Piers Morgan tells Laurence Fox to ‘shut up’ after ‘dangerous’ NHS comments

TV presenter called out the actor over his claim to have hosted a ‘large group’ of friends for lunch

Piers Morgan has condemned actor Laurence Fox for boasting about having a “large group” of friends over for lunch at his house.

On Sunday 29 November, Fox claimed to have hosted friends at his home and shared hugs with them: “If the NHS can’t cope, then the NHS isn’t fit for purpose,” he tweeted.

Current lockdown rules in England mean groups of more than six people meeting indoors are banned. People are advised to practise social distancing.

Morgan called out Fox on Monday’s (30 November) episode of Good Morning Britain, telling him to “shut up”.

“You know what Laurence? Why don’t you just shut up?” he said. “Seriously. Why don’t you think about the NHS, think about these heroic people who right now in hospitals all around the country are continuing to save lives of complete strangers who have Covid-19, this lethal virus.”

He continued: “Think about all the people in care homes who can’t see their loved ones because they’re abiding by the rules because they don’t want to kill their parents or grandparents. Think about all the people who are making these decisions every day, not for themselves and their desire to carry on life ‘as normal’, but for other people, because they actually care about other people.”

Morgan went on to say that Fox’s “ridiculous tweet” epitomised the “small minority” of people in the country who refuse to adhere to rules and guidance surrounding the pandemic.

“They just don’t understand why they can’t carry on partying and breaking every rule in the process,” he said.

“It’s not just about you, it’s about other people. The most vulnerable people in our society… People with underlying issues, it’s to stop them being killed.”

Morgan’s co-host Susanna Reid agreed and called Fox’s comments “dangerous” and “not helpful”. “Compliance isn’t violence”, she said, referring to a remark in his tweet. “Compliance is compassion.”

Earlier, Morgan had tweeted in response to Fox: “This is such a pathetically selfish kick in the teeth to everyone working in the NHS, many of whom have lost colleagues to the virus. Shame on you Laurence.”

There have been more than 58,000 deaths in the UK from coronavirus, and more than 1.62 million cases.

In October, Covid-19 was linked to three times as many deaths than those caused by flu and pneumonia between January and August 2020, the Office for National Statistics said.

Of the deaths where influenza, pneumonia and Covid-19 were mentioned on the death certificate, the underlying cause of death was coronavirus in 96 per cent of cases.

Fox was recently condemned after the BBC’s LGBT correspondent Ben Hunte was bombarded with racist and homophobic abuse, after a since-deleted tweet posted by Fox in June showed a screenshot of Hunte’s Twitter profile.

Meanwhile, The Pogues branded him a “herrenvolk s***e” last week after he attacked the BBC’s decision to censor a homophobic slur from “Fairytale of New York”.