[imagesource: The New York Post]

When two of the world’s most oversized yet fragile egos collide, expect fireworks.

Say what you want about Piers Morgan (really, go right ahead), but he does know how to drum up free PR.

Ahead of the release of his new show, Uncensored, Piers has already compared his ‘free speech crusade’ to Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom.

A headline-grabbing quote, sure, but nothing riles people up quite like a joust with former US President Donald Trump.

Everybody’s talking about a 30-second clip from Piers’ show, which will air on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV channel, appearing to show Trump storming off the set:

Those close-ups of Trump are harrowing. How has he managed to turn a darker hue of orange?

“The most explosive interview of the year” will air in full this upcoming Monday in the UK, with the show running to 75 minutes in length.

Piers knows a thing or two about on-air meltdowns, but is the above clip simply a case of clever editing?

The YouTube description for the clip says that “Trump has stormed out of an interview with Piers Morgan”. The video’s title also pushes that angle.

Trump has hit back, with an audio clip provided by the former president’s communications director refuting that the interview ended with the orange menace storming off the set.

NBC News reports:

Instead, according to the recording, which was provided by Trump’s spokesman, the two men thanked each other and laughed at the conclusion of the interview for Talk TV, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp…

“That was a great interview,” Morgan says in the audio at the end. Trump agrees with a “yeah.”

“Thank you very much. I really appreciate it,” Morgan says. That’s when Trump says, “Turn the camera off.”

Listen carefully and you’ll hear the above conversation, which follows on from a discussion about buying the clubhouse a round of drinks after a recent hole-in-one:

The actual audio
Trump 2024! pic.twitter.com/cqL6fWl45E

— Cheryl Trotter (@CherylTrotter78) April 21, 2022

Trump claims he has had seven hole-in-ones during his lifetime.

You can listen to that audio clip in full here.

Who would have thought Piers Morgan would do something dishonest to promote his new show? Shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

Spokesman Taylor Budowich called the edited clip a “pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host”.

Following the uproar, Piers is determined to capitalise. For some reason, he’s returned to addressing Trump as ‘Mr President’, despite knowing full well that he lost the election and has no evidence to illustrate otherwise:

Morning, Mr President!
It was a great interview, thanks for all your time.
Sorry you got so annoyed that I don’t believe the 2020 election was rigged or stolen from you, but as I said, where’s your proof? If you have it, show us – or accept the result and move on. pic.twitter.com/QD4ONenhfZ

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 21, 2022

Even Caitlyn Jenner gets a mention:

Hi Caitlyn, I thought you hated cancel culture? I did a 75-minute interview with President Trump, why don’t you actually watch it before deciding how I behaved? https://t.co/vAfExdDSis

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 21, 2022

By the way, Piers crying about ‘cancel culture’ is a tad silly given that he will reportedly be paid £50 million over the next three years to host the daily show.

[source:nbc]