Battle of the Brits: Piers Morgan Takes on…Hugh Grant?!

CNN's self-styled newsman takes a swipe at thesp after he dares pronounce that the tabloid press is "unnecessary"

By Gina Serpe May 16, 2011 9:22 PMTags
Piers Morgan, Hugh GrantPascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Jim Spellman/WireImage

Piers Morgan is at it again: piggybacking on the press of an A-lister in order to boost his own profile.

Oops.

We mean: banning from his show a celebrity who most likely never had any intention of appearing on the program to begin with.

Well, at least Hugh Grant is in good company (hi, Madonna!).

Larry King's replacement took to Twitter this morning to lash out against the charming big screen bumbler extraordinaire after Grant appeared on a British radio program and dared to say that—horror of horrors—the paparazzi and tabloid press aren't exactly doing the Lord's work.

"The tabloid press is completely unnecessary," Grant told BBC Radio host Richard Bacon. "We don't need them, we don't want them, and the sooner they go out of business the better."

Hardly a shocking or controversial stance for a celebrity to take, particularly one who's had his share of ups and downs with the press. And even less surprising as the declaration came in the midst of a conversation about the News of the World's Scotland Yard-investigating, lawsuit-resulting, widespread privacy-breaching (and all around creepy) phone hacking scandal. Grant is among those stars allegedly victimized.

But apparently the declaration got Morgan so hot under the collar that he felt the need to tweet this pronouncement:

"Listening to Bishop Hugh Grant telling @richardbacon he wants popular newspapers eradicated. I feel the same about his crap movies."

If only he would've stopped there. It might've been point Piers! Instead, proving himself to be the Donald Trump of cable and therefore unable to quit while he was (slightly) ahead, Morgan continued on.

(Now would be a good time to point out that Piers' anger no doubt stemmed from the fact that before he fashioned himself into a reality show judge and newsman, he was public enemy No. 1 in Britain, as editor of such reputable publications as News of the World and the Daily Mirror.)

"Hugh Grant is now banned, in perpetuity, from @PiersTonight and Life Stories," Morgan tweeted on, referencing his U.K. interview show. "And anything else I ever do. Tedious little man."

There's something tedious about this situation all right, but we don't think Hugh's to blame.

In any case, we're sure Grant will be just crushed to hear that he can't appear on Morgan's shows. Just as soon as someone explains to him that they exist.