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Piers Morgan's new book rails against 'hysterically woke liberals'

‘Wake Up’ is about the ‘war on free speech’ and will be released in October

Annabel Nugent
Thursday 16 July 2020 14:32 BST
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Piers Morgan says he's 'in negotiations' for Good Morning Britain contract

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Piers Morgan has announced he has a new book coming out, titled Wake Up: Why the “liberal” war on free speech is even more dangerous than Covid-19.

Speaking about the book, which will be published by HarperCollins on 15 October, Morgan said: “The biggest threat to our freedom in the 21st century isn’t coronavirus but hysterically woke liberals trying to kill democracy by suppressing free speech.

“This is my clarion call, as a liberal myself, for them to stop screaming, shaming and cancelling everyone they disagree with, and start being part of the solution to global disharmony and division – not the problem.”

The presenter and journalist is known for his antipathy to “woke liberals”. In January, he tweeted: “’Woke’ means being constantly, self-righteously certain that your ultra-liberal, virtue-signalling opinion is not only always right but anyone who disagrees is an idiot. You know the type...”

During a 2019 interview with American commentator Ben Shapiro, Morgan said: “This snowflake culture that we now operate in, the victimhood culture, the everyone has to think in a certain way, behave a certain way... Everyone has to have a bleeding heart and tell you 20 things that are wrong with them

“I just think it is all completely skewed to an environment where everyone is offended by everything and no one is allowed to say a joke.”

In 2018, Morgan was accused of being “utterly offensive” after he joked about Caitlyn Jenner’s gender reassignment surgery during a TV interview.

Morgan announced the news of his book to his 7.6 million followers on Twitter. The post was accompanied with an image of his upcoming book.

The reveal disappointed Morgan’s followers who expected a more monumental announcement. The controversial journalist had earlier tweeted: “I’ll be making a big announcement at midday. Watch this space.”

One Twitter user replied to Morgan’s news of his upcoming book: “I’ve never felt more underwhelmed by an announcement.” Another said: “Is that it? A bloody book. No one will read let’s be real.”

Following Morgan’s teaser Tweet this morning, there was speculation on social media that the presenter would be quitting Good Morning Britain. He had previously said he was “possibly” set to leave the daily ITV chat show once his current contract expires.

Executive publisher Oli Malcom described Wake Up as “an urgent, assertive but above all hugely compelling read”.

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