Ariana Grande hits out at Piers Morgan over Little Mix nude row
The pop star stepped in when Piers Morgan told her mother that her "own daughter" was using nudity rather than talent to sell records
Pop star Ariana Grande has had just about enough of Piers Morgan's personal and unsolicited attacks, stepping in to defend Little Mix and Ellen DeGeneres against his views on nudity and feminism.
"I look forward to the day you realize there are other ways to go about making yourself relevant than to criticize young, beautiful, successful women for everything they do," she told him. "I think that’ll be a beautiful thing for you and your career or what’s left of it."
Good Morning Britain presenter Morgan kicked things off by criticising girl band Little Mix for posing naked, mocking their "feminist statement" and accusing them of using sex to sell records.
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The photograph in question shows the band naked, with insults written all over their bodies, including "flabby," "ugly," and "talentless" – a statement of body positivity which pairs with their new song Strip. Lyrics include: "Finally love me naked, sexiest when I'm confident."
But Morgan does not love them naked.
"Here's a great idea, girls - if you want to really empower yourselves, get naked and put the word slut all over your body," he mocked, in a segment on GMB. "Why don't we stop pretending that getting your kit off is feminist empowerment?"
And when band member Jesy Nelson responded to his comments by describing him as a t*** and posting an Instagram of herself in underwear, Morgan went with a patronising: "Oh Jesy, you've let yourself down, love," before demanding a public apology from the band.
Not content with going after Little Mix, Morgan also accused Ellen DeGeneres of "hypocrisy" for a segment on her show where she "celebrated" images of good-looking men, some of who were not wearing many clothes.
Ariana Grande's mother Joan finally snapped when Morgan accused Little Mix of "stealing" the idea for the photoshoot from the Dixie Chicks.
"Honestly what is wrong with you @piersmorgan?" she asked. "Didn’t your mother ever teach you, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it! You came for @TheEllenShow yesterday which was disgraceful, she is an angel. @LittleMix today, did you ever hear of paying homage? And..well never mind."
Apparently Morgan's mother did NOT teach him that lesson.
The breakfast TV presenter and professional provocateur hit back: "Hi Joan, my mother taught me to speak my mind & never be afraid to express honestly held opinion. Ellen's a hypocrite - and as for Little Mix, I'd just prefer they use their talent to sell records rather than their nudity. As your own daughter does...!"
But Grande had some honestly held opinions of her own, and after a tweet like that her response was impressively restrained. "Ellen is an incredible and kind human being," she wrote. "I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because I choose to. Women can be sexual AND talented. Naked and dignified. It's OUR choice."
Joan also hit back at the insult to her daughter, writing: "Trash talk for the sake of denigrating women doing their jobs is at best misogynistic and at worst undignified and ignorant!"
As DeGeneres and Little Mix also tweeted their support to Grande, Morgan responded: "This is nauseating."
Having pulled her into the row, he also claimed: "Ariana’s the one who sent me a blizzard of tweets, suggesting the fixation lies elsewhere..."
But he did thank her for one thing: making him trend on Twitter – his ultimate ambition?
