{"id":94252,"date":"2025-10-22T12:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/94252\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:43:08","slug":"he-must-be-hungry-piers-morgans-new-book-sparks-backlash-over-trans-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/94252\/","title":{"rendered":"“He must be hungry.” Piers Morgan\u2019s new book sparks backlash over trans comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broadcaster Piers Morgan has criticised what he calls \u201cthe woke mind virus\u201d in his new book,\u00a0Woke Is Dead: How Common Sense Triumphed in an Age of Total Madness, in which takes aim at gender-affirming policies and trans inclusion in sport.<\/p>\n

In the book and accompanying interviews, Morgan argues that the tide has turned against progressive ideologies, citing Donald Trump\u2019s stance on trans athletes as a pivotal moment. \u201cTrump was like, \u2018We\u2019re not going to let men compete in women\u2019s sport, sorry,\u2019\u201d Morgan said. \u201cPeople have just gone, \u2018You know what? We\u2019re done with this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Trans activist Stassia Underwood, who appeared on\u00a0Piers Morgan Uncensored, accused Morgan of using the debate around trans athletes as a political tool. \u201cWhat you guys really want underlying is the eradication of trans people and for them to not be involved in any systems,\u201d Underwood said during a heated exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Riz Possnett, another activist, challenged Morgan\u2019s framing of trans inclusion in sport, stating, \u201cTrans lives should not be a debate.\u201d Possnett added that the media\u2019s portrayal of trans people contributes to a climate of \u201cviolence and hatred\u201d.<\/p>\n

Morgan also condemns the now-defunct Tavistock Clinic, which provided gender identity services to young people, calling it \u201ca complete disgrace that shames this country.\u201d He claims children were \u201cmutilated\u201d through gender reassignment procedures without sufficient clinical evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book includes sharp criticism of celebrities who distanced themselves from author J.K. Rowling over her gender-critical views. Morgan accuses\u00a0Harry Potter\u00a0stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe of \u201ctrampling on women\u2019s rights\u201d while profiting from Rowling\u2019s work. \u201cIf they feel that strongly about it, give every single dollar back,\u201d he writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Online communities have also weighed in. A thread on Reddit\u2019s r\/AskLGBT described Morgan as \u201cclassic TERF\u201d and \u201ca transphobic piece of s\u2014,\u201d with users criticising his tendency to interrupt guests and mock gender identities.<\/p>\n

A particularly fiery exchange occurred between Morgan and Green Party leader Zack Polanski during a segment on\u00a0Piers Morgan Uncensored. Morgan pressed Polanski on whether a woman can have a penis, to which Polanski replied, \u201cYes. It\u2019s going to take them a long time on the NHS to get rid of it but that\u2019s another separate problem.\u201d <\/p>\n

When Morgan attempted to end the conversation with, \u201cI think we\u2019ll leave it on a woman can have a penis,\u201d Polanski pushed back, accusing him of lacking \u201cnuance and complexity\u201d on what he called a complicated issue. \u201cYou\u2019re laughing at it which I think demeans trans people,\u201d Polanski said, later demanding, \u201cWhy are you punching down? Why are you not saying the real problem?\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broadcaster Piers Morgan has criticised what he calls \u201cthe woke mind virus\u201d in his new book,\u00a0Woke Is Dead:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-94252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}