Piers Morgan will be ending his show, “Piers Morgan Live”, in the coming weeks due to low ratings, and he says it may be because of his views on gun control. The U.K.-born host hasn’t been able to compete with other news shows in the primetime slot, but he says he’s ready to move on–possibly to another show on CNN–because the program was turning into something different than what he wanted.
“I think I can credibly do news and the ratings reflect that, but it is not really the show that I set out to do,” he said. “There are all kinds of people who can do news here. I’d like to do work — interviews with big celebrities and powerful people — that is better suited to what I do well and fit with what Jeff is trying to do with the network.”
Morgan admitted that the recent flare-up of gun violence across the country had dominated several of his shows, and because it’s such a hot-button issue, his strong feelings about it might have become too much for some viewers to handle.
“Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,” he said. “That’s run its course and Jeff (Zucker, president of CNN) and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me.”
Morgan has also been surrounded by controversy after allegations were leveled against The Daily Mirror involving phone hacking while he was editor there. He has denied the claims that he had any knowledge of such actions.
CNN has not announced a formal ending date for “Piers Morgan Live”, but it will likely be sometime in the coming month.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
