TV presenter Piers Morgan recently agreed to host the Royal Television Society Programme Awards after he said “it might be fun”.
But this was very short-lived as Piers has pulled out of the hosting duties after a petition was set up online to “ban” him.
The GMB host took to Facebook to explain he was dropping out of the award show.
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He wrote: “I was recently invited to host the Royal Television Society Programme Awards.
“After my role was announced, a campaign was started to have me banned.”
He added: “It suggested that I lack the ‘creative excellence’ criteria required for presenting such an event and therefore my presence would be ‘damaging’ and ‘inappropriate’”.
He ended the statement by saying: “I have no wish to serve as an unnecessary distraction from award winners whose hard work and skill should be celebrated without any of the silly noise this campaign has generated.
“So, I am now withdrawing from hosting the evening. Good luck to everyone who has been nominated”.
His GMB co-host, Susanna Reid took to Twitter to defend Piers.
She tweeted: “There’s a lot that @piersmorgan and I disagree on.
“But as someone who knows what a very good presenter he is, I think this is a real shame.”
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Piers has recently received negative reactions for his controversial comments on feminism and support for Donald Trump.
His opinionated comments have even landed him in arguments with JK Rowling and Ewan McGregor.
The presenter found himself in a Twitter spat with JK Rowling recently over their opposing political views.
It started when the author took to Twitter and said to her 9.7 million followers: “Yes, watching Piers Morgan being told to get lost on live TV is *exactly* as satisfying as I’d always imagined”.
It resulted in 69K retweets and 211K likes from her devoted fans.
But, Piers hit back at the star saying: “This is why I’ve never read a single word of Harry Potter”.