Television star and journalist Piers Morgan and left-leaning British politician Lisa Nandy got into a heated exchange over transgender rights versus feminist rights live on television today.
The former Celebrity Apprentice star and CNN chat show host is a prominent media personality in his native Britain where he hosts Good Morning Britain, the most-watched morning TV show in the UK.
On this morning’s episode, Morgan hashed it out over the controversial subject of transgender rights in a heated debate with Labour party leadership hopeful Nandy.
His remarks have ignited a touchy subject that is being debated from Islington to Idaho, as he discussed the notion of trans women, who were formerly biological men, competing in sport against biological women.
Morgan said it was “grotesquely unfair” against athletes who were born female due to the potential physical advantages of those who were born male.
Sparks flew, with Ms. Nandy classifying the exchange as “outrageous.”
What did Piers Morgan say?
During the debate, Piers said the topic was a “serious debate”.
“The battle that is raging between women’s rights and transgender rights, it’s a serious battle and a serious debate,” he said. “This issue of for example women’s sport, you have the Olympics coming, you’ve got a New Zealand weightlifter who competed as male who’s now smashing records having identified as female.
“Are you happy for anyone born to a male biological body to simply raise their hand without any need for surgery and to compete against women in the Olympics born into female biological bodies?”
He added: “Why would you not on GMB say whether you think it’s fair that Usain Bolt could self identify as female and compete against women born to women’s biological bodies.”
Nandy was accused of failing to give a straight answer, but herself accused Morgan of “cutting her off” and creating a “straw man” in his arguments against hers. She said, “There are really problematic issues here…” and stated that an official group would need to be set up to determine what the answer should be.
Morgan stuck to his guns, saying: “What am I doing other than trying to protect women’s rights from a grotesquely unfair situation where women are born to male biological bodies with a superior strength and power and are able to simply say ‘I’m female’ and compete against women born to female bodies… you’re not giving a straight answer because you’re worried how the reaction will affect you.”
Who is Lisa Nandy?
Ms. Nandy is one of those currently in the running to replace Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the left-leaning British Labour Party.
Corbyn lost to Boris Johnson in the recent political vote for Prime Minister, with the issue of Brexit (the UK leaving the European Union) being the deciding factor for voters in Britain.
Watch the exchange between Piers Morgan and Lisa Nandy below:
Good Morning Britain is a morning show that airs weekdays between 6am and 9am on ITV.