Ed Balls embraced Morgan instead, joking, “She doesn’t hug me either.”
After his appearance, Morgan returned to Twitter to reply to a fan who joked: “Piers waited 1,453 days to not get a hug from Susanna.”
He responded by saying: “I got one afterwards…”
Speaking about his interactions with Trump, Morgan, although critical of the way the president publically handled the meeting, he urged others to look at the bigger picture.
“You either kiss the ring a bit or don’t. We know he responds well to flattery,” he said
“I’ve had screaming matches with Donald Trump and then an hour later we are laughing and joking doing a fun interview, literally,” he added.
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“I always think with him, focus on what he does, not what he says or the general drama and chaos. Secondly I think that he is, almost uniquely in modern times, a Republican president in America who wants peace not war.”