Piers Morgan absent from Good Morning Britain as Ofcom viewer complaints continue

Viewers were given a break from Morgan's political rants

Piers Morgan was replaced on the latest episode of Good Morning Britain amid continuing viewer complaints against the presenter.

Susanna Reid presented Thursday’s edition of the show (11 June) without Morgan, who usually steps down from his duties on Fridays.

Morgan was replaced by Ben Shephard and no reason was given for his absence, although Morgan noted he would not be presenting today’s show on Twitter earlier this week.

It is suspected that the ITV show is returning to its pre-lockdown format, with Reid presenting a “Therapeutic Thursday” version of the show without Morgan, who is expected to return on Monday.

The presenter has faced hundreds of complaints from viewers over the past few months due to his heated political rants.

In May, Morgan received more than 500 Ofcom complaints in a single week with a huge dip recorded on the day he was not present.

The figures came weeks after Ofcom said it would not investigate Morgan after receiving 4,000 complaints over his interviews with Conservative politicians.

Two interviews he conducted with care minister Helen Whateley led to more than 3,200 complaints, while 600 related to a segment with health secretary Matt Hancock.

In one of his interviews with Whateley, Morgan repeatedly corrected her on the number of NHS staff who have died from the coronavirus, calling the figures she gave “nonsense”. Many complained to say the politician was treated “unfairly”.

More recently, Morgan was involved in a row with Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who called the presenter ”a failed journalist”.

“I know what happened to your show, Piers, and I remember the mistakes you made, and I remember that you f***ed up,” Giuliani said.