Piers Morgan speaks out in favour of fat shaming on Good Morning Britain

Piers Morgan has criticised the ‘ridiculous’ body positive movement celebrating ‘people who are fat’ after urging co host Susanna Reid to ‘fat shame’ him for gaining weight during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Good Morning Britain's presenter's divisive views were broadcast on Monday's show in which Piers asked Susanna to shame him into losing weight.

'I need to be shamed'

Piers began his impassioned speech stating "These days we celebrate people who are fat and we shame people like Adele for losing weight,"

"This is how ridiculous things have gone.

"We have the worst obesity record in the whole of Europe and now we have universities telling their sport and physical training people that we can’t use phrases like “burn the calories off”, it is utter nonsense."

Piers then highlighted his own weight, saying, "By the way, like a lot of people through lockdown, especially when you have bust your ankle up, I am carrying too much weight.

He added that he believes he has gained "at least half a stone".

"I need to be shamed into getting it off" he said before begging Reid to fat shame him.

No one-size-fits-all solution

His co-host reluctantly obliged with his request, calling Piers a "fat person," and a "chubster" before telling him to "lose the weight".

Afterwards Susanna explained that she did not enjoy saying such things.

"I don’t – it brings me out in hives just saying it." she said.

Piers then exclaimed: "That will genuinely have the right effect on me. I think we all need to be a little bit shamed."

However Susanna disagreed saying "I don't think shaming works. Sensible advice works. Throwing insults does not help people lose weight."

The pair were joined by Dr Hilary Jones, who explained that fat shaming is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of obesity, saying "everyone reacts differently to being criticised for their weight".

However Piers' views remained unchanged saying "98 percent of people who are fat eat too much and drink too much, let’s just spell it out stop hiding behind this PC box of nonsense."

What was the social media response?

Towie reality TV star Gemma Collins, who has frequently been criticised for her weight in the media, responded to Piers' public fat shaming by calling him 'gorgeous', in order to instill a sense of body positivity into the GMB presenter.

Another non-famous Twitter user commented, "Look at #goodmorningbritain fat shaming people. People come in all shapes and sizes and people can’t be pressured to look a certain way that there body can’t morph into. It’s 2020 @piersmorgan get educated."

However some agreed with Piers' views saying honesty was the best policy and did not always count as fat shaming.

A Twitter user wrote: "Being honest will help someone. It isn't fat shaming. Bullying someone filming them in gym laughing at them is body shaming. Honestly telling someone you know they need to lose weight or exercise more isn't fat shaming"

Meanwhile one user turned their criticism to the government's mixed messages during and after lockdown regarding obesity, by writing "government's rationale in launching their End Obesity campaign at the same time as the Eat Out To Help Out incentive (which included McDonald's etc.) It was "Keep Fit!" "Keep Fat!" - more mixed messaging!"