Piers Morgan has called presenter Matt Johnson a “virtue-signalling little [expletive]” in a Twitter rant over mental health.
Welsh telly star Matt, 35, branded Piers a “sham and a fear-mongering fraud” after Piers called for a mental health overhaul on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain as they discussed Mental Health Awareness Day.
During the show, Piers suggested that the phrase “mental health” should be scrapped and people should start calling it “mental strength” to teach kids “the power of resilience”.
Read more: Piers Morgan defends Strictly’s Seann Walsh over Katya Jones kiss
Piers suggested there is too much “mollycoddling” in schools and a “lack of training to be resilient”.
He said: “I don’t want to say things that sound inflammatory for the sake of it. Mental strength might be a nice way of attacking this.
“Rather than it being ‘health’ and people thinking doctors and medicine but you actually encourage kids to develop mental strength when they’re dealing with regular life stuff.”
Piers continued: “I’m not talking about serious things – clearly some people have genuine problems that need to be dealt with and treated, but some people have this anxiety and it seems to me there’s this lack of training to be resilient.”
I think it’s time to change the language on ‘mental health’.
Let’s start using the phrase ‘mental strength’, and teach our kids the power of resilience. 👊— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) 10 October 2018
He later tweeted: “I think it’s time to change the language on ‘mental health’. Let’s start using the phrase ‘mental strength’, and teach our kids the power of resilience.”
However, Matt didn’t agree and replied: “Hi all. Piers isn’t an expert. He isn’t educated at all when it comes to serious issues like mental health.
“He says uninformed and idiotic things like this all the time for likes & retweets. If you think he cares about you, he doesn’t. He’s a sham and a fear-mongering fraud.”
Hi all. Piers isn’t an expert. He isn’t educated at all when it comes to serious issues like mental health.
He’s says uninformed and idiotic things like this all the time for likes & retweets. If you think he cares about you, he doesn’t. He’s a sham and a fear-mongering fraud https://t.co/fjADZfvoCx— Matt Johnson (@Mattjohnsons) 10 October 2018
It wasn’t long before Piers hit back, calling Matt a rather unpleasant name.
He wrote: “Hi all. Matt’s a virtue-signalling little [expletive].”
And the war of words didn’t stop there as Matt went on to call Piers a “tiny old man”.
He wrote: “Haha. *Virtue-signalling claxon* You don’t know what that means. Change the record tiny old man, I see straight through you.”
Matt later tweeted to his followers: “There’s clearly a lot more to do when it comes to awareness and education.”
There’s clearly a lot more to do when it comes to awareness and education #mentalhealth
— Matt Johnson (@Mattjohnsons) 10 October 2018
Piers’ co-star Susanna Reid also weighed in on the argument and appeared to agree with Piers’ tweet by retweeting it to her own account.
She also tweeted: “Mental Health. Lots of talk about the “right” & “wrong” way to speak about it. May I venture there’s no monopoly on good advice?
“What works for one (resilience) may not for another (compassion). But we don’t help by saying that one or the other shouldn’t be said.”
Mental Health.
Lots of talk about the “right” & “wrong” way to speak about it.
May I venture there’s no monopoly on good advice? What works for one (resilience) may not for another (compassion). But we don’t help by saying that one or the other shouldn’t be said.
— Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) 10 October 2018
Read more: Piers Morgan insults Gary Lineker in homework debate
She also shared a video from international speaker Brian Wood, who opened up about his mental health issues due to being a solider in Iraq.
Susanna wrote: “When strong men speak out it has a huge impact. Respect to you for all your courage.”
What do you think of Piers’ comments? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.