THEY are an outspoken pair who don’t always see eye to eye. But they both agree on what should always follow a ferocious row – a good laugh and a drink. Or preferably two.
Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne may have had a turbulent relationship over the years — with Sharon once admitting she tried to throttle Piers when they first met — but now they have formed a firm friendship through protecting freedom of speech.
With both of the opinionated power-houses presenting new shows on Talk TV, they have come together to calmly discuss the lost art of arguing.
Piers, 57, says: “I love having a good old tear-up and then a good drink and a laugh, and we’ve lost that second part of the equation.
“Sometimes an argument is very spirited, very animated, and then we have a glass of wine and a great laugh.”
Sharon, 69, agrees: “Real friendship should give you that openness to be so truthful. That’s what you do with people who are real friends.
“You can say what you feel — you can get really angry with each other, and boom, the next day we’re back on again. With Piers, it might take him a couple.”
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The duo reunited over Zoom to discuss their exciting new ventures on Talk TV after they both found themselves the victims of cancel culture — leaving their jobs on hit shows because of their straight- talking ways.
And now they’re fighting back against the worryingly powerful woke voices which they felt tried to drown them out.
Piers, whose new show Piers Morgan Uncensored comes to Talk TV on April 25, says: “Cancel culture is as dangerous to society in its own way, in terms of its attack on free speech and free expression, as coronavirus has been and could be over the next few years and decades — actually, more dangerous.
“You can have a vigorous debate with somebody, vehemently disagree, and be severely critical. You can call me all sorts of things. That’s fine.
“But the moment you try to get me fired, as Meghan Markle did on Good Morning Britain, where she personally writes to the boss of ITV and demands my head on a plate, that is cancel culture right there.”
In March 2021 Meghan was one of 40,000 people to complain about Piers’s comments on Good Morning Britain, following her interview with Oprah Winfrey when she made claims against the Royal Family.
Bosses at ITV gave him two choices.
Piers says: “I used to think GMB was uncensored, and then of course it turned out that I actually was being censored, in the sense that I was told I had to apologise for just not believing Princess Pinocchio or I would have to leave the building.
“So I took the leave-the-building option, which I thought was a sad moment for me and for the show.
“But of course, what it really did was focus one’s mind on what is free speech.”
Meanwhile Sharon, a former X Factor and America’s Got Talent judge, was dramatically sacked from US programme The Talk after she supported Piers on Twitter during the Meghan row.
Sharon’s experience after being embroiled in the Meghan row also sparked a desire to speak up — something she will be able to do on her new show The Talk, on Talk TV.
The show, which will stream in the UK, America and Australia, will gather a group of opinionated guests to discuss the biggest news stories of the day.
She says of the show’s open discussion format: “It’s not personal, it’s somebody’s opinion, so if you don’t like it, you tell the person why you don’t like it, why you don’t agree with them, and you move on.
“At the same time, you can maybe have a laugh with each other and it all ends in a very positive way.
“The viewer might not agree with you, but they will learn something from other people’s opinions.
“It is possible to discuss these things in an adult way, not with fear of being let go. Everything is open for a conversation, for a debate, as long as it’s not spewing hate.
“And that’s what is so liberating [about Talk TV], you don’t have to be one thing to be on this network. And that’s what is so freeing.”
Freedom is something Piers and Sharon both agree on, and he can’t help but interrupt: “Like Nelson Mandela when he came out of prison — it’s like the long walk to free speech freedom.
“People say cancel culture doesn’t exist — well tell that to Sharon. She spent a year in the wilderness, unemployable in America, where she’d been a massive star for decades.
“Simply, her crime was tweeting that I was entitled to my opinion. She didn’t even agree with it.”
At her £9million home in Los Angeles, she says: “It’s friendly debate, friendly discussions. It’s like looking at a painting with 100 other people — you’ll get 100 different opinions on that painting.
“I mean, we’re not all going to sit there arm in arm but I don’t like those shows that they produce over here where if you don’t agree, they start slinging chairs at each other.”
The pair have often had heated debates themselves, with Piers previously revealing how Sharon tried to strangle him in a clash at dinner after joining the America’s Got Talent judging panel.
He said on Loose Women in 2017: “I get a call saying there’s going to be a change of judges and Sharon will be joining. I thought it awkward, as I’ve written some not entirely flattering things about her.
“We went for dinner, Ozzy was there, dinner was OK. I said something a little confrontational, but next thing Sharon had run up behind me — all the execs were there — and begins to strangle me to death.
“Ozzy was trying to get her off. Eventually Jerry Springer, of all people, had to pull her off.”
He and Sharon are still not afraid to get into a spat, and during our chat she can’t resist teasing him when Piers dares to criticise her pal Johnny Depp: “Piers! Our first fight — don’t talk about my Johnny Depp that way.”
When Piers left Good Morning Britain, the viewers did too, after ratings had hit an all-time high of 1.95million on the day he stormed off set.
A year to the day later, they had slumped to 910,000.
Piers says: “My show will be a lot like Good Morning Britain was before the censorship kicked in. So if you liked me on Good Morning Britain, you’re probably going to like Piers Morgan Uncensored, because I thought I was uncensored there for five years.”
During the pandemic, Piers was lauded for holding the Government to account with tough interviews — which then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Prime Minister Boris Johnson desperately avoided. So does he expect a similar Government boycott for Uncensored?
He says with a laugh: “I’m a global show, so I’ll be the one doing the boycotting! A very small number of them will qualify with global fame, so if they get the call, they should feel very grateful.”
In December 2019 the PM famously hid in a giant milk chiller to avoid one of GMB’s reporters, and Piers continues: “Last time I saw Boris he was hiding in a fridge.
“I haven’t spoken to Boris in an interview format since 2015, so it’s seven years now. But there’ll be no boycott. If any of them try that, they’ll be banned for life immediately.”
And he has even less time for woke folk, saying: “All those whining, miserable, joyless, ultra-woke culture imbeciles who think that their views are the only acceptable view.
“They’re like arsonists, they just want to torch everything in front of them if you dare to stand up to them or criticise.
“They can all come on my show. I’ll give them an absolutely fair hearing.”
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And as both he and Sharon have worked with Simon Cowell several times over the years, what do they think he will say about their new television venture?
Sharon says with her trademark cackle: “Oh, I’m sure the next thing he will be doing is opening up his own new station!”
