British journalist Piers Morgan spent the past week repeatedly refuting claims made by American journalist Tucker Carlson, who alleged that Morgan admitted to "hating Israel with every fiber of his body" during an unrecorded off-camera moment.
This occurred during a meeting between Morgan and Carlson on a rooftop in Saudi Arabia last week, where they interviewed each other and discussed their views on various world affairs.
Carlson, while attempting to avoid answering Morgan's question on his view of the IDF's actions in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, stated that "it's hard to take a lecture from someone who just admitted that he hates Israel in every fiber of his body."
This caused Morgan to laugh while stating, "I never said that," accusing Carlson of "distracting" from the question.
Morgan denied multiple times that he had said he hated Israel in replies to critics on his personal X/Twitter account, including a post stating that there were at least 10 eyewitnesses to the full discussions who could attest to him saying "nothing of the sort."
Can people please stop posting this nonsense… I obviously said nothing of the sort, as the many (10+) witnesses present at the interview can attest… https://t.co/og2WfWCaKF
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 3, 2025
Wider context of the alleged statement
During discussions on the Israel-Hamas war, Carlson condemned Israel's bombardment of Gaza, which Morgan questioned as he said such bombing "wasn't evil." Carlson rebutted, "If you're intentionally killing civilians, you probably shouldn't beat your chest and brag about it... maybe you can make the case that you had to do it, but you should weep."
"Is it evil, though?" Morgan responded, to which Carlson replied, "To kill civilians on purpose? I think it is. Kids and children? Yeah."
The two journalists moved onto the issue of whether the US should continue funding Israel's efforts against Hamas after former President Joe Biden sent at least $17.9 billion in military aid since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
After Carlson repeated his calls for the US to stop supplying aid to Ukraine, Morgan queried, "Why do you support Israel against Hamas? Why do you support giving them billions of dollars?"
"I don't. I support Israel in the sense that I really like Israel, I brought my family on vacation there... but only to the extent that it helps the United States," Carlson replied.
Morgan claimed this was a hypocritical stance, stating, "I don't see a difference between [Israel's bombing of Gaza] and what is happening in Ukraine."
"This is a long way away from America; there is no direct involvement with America or no mainland involvement, and yet you think it's right that America supports Israel, but you don't think it's right that America supports Ukraine."
One critic of Morgan's views stated to him on X/Twitter that "There are metrics in international law around how many civilians can be killed in a targeted attack on a combatant. So civilian casualties are not automatically war crimes or genocide."
Morgan replied by stating, "Of course. To say 'all war is evil' is wrong as evil means 'profoundly immoral and wicked' and although all war is horrible, some is obviously morally justified in self-defense."
Other topics discussed included gun control and the legacy of Winston Churchill.
Two controversial journalists clash
Both Morgan and Carlson have faced controversies throughout their careers due to their outspoken personal views, including their far-right stances.
While Piers Morgan has often criticized Israel's reaction to the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas terrorists as disproportionate, he has repeatedly been outspoken on Israel's right to defend itself against terrorist infiltrations from the Gaza Strip.
Morgan has also refused to continue interviews with Hamas apologists over the past 15 months unless they admitted that October 7 was a horrific act of terrorism.
Carlson, meanwhile, has faced heavy criticism for meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 8, 2024, in a move seen as acting as Russia's mouthpiece.
Carlson has also been responsible for spreading the highly antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory. This debunked white nationalist conspiracy claims that ethnic minorities, mostly Jews and Muslims, are actively trying to replace 'whites' from positions of power and authority in the West.