Piers Morgan was forced to publicly apologize to Jay-Z and Beyoncé after R&B singer Jaguar Wright made unfounded inflammatory allegations about them on an edition of Piers Morgan Uncensored. The raft of sensational and unverified claims was swiftly denied by the power couple’s legal team, and Morgan was forced to take to his show to clarify the issue.
During a now-deleted interview aired on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Jaguar Wright accused Jay-Z and Beyoncé of illegal and disturbing behavior. Accusations that serious, without having one shred of evidence, will naturally stir up a hornet’s nest. Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s lawyers quickly sent a letter demanding the latter remove the defamatory content from the episode. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Piers Morgan issued a very unprecedented on-air apology.
Controversial statements are the hallmark of Wright, who, during the interview, accused Jay-Z and Beyoncé of holding people against their will. She equated Jay-Z to Sean “Diddy” Combs, a victim of his own quite many legal battles, and even went as far as connecting the two with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The stunning comparison, without evidence, elevated the controversial nature of her claims.
The wilder of Wright’s accusations came when she claimed Jay-Z was involved with scenarios of unconscious traveling done through conspiracy theories, like the late singer Aaliyah, an assertion which was no less groundless and without proof. These inflammatory remarks kicked up a storm in the next few minutes, as viewers started asking how Wright could have any validity with those statements.
After the interview, Morgan took to his show to explain to his audience why he would even air such an explosive segment. He justified it, saying it was a question of freedom of speech and platforms like his that try to give people a voice.
“The thing about platforms, the reality of the modern world is that everybody has pretty much got a platform as long as they’ve got something to say that somebody wants to hear,”
Morgan told his audience that’s why we invited him to be interviewed. The people making these claims have an audience with or without shows like mine.
Morgan chimed in,
“Though this came with much controversy, let this be the space for Jaguar Wright to have her say”.
Attorneys for Jay-Z and Beyoncé responded within days of the show’s airing, demanding that the show’s producers pull the segments containing the defamatory claims. The attorneys dismissed the claims as “totally false” and lashed out at Morgan for his apparent haste to act.
Bowing to legal pressure, Morgan obliged by editing out parts of the interview where Wright made the accusations. He even acknowledged this on his show and explained that, though his show was about freedom of speech, certain legal and ethical conditions should not be crossed.
“We had lawyers contact us to say those claims were totally false and have no basis in fact,”
said Morgan.
“We’ve therefore complied with a legal request to cut them from the original interview.”
During this apology, Piers Morgan pointed out how he was wrong to have allowed some defamatory remarks on air on his show. He added that even on a show titled Uncensored, there is always the limit as to what could be aired.
“As one could expect from a show called Uncensored,”
Morgan said,
“We never take the editing of interviews lightly, but like that proverbial cries of fire in a crowded theatre, there are legal limits on us, too. And to Jay-Z and Beyoncé, we apologize.”.
Morgan also took the opportunity to emphasize that, as much as his show was pegged on free expression and a representation of divergent views, it should also remain respectful to the truth and not in violation of any laws. This was a rare moment of reflection about the role of media platforms in dealing with controversial and unverified allegations.
Meanwhile, you can enjoy Jaguar Wright’s FIRST INTERVIEW since Diddy Arrest: