Piers Morgan just had one of the messiest interviews of his career on Piers Morgan Uncensored, with teenage TikTok creator Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, known as “Mizzy.”
Mizzy recently went viral for all the wrong reasons, after a series of increasingly obnoxious pranks he posted on his TikTok channel escalated into outright antisocial behavior, culminating with Mizzy walking into a stranger’s house, uninvited, and filming the exchange.
The house turned out to be a family residence with young children, and the footage shows the concerned parents repeatedly asking Mizzy to leave. The clip spread across social media, with many expressing alarm at the lengths young creators will go to pursue fame, incentivized by the chaotic whims of the TikTok algorithm.
Following the prank, Mizzy was given a fine and a criminal behavior order which places limitations on his social media use, barring him from posting videos online without the documented consent of the people featured in the content.
Morgan sat Mizzy down for an interview that was really a prolonged scolding, telling the 18-year-old that he is “a product of his upbringing,” and asking why he wanted to “cause so much alarm and distress to so many people.”
Mizzy said that he was peer-pressured into the viral prank and that he felt remorse for his actions, explaining that he apologized to the family the next day, but chose not to broadcast his apology and turn it into content.
The interview becomes increasingly heated as Mizzy expresses regret, and Morgan repeatedly accuses the teenager of not being truly remorseful. “A lot of the stuff you do could have consequences that are far more severe, but you don’t care … you don’t have any remorse,” Morgan said.
Mizzy responded defensively, describing his pranks as “having fun,” and describing UK laws as “weak” after Morgan says his punishment wasn’t severe enough. During the interview, Morgan repeatedly calls Mizzy an “idiot” and “moron.”
The interview soon devolves into a shouting match, as Morgan keeps interrupting Mizzy, seemingly attempting to provoke an emotional reaction from the teenager, preemptively accusing Mizzy of telling a “sob story” to justify his actions. Mizzy then asks, “Are you trying to get onto me because I’m Black?”
Morgan responded: “Why would I care what color your skin is? I just think you’re an idiot for what you are doing and for playing the race card when nobody has mentioned your skin color.”
The most illuminating (and surreal) segment of the interview, however, sees Morgan scolding Mizzy for engaging in bad behavior for clicks and attention. Mizzy admits that attracting “hate clicks” is “easier,” and Morgan reacts with stern disapproval, taking the moral high ground.
The irony is that harvesting “hate clicks” is a strategy that Morgan, of all people, is deeply familiar with. Morgan’s entire media career has been defined by backlash and controversy, with Morgan currently facing serious accusations of harmful behavior, far exceeding that of an immature TikTok teen.
Morgan previously worked as an editor for British tabloids News of the World and The Daily Mirror, two tendrils of Rupert Murdoch’s reactionary, corrosive media empire. Morgan has repeatedly been accused of authorizing illegal activity to obtain exclusive stories during his time as editor, such as hacking voicemails and paying private investigators. Morgan has always denied these accusations.
Prince Harry has even claimed that Morgan “knew about, encouraged and concealed” illegal targeting of Princess Diana. Harry claims that Murdoch’s newspapers publicly criticized Diana’s “paranoid delusions” about being illegally targeted, when in reality “she was under close surveillance and her calls were being unlawfully intercepted.”
Morgan went on to become a media personality, and his habit of seeking attention through controversy is best summarized by his bizarre, one-sided feud with Meghan Markle, which grew into a personal vendetta, and turned him into a laughing stock online.
Morgan has previously described being deeply offended by Markle after she dared to spend an evening with him, then went on to live her life without contacting Morgan again.
“If Meghan Markle had done to you what she did to me, you would have been pissed off,” Morgan told The Guardian. “I literally put her in a cab from my pub after a two-hour chat. The moment she got in that cab, she went to a dinner party where Harry was; the next night they had a one-on-one at Soho House or wherever it was and I never hear from her again. Gone … I just found her incredibly shallow and the social-climbing element quite appalling.”
During his time as host of Good Morning Britain, Morgan’s public criticism of Markle became increasingly frequent and hostile, with Morgan completely dismissing Markle’s claim of suffering suicidal thoughts and being denied help by palace officials.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report,” Morgan said.
When challenged on his increasingly unprofessional behavior, Morgan lost his temper, storming off set during a live broadcast after weatherman Alex Beresford called him out.
“I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this program,” Beresford said. “She’s entitled to cut you off. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has. But you continue to trash her.”
The incident resulted in Morgan leaving Good Morning Britain, which explains why he is currently hosting a show titled Piers Morgan Uncensored and scolding a teenage prankster. Ironically, Morgan has often railed against “virtue signalers” who display “insufferable self-righteousness.”
Toward the end of the antagonistic interview, Mizzy told Morgan that he has plans to start streaming on Twitch, since his TikTok and Instagram profiles have been banned.
“I’m gonna be on Twitch,” he said. “Yeah, I’m gonna start streaming on Twitch. IRL streams, gaming streams. My Twitch is ‘mizzyislive’ if you wanna get at that.”
It remains to be seen if Mizzy will continue to emulate Morgan’s strategy of harvesting “hate clicks.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/05/26/piers-morgan-fails-to-see-the-irony-in-viral-interview-with-tiktok-prankster/