Piers Morgan (AFP Photo / Ramin
Talaie)
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News anchor Piers Morgan’s tenure with CNN officially
ended on Tuesday this week, and according to a tweet sent by the British
journalist, an exchange with radio host Alex Jones was among the highlights of
his career there.
"If I'm to be remembered for anything [at] CNN,
I'd like it to be this" Morgan told his 4.23 million Twitter followers on
Tuesday along with a link to a YouTube clip of his infamous gun debate with
Jones in the wake of the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Both the Brit and Jones made headlines in their own
right last year when a discussion on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Today” concerning
firearm laws in the United States turned stormy.
"1776 will commence again if you try to take our
firearms!" Jones barked at Morgan during the broadcast. "It doesn't matter
how many lemmings you get out on the street begging for them to have their guns
taken! We will not relinquish them! Do you understand?"
Jones’ diatribe continued for more than two-minutes
before he switched off topic from guns and instead began to discuss
antidepressant drugs. By the next morning, the escapade had earned headlines
around the globe.
"I can't think of a better advertisement for gun
control than Alex Jones' interview last night," Morgan said
during a later appearance on CNN. "It was startling, it was terrifying
in parts. It was completely deluded. It was based on a premise of making
Americans so fearful that they all rush out to buy even more guns."
Now nearly two years later, Morgan says he wants the
moment to go down in history as being among the most remembered.
Strangely
enough, however, some media analysts have previously speculated that Morgan’s
stringent anti-gun stance is part of the reason he was relieved from his CNN
job in the first place.
Radio talk show host and
Infowars.net founder Alex Jones (C) (Reuters / Jim Bourg)
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Morgan’s take on gun control is “more
akin to King George III, peering down his nose at the unruly colonies and
wondering how to bring the savages to heel,” New York Times media reporter
David Carr wrote earlier this year in February where it was announced that
“Piers Morgan Live” would be ending its three-year streak on CNN.
“I’m in danger
of being the guy down at the end of the bar who is always going on about the same
thing,” Morgan acknowledging, adding that he believes he’s
made critics out of viewers by coming off as “this British guy telling them
how to lead their lives and what they should do with their guns.”
In another message tweeted to his
followers this week, Morgan recalled that another firearm debate didn’t sit
well with his audience, either.
“I knew this
kind of outburst wouldn’t endear me to gun-loving Americans — but I’d do it all
over again,” Morgan tweeted.
On Infowars.com, a website run by
Jones, writers argued that the January 2013 segment may indeed have been the
best “Piers Morgan Live” ever experienced.
“The former host of Piers Morgan Live could
never quite capitalize on the high ratings Jones brought to the show, which was
ultimately cancelled by CNN earlier this year,” Infowars reported.
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