Piers Morgan, host of CNN’s, Piers Morgan Live got into a Twitter war with members of the Transgender community after his interview with Transgender advocate and author, Janet Mock.
Janet Mock accused Piers Morgan on Twitter of sensationalizing her life on the show. She felt that the producers and Piers Morgan mostly focused on her past and her transition. Her book , Redefining Realness describes her journey with solidifying her identity as being a black transgender woman.
As an advocate she wants to educate people about being transgender and break down stereotypes. During the interview, Morgan said that Mock had to reveal to the man, Aaron who she is currently dating that she used to be a man. Mock has never identified herself as being a man.
Mock tells Buzzfeed, “My book is not about Aaron or my relationship, but that’s the most sensational thing they want to pull out. They’re not talking about my advocacy or anything like that, it’s just about the most sensationalized meme of discussion of trans women’s lives: ‘We’re not real women, so therefore if we’re in relationships with men we are deceiving them.’ So it just feeds into those same kind of myths and fears that they spread around, which leads to further violence of trans women’s bodies and identities.”
Also, during the show, the on-screen line said that she “was a boy until age 18.”
You can watch the first interview here:
Mock watched the interview during a party for her book release and she was not pleased. She took out her frustrations on Twitter. Of course, Piers Morgan responded:
A lot of very irate people accusing me of 'transphobia' because I devoted a third of my show to @JanetMock 's inspiring story. Weird.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 5, 2014
Don't be so churlish - this is ridiculous > RT @janetmock: .@PiersMorganLive I was not "formerly a man." Pls stop sensationalizing my life
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 5, 2014
Very disappointed in @janetmock 's tweets tonight. Deliberately, and falsely, fuelling some sense of me being 'transphobic'. Unpleasant.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 5, 2014
After the Twitter exchange with many of Mock’s supporters, Morgan invited Mock back to his show.
“I want this to be a learning and teaching moment for all of us,” said Mock on Wednesday’s show. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding.”
Morgan was clearly upset about the backlash from the initial interview because he considers himself an ally to the LGBTQ community. He feels that Mock should have corrected him on the show and spoke up if she didn’t like how the interview was being conducted.
You can watch the second interview below:
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia
