Piers Morgan, the former CNN anchor whose outspoken gun control views made him a polarizing public figure, said Monday he doesn’t regret expressing opinions that may have ultimately cost him his job.
Morgan, who CNN hired to replace Larry King, told TODAY’s Matt Lauer that “something inside of me just exploded” after a series of deadly mass shootings, particularly the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Morgan, who recently joined the Mail Online, the website for Britain’s Daily Mail, as editor at large, addressed:
- On Sandy Hook: “How could you let 20 first graders be shot dead in their classrooms and the reaction would be absolutely nothing,” he said. “So I don’t regret standing up for trying to affect change.”
- The visceral response many Americans have to him: Morgan said it has to do with his nationality. Comedian Jay Leno recently explained it to him this way: ‘It’s like you’re going to Germany and saying you can’t speed on the Autobahn. They may know its dangerous, but they don’t want to hear that from you — and they definitely don’t want to hear that from your accent."
- On how the Centers for Disease Control has handled Ebola cases in America: “I think it’s been shamefully too late,” he told Lauer. “The CDC is ultimately responsible for health care in America. They should have alarm bells all over America.”
- On whether he wants to return to television: He said the last five months since being dropped by CNN gave him a “great break to clear my head” but he misses the medium. "I would love to be back on American television... I'm itching to get back in the game.”
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