Tadhg Hickey tears into Piers Morgan’s double standard over Thunberg and Grande

Tadhg Hickey tears into Piers Morgan’s double standard over Thunberg and Grande



Piers Morgan and Ariana Grande

In a post on X, Irish satirist and pro-Palestine activist Tadhg Hickey has called out Piers Morgan’s glaring double standard over online abuse: defending some targets from trolls while piling on others.

Hickey’s intervention came after Morgan posted on X defending Ariana Grande and rightly condemning the trolls “making her life a misery”. But, as Hickey points out, Morgan has shown far less concern for Greta Thunberg, repeatedly adding fuel to the abuse directed at her.

Patriarchal double standards

Morgan was absolutely right to call out the trolls targeting Ariana Grande with nasty and offensive comments about her appearance. But, as Hickey has pointed out, where is that same compassion when it comes to activist Greta Thunberg?

That double standard matters.

Personal attacks, condescending pile-ons and relentlessly negative commentary can have very real consequences for the people caught in the crossfire. We saw just how tragic those consequences can be following the death of Jason Arday, who faced attacks from powerful people who disagreed with his views and, more disturbingly, from those who were entirely unable to accept a Black man achieving academic acclaim.

And that is the problem. For some people, personal attacks and irresponsible commentary suddenly become acceptable when the target holds political views they dislike.

Within our neoliberal establishment, a hugely successful actress who makes big sums of money for corporate wealth will find her wellbeing being defended, but an activist fighting for a better world against corporate greed and neglect, will be demonised and ‘left to the dogs’.

Let us be clear: both women deserve far better than the way they are treated in the media.

However, you cannot condemn online abuse when it suits you and then choose to ignore abuse when the target is someone you disagree with. This exposes a deeply cynical double standard in parts of the mainstream media and Western behaviour more broadly.

It also raises an important question: if the media and social media pile-ons continue to cross the line, isn’t it time we had much stronger accountability and regulation?

Morgan is a hypocrite

Thunberg often attracts the ire of white patriarchal men like Morgan, as she has long sought to challenge corrosive systems of power. This is both in relation to the climate crisis and in Western states’ failure to uphold international law in the face of a live-streamed genocide in Gaza.

This, unsurprisingly, has irritated people like Piers Morgan who seemingly believe they are the ultimate moral arbiters of what can and can’t be said.

Going further, Morgan has attacked Thunberg relentlessly for years, alongside other right-wing pundits, for the offensive crime of working to expose the irresponsibility, negligence and corruption at state and corporate level in the face of climate catastrophe.

After October 7th, 2023, Thunberg turned from a sole focus on the environment to speaking up against the genocide in Gaza which is still ongoing today. Pointing out the flagrant breach of international law by the occupying state of Israel, Thunberg has angered many pro-Israel pundits.

This drew the ire of Piers Morgan who showed a particular inclination to favour Israel’s ‘position’. He appeared to have quite the comfort in ignoring the brutal, murderous bombing campaign by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on innocent Palestinian men, women and children.

Nevertheless, Morgan eventually couldn’t excuse Israel’s war crimes, and he finally began to challenge Israel (a little bit, anyway) – but he was no more inclined to look at Thunberg’s efforts without feeling compelled to diminish and deride her.

This is because, for people like Morgan, it is always about his arrogant superiority:

Derogatory abuse

Morgan’s cruel and diminishing rhetoric towards Thunberg has been longstanding and has sunk to deplorable depths in his attempt to diminish her critical work.

Back in 2019, in response to her advocacy for action on the climate crisis, Morgan attempted to suggest Thunberg was “unstable”:

As in the interview with Albanese, Morgan does little to hide his hatred for Thunberg. Ironically, he declared her to be someone who is just out for their own ego who is a “self-obsessed narcissist”.

Plenty have pointed out his hypocrisy, which only lays bare this double standard even further:

Others have pointed out that Thunberg could seemingly do nothing which could possibly satisfy Morgan – or escape his cynical and damaging attacks.

The more likely reality is that Thunberg’s real offence is simply showing up – with no agenda beyond helping others, using her privilege and platform to challenge the most powerful and damaging structures of power.

Unfortunately, much of the media class is helping to uphold these damaging systems of power, as researcher Philip Proudfoot has pointed out on X:

Practice what you preach, Morgan

There have been resounding calls across the political spectrum for stronger regulation of the media. The British public deserves a media watchdog which actually has ‘teeth’ when it comes to holding powerful, influential people to account for the harms they have afflicted and contributed to.

This crucial issue has been brought to the forefront of public debate in light of the abusive, irresponsible and cruel treatment towards Jason Arday, seemingly for clickbait. Continuously, we see the mainstream media, politicians and journalists actively encourage quick judgement. So few encourage real understanding.

Before the far-right DEI-haters swoop in, or those on the left who have been all too happy to churn out content that undermines the very principles we claim to uphold, let’s be clear: understanding is not the same as agreement.

It means reaching a conclusion informed by the full picture – not by the most manipulated, inflammatory or salacious details.

It is time for all those in the media and those engaging in public debate to practice what they preach, the World has had quite enough of hypocritical double standards.

Featured image via the Canary / IG

By Maddison Wheeldon





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