Yahoo News Piers Morgan accuses Extinction Rebellion founder of hypocrisy, raging 'practise what you preach'
Piers Morgan entered into a heated argument with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Skeena Rathor on Wednesday, as she refused to confirm or deny whether she owned a television.
The Good Morning Britain host repeatedly interrupted the environmental activist – whose pressure group is currently attempting to shut down central London in a protest against the government’s climate change policy – accusing her of hypocrisy.
Morgan asked: “Do you have a television? Answer the question! You just said everyone’s footprint counts, does it or not? I’m really frustrated here. Does everyone’s personal carbon footprint count?
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“It’s a total waste of time. Because you know what – you do have a television. And the reason you don’t want to admit to having a television is because that immediately throws you into hypocrisy. Because you are guzzling and burning up the atmosphere with your TV and you don’t want to admit it because that makes you look like a rank hypocrite."
Morgan fumed: "Do you walk your kids to school? Do you have a TV, iPads? Do you have heating and air conditioning?
"You don't practise what you preach, you do one thing and say another."
He added: “You don’t want to admit you have all these things and you live your life in a completely different way to the way you preach to the rest of us. Why don’t you start acting within your own four walls?”
Rathor said: “This is not the question I’m here to answer. It throws us into a shame situation which freezes action. It’s a tried-and-tested way of building inaction and we need to act.”
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Since being founded last year, Extinction Rebellion has led a number of acts of “civil disobedience” around the world to raise awareness about global warming.
The group’s website says its main aims are for the government to declare climate change an ecological emergency and act immediately to prevent biodiversity loss and cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025.
Watching footage of the protesters dancing on the streets of London last night, Morgan accused them of just looking for an excuse to “skive off work and have a party”.
