Piers Morgan, editor-at-large of Daily Mail, is dishing about his time at CNN in The Hollywood Reporter. Access Hollywood apparently wasn’t enough. He crapped on Anderson Cooper some more–”he’s stiff in a studio”–but all in all, he doesn’t sound too bitter about his four years at the cable news network.
Some revelations:
7. CNN’s President Jeff Zucker tried to snag FNC’s star Megyn Kelly but failed. Days later, she moved to prime time.
6. He knew his show was done when they made him discuss an Atlanta snowstorm on his show. “Now, I’ve got nothing against snow — or Atlanta. But I didn’t go to the world’s No. 1 news network to be a weather reporter, unless it’s biblical weather like Superstorm Sandy.”
5. Funniest gaffe: He called the late Patrice O’Neal “a funny lady.” His producer, Jonathan Wald, screamed into his earpiece, “He’s a man!”
4. Zucker told him to tone down his rhetoric against gun owners. He recalled Zucker saying, “You shouldn’t call these pro-gun guys ‘idiots’ on air. Better to say, ‘I think your argument is idiotic.’ ” Piers replied, “But they are idiots.”
3. His terrible ratings were on par with those of Larry King, he says, declaring his show’s poor ratings a “popular myth.”
2. On a future TV career: “I’m now available,” he said.
1. Zucker ended Piers’ show over “an enjoyable lunch” in Manhattan. Really. Enjoyable?
Read the full first-person column here.