Owen Jones Watch: I'll Take Both Of You On

Hic.

PS Oops. The right royal row is here.

Piers Morgan: Tabloid Scum

Via Pink News.

PN have now got Benjamin Butterworth on the books.

Beats working for Richard Desmond.

Good Morning Britain: A Heated Debate

The Archbishop of York became embroiled in a heated television debate with Piers Morgan this morning over gay marriage.

Archbishop John Sentamu appeared on the ITV show to promote his reasons to vote remain in the upcoming EU referendum but the topic soon moved on to the Orlando massacre.

MailOnline columnist Mr Morgan, 51, asked the religious leader about the church's views on gay marriage following Sunday's attack, which took place in a gay club in Florida.

Dr Sentamu, 67, was forced to deny that the church was homophobic and insisted that he has lots of gay friends - and he was particularly unimpressed when Mr Morgan compared homophobia to racism.

The MailOnline columnist said: 'What if I said to you that you can come to this country as a Ugandan born man but because of the colour of your skin you can only have a civil partnership, you can't have a real one.

'No, some of my relations died on the ships. Slavery was a very wrong thing.'

Dr Sentamu insisted that while he is not in favour of gay marriage due to his religious beliefs, he is not homophobic and he wants to support the LGBT community.

He said: 'I've got a lot of gay friends and they see me as a friend, as someone who wants to support and defend them against homophobia.

'Not supporting gay marriage does not equal homophobia.'

Mr Morgan said: 'You've taken a pretty strong stance against gay marriage. Is it about time that religious leaders from all faiths came together and were more tolerant generally towards homosexuality?'

But the archbishop replied: 'You can still have your view, in terms of teaching the church's position on marriage and at the same time be intolerant of those who are homophobic.

'The church's teaching on marriage between a man and a woman is very clear. I support civil partnerships because for me that's a matter of equality, a matter of fairness

'My upholding of Christian marriage as I understand it goes hand and hand with saying to people that to diminish homosexual people is anathema to the Christian faith because God loves us all equally.'

Mr Morgan was undeterred and asked: 'Is homosexuality a sin?'

The archbishop said: 'I would never say that. I will never say that because sin is doing something consciously against god.' 

Mail online.

The unspeakable in pursuit of the unspeakable etc.

Julian Clary: And On That Bombshell...

The camp comic, 54, reveals on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, which airs tomorrow on ITV, that the girl had a miscarriage.

He said: “She is unique. The one woman I had that sort of relationship with.”

And that's the Daily Star's story in full. 

PS There's a bit more - about how after making that joke about fisting Norman Lamont at the 1993 British Comedy Awards he was "driven to the brink of suicide" - in the Mirror.

Update via Popbitch...

Julian Clary did Piers Morgan's Life Stories on Friday. There was a slightly odd moment when Morgan sympathised with Clary about the hounding he got after the Comedy Awards in 1993 - when Clary made a joke about fisting Norman Lamont.

The famously kindly Clary somehow managed to smile in response. Perhaps he found something amusing in the fact that the man who was responsible for the coverage was the then showbiz editor of the Sun... Piers Morgan!

Piers Morgan: Guns, Gays, God And George Clooney

The latest volume of Piers Morgan's diaries, Shooting Straight, is being serialised in the Mirror this week.
No, I won't be either.

Alex Jones: The Secret Plot To Turn Kids Gay

You've probably seen the video of Piers Morgan interviewing US shouty shock jock, Alex Jones, about gun control.
He talked a lotta sense, right?
Well, here's Mr Jones exposing the secret government plot to turn American kids gay by putting chemicals in fruit juice.
Enjoy.

Iran: New Outrage!

President Ahmadinejad of Iran has sparked outrage across the globe after becoming the first politician in recorded history to say something dumb and vaguely offensive about The Gays.
Commented blogger GayZionistLoon; "You'd never hear a politician in the US or UK or Israel saying something homophobic - how does this sleazeball get away with it?"
Mr Ahmadinejad said he didn't like The Gays much and they probably weren't "born that way" - drawing fury from Lady Gaga fans worldwide.
Even though he was speaking through a translator in Farsi - and most of his more "outrageous" comments in the past have been shown to be based on deliberate mistranslations - the gay media have been almost universal in their vaguely racist and power-serving condemnation. 
"This man is worse than Hitler," commented leading comedy gay hysteric, Patrick Smugtwit."In Iran every single gay man in the country has been hanged in what can only be called 'genocide'. I read this on the internets."
The president's comments - made in an interview with Piers Moron on CNN - have led to renewed calls to bomb Iran into the Stone Age, straight after we bomb Paris Hilton and the Vatican, presumably.

Kevin Smith: Stay Out Of My Brother's Bedroom, Buddy

Warning: May contain Piers Morgan.

The Sun: Rumour Fail

'A RELATIVE of Gary Speed yesterday condemned Twitter users who spread vile slurs about the soccer legend after he was found hanged.
'Anthony Haylock — who is married to Speed's sister Lesley — used the website itself to hit back just hours after the inquest into the Wales manager's death.
'He said: "So, Gary Speed wasn't gay, wasn't having an affair, and wasn't facing tabloid exposure. Nice work, Twitter."
'The angry brother-in-law signed off with a swipe at sickos who fuelled the unfounded gossip — declaring in internet-speak: "#RumourFail."

The Sun.
Not quite, no.
Here's his Twitterfeed.
Can you get anything right?

The Sun's story ends with a bit of editorialising
See if you can spot any subtext - or perhaps rank hypocrisy - here;

'His death in November rocked soccer. Ghouls who spread the twisted rumours about him knew millions were reading their lies. In contrast Speed's family heaped praise on the mainstream media for its "sympathetic" handling of the tragedy.
'In an editorial, The Times told how the internet had been "lit up with unsubstantiated rumours" — and warned of a society where "misinformation triumphs over truth".
'Tory MP Philip Davies also hit out at papers being cowed by Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards. He warned it was "leaving a large field clear to the unregulated internet and social media so people can peddle lots of things that are not true".

Update: The Daily Mail has now added a caveat to their story; "Original tweet by TV presenter Piers Morgan"
ie What they and The Sun said wasn't true.
You couldn't make it up.

Things I Learnt Over The Weekend

I've had a cold. Looks like I didn't miss much.

1. The Guardian still can't get enough of John Waters.
Superfreak made his third appearance in The Guardian/Observer in a fortnight.
This week he's explaining What I See In The Mirror.
Answer; the body of a junky and Little Richard's moustache.
I think the thing I like most about John Waters is how he revels in bad behaviour - his own and other peoples' - and he never ever apologises.
Unlike some more stately homos...

2. Elton John is the nation's favourite scratched record.
On Piers Meets Elton, a royal command performance of sorts, Sir Elton of John wibbles on about My Drugs Hell.
Again.
I guess it takes a special kind of talent to make taking shedloads of drugs sound boring.
Forgive him great British public for he has sinned...

3. Channel 4's The House That Made Me is the new mea culpa for "troubled" gay stars.
Boy George was on it this week.
It's Michael Barrymore on Thursday.
Both once much loved working-class lads from that London who've been in a spot of bother and are desperately seeking rehab with the great British public by showing off their roots.
Boy George mused; "I'm basically a gay version of my dad.”
Gor blimey, luvaduck, apples 'n' pears, 'ave a banana!
The one thing they won't talk about is the one thing on everyone's mind; the house that ruined them.
Rachel Cooke reviewed the bad Boy George in the New Statesman; "It's hard to be surprised by anything George-related these days. It's only a couple of years, after all, since the bizarre episode that led to his conviction for falsely imprisoning a male escort. The escort in question, who eventually escaped into the street in his underpants, was Norwegian - a detail that has for some reason stuck in my mind like glue."

4. Matt Lucas isn't a bundle of laughs.
And like Boy George and Barrymore, there is one place we aren't allowed to go.
A prickly Lucas is interviewed inThe Observer Magazine.
His camp straight (comedy) partner, David Walliams, fields most of the questions.
"I make what seems a harmless enough inquiry about Lucas and he fires back that, should I report any details in this article, "I would caution you from a legal perspective right now... that you run the risk of being on the end of a lawsuit."'

5. If you are a grumpy old queen, as Quentin Crisp might have said, then turn being a grumpy old queen into your style.
The Daily Mail wonders; Who'll Save Dun Sulking: Ted Heath's home reveals an unexpected side to Britain's grumpiest PM - so why does it face being sold off?'
Apparently he never married.
"There are photographs of his devoted parents and his brother, John, but no clues as to any lady friend who might have cracked this sturdiest of bachelor hearts..."
This stately (alleged) homo's stately home sounds like the world's grandest confirmed bachelor pad.
"He had no immediate family but that is precisely why his home is such a treasure. Instead of leaving it be carved up by relatives, he left it all in a charitable trust — ranging from gifts from Mao Tse-Tung to the moneybox his father made him as a child."
So if you can't be a national treasure, then leave one to the nation.