Piers Morgan blasts transgender row journalist to be more respectful on Twitter

Piers Morgan has leaped to the defence of the mum of a transgender child, telling a journalist to be more respectful on Twitter.

The Good Morning Britain presenter is no stranger to a Twitter row himself, but told Farrow that he felt she had crossed a line in her comments following a previous debate on the show.

Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow had previously been a guest on Good Morning Britain with mum Susie Green and her daughter Jackie, where they discussed the family’s experiences and Green’s charity Mermaids which supports transgender children.

But after the TV debate, Farrow posted a series of tweets which were later deleted accusing Green of child abuse and stating: “What she did to her own son is illegal. She mutilated him by having him castrated and rendered sterile while he was still a child.”

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Police visited Farrow to talk to her about the tweets and about misgendering Jackie, although Green later withdrew her complaint, and Farrow returned to GMB to explain her lack of remorse.

But presenter Morgan blasted: “There has to be a coming together and a more respectful on both sides way of debating issues that have arisen from this world of transgenderism.”

As Farrow argued her opinion, Morgan added: “Which you’re entitled to have, but what I don’t think you’re entitled to do is to be quite so abusive on Twitter.

“So my question to you is, now that it’s been dropped and you don’t have to face police action, do you feel a little bit regretful about the language you used and the way you phrased it?”

Farrow replied: “No, absolutely not. My husband’s a very good judge of character and he said no, those tweets weren’t spiteful.”

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Susanna Reid also waded in, telling her that her husband’s opinion would be biased, and said: “It’s sounding incredibly personal. I think everybody agrees that you are entitled to your view. But I think what people are concerned about is if you repeatedly target an individual and call on other people to do the same and use language which is frankly insensitive, whether it’s legal or illegal, it is hurtful and there’s no need for it.

“You’re entitled to discuss the whole issue, but don’t make it so personal.”

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Morgan, who is often at the centre of Twitter rows himself, told her: “The bottom line is, the debate that we had on air between the two of you was a lot more respectful than the one that happened on Twitter.

“That’s my point, with Twitter sometimes people use it not thinking about the impact, whereas on television you might not have used some of the phrases that you used.

“I just think there’s a better way to have this debate than simply hurling things like child abuse, castration or whatever at people on Twitter. Do it in a more respectful way.”