Anthea Turner branded ‘despicable’ by Piers Morgan for sharing offensive ‘anti-disabled’ tweet

‘What a repellent, dumb & grotesquely offensive attitude,’ Morgan said

Anthea Turner is being heavily criticised for sharing an offensive post on Twitter.

The former Blue Peter presenter shared a cartoon on Thursday (11 February) showing a woman not wearing a face mask while standing in front of another woman, who is sitting in a wheelchair holding a McDonald’s takeaway bag.

In a speech bubble attributed to the woman in the wheelchair are the words: ”Put a mask on! You’re putting my health at risk!”

Turner wrote in a follow-up post: “Sadly those of us who have genuinely tried to protect the NHS by looking after our bodies are paying the terrible price for those who have chosen lazy lifestyle choices.”

Many people have accused Turner of mocking disabled people and fat-shaming, with celebrities including Good Morning Britain co-host Piers Morgan and actor Kathy Burke calling her out for her tweet.

READ MORE: Miriam Margolyes calls Boris Johnson ‘clown’ and anti-vaxxers ‘nuts’ on Good Morning Britain

Morgan called the post “despicable”, adding: ‘What the hell is this? Have you lost your mind, Anthea?”

In another tweet, he wrote: You’re blaming 120,000+ covid deaths on the victims being lazy? What a repellent, dumb and grotesquely offensive attitude. Shame on you.”

Burke stated: “Hope Anthea gets the gig on that new GB news thing  she’s obviously vying for. She can teach them all to wash their blooming mouths out.”

Meanwhile, Labour MP Jess Phillips said:”The Anthea Turner thing this morning has just about done me in. I just wish the idiots would just admit that the wind on their face is more important than my sister in laws life while she has chemo.

“Stop with the god damn hierarchy of whose life matters,” she continued.

At the time of writing, the post still appears on the former GMTV star’s account.

Turner’s post came just after the Office for National Statistics said that six in 10 deaths among disabled people last year were caused by Covid-19.

Turner backed up her original post, writing: “I’m incensed by the selfish attitudes of people who can’t see we actually are ‘all in this together’ & wilful destruction has an impact on us all especially those with other illnesses pushed down the line & charities who are missing out on funding. We have to take responsibility.”

Many Twitter users urged people to ignore Turner. Some suggested she was “auditioning” to be the “new Laurence Fox”, the actor came under fire in 2020 for sharing several controversial views.