“It was great to see someone finally put her in her place” – Piers Morgan brands squirming This Morning star a ‘rid:icul0:us victim’ as he reignites feud live on air and slams her for ‘playing the woke violin’

Piers Morgan branded This Morning star Ashley James a ‘ridiculous victim’ as he reignited their feud live on air and slammed her for ‘playing the woke violin’ on Wednesday.

The 60 year old and Ashley, 38, appeared on the ITV show to chat to hosts Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 48, about the latest headlines.

One topic that came up in conversation was if we are too quick to take offence nowadays – and the matter soon turned personal.

They discussed Nick Clegg recently revealing how he got in trouble as soon as he arrived at tech giant Meta‘s headquarters and upsetting the ‘woke’ staff.

Ashley asked Piers: ‘This idea of woke, what do you think woke means? Woke means being aware of social injustice and other people’s lived experiences. That’s all woke means and it’s been weaponised by people like you!’

An unimpressed Piers replied: ‘Oh Ashley, do me a favour…

Piers Morgan branded This Morning star Ashley James a ‘ridiculous victim’ as he reignited their feud live on air and slammed her for ‘playing the woke violin’ on Wednesday

The 60-year-old and Ashley, 38, appeared on the ITV show to chat to hosts Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 48, about the latest headlines.

One topic that came up in conversation was if we are too quick to take offence at things nowadays – and this led the pair to both clash over their opinions

‘I’ll give you an example of woke. I mentioned this a little earlier. The last time I appeared with you here, you were a classic wokie that day.

‘We had a robust exchange of views, we disagreed about stuff, it was all pretty respectful and then I watched your Instagram for the next three days, where you just played the most ridiculous, violin-laden victim, posting endless little comments from from your fans about how you survived the monster, how brave and bold you were.’

‘I’ve got to go through it again!’ Ashley shot back.

She continued: ‘I feel like poor Ashley.’

Piers said: ‘But that’s the point, you’re not poor Ashley. You’re a strong woman, independent woman.’

Ashley told him: ‘But being woke doesn’t make you weak! Caring about other people’s lived experiences and back in the day, a lot of people went to work and felt uncomfortable with a lot of the jokes.

‘We see this excuse of banter all the time and we also see how it creates this culture where more serious stuff gets brushed under the carpet.’

Agreeing with her, Piers said: ‘Well that is true.’

Ashley asked Piers: ‘Do you know what do you think woke is? Woke means being aware of social injustice. That’s all woke means and it’s been weaponised by people like you!’

But he continued: ‘But it’s chicken and the egg right…

‘You’re saying it’s people like me fuelling this stuff, this culture war stuff, but actually, what I’m trying to do is preserve what actually this country was built on.

‘Which is that you can have fun, you can have jokes in the workplace, you can have romance in the workplace by the way.

‘Forty per cent of marriages used to start in the workplace. How the hell do you do that now?! No one can even look at each other without being arrested.’

Ashley clapped back: ‘They also had to tolerate their waist being touched, which made them feel uncomfortable.’

She continued: ‘By the way, being woke and being professional in the workplace is for everyone, it’s for women, men and everyone.’

Sadly the pair kept talking over each other, leaving Ben and Cat struggling to regain control of the debate.

Presenter Ben then asked the camera: ‘Just a quick check with the gallery… is Piers hearing you?’

Piers even joked that This Morning ‘had changed Ashley’s hair colour so that he couldn’t tell it was her’ given their bad blood

Cat added: ‘Do we need a bell?’

But Piers continued: ‘We should be allowed to have fun. You don’t want to cross a line…’

‘Of course you can have fun but not if people are telling you they’re uncomfortable, there’s a line,’ Ashley told him.

Piers said: ‘The problem with the woke brigade is they feel uncomfortable about everything. Give them an orange and they’re triggered because it’s not an apple.

‘It’s all got so ridiculous. We’ve got this ridiculous snowflakey thing – stop it!

‘Everyone should just chill, and have a bit of fun.’

Elsewhere on the show the pair locked horns while debating how women were more attracted to men with masculine walks, with Ashley insisting that ‘toxic masculinity’ was to blame for a male loneliness epidemic.

Having none of it, Piers stressed that we need to do a better job of celebrating strength and stoicism, rather than vilifying it.

The pair were last seen on the ITV programme back in September and clashed at the time debating Prince Harry‘s reunion with King Charles.

Speaking about Price Harry, Ashley gushed: ‘He’s done so much for mental health’.

However, razor-sharp Piers was quick to point out the negative impact he’d had on ‘the mental health of his family’.

He told Ashley: ‘You’re painting him as an idyllic picture of this heroic character. He has renounced royal duty, but he’s kept the royal titles so he can continue making money.’

Ashley went on to reply that he stepped back due to ‘relentless media intrusion, your [Piers] mouth being one of those mouth pieces.’

Back in 2017 the pair also clashed over Emma Watson’s topless Vanity Fair shoot, while Piers ruled was ‘flaming hypocrisy’.

Ashley complained: ‘He has a chauvinistic view, it’s like this whole Emma Watson thing.

‘You can be a feminist and still be sexual and I think it’s such a male patriarchic view that feminism isn’t a load of frumpy old women who hate men, that’s not the point of it.

‘Feminism isn’t a scary movement, it’s just about equality.’

This Morning airs on ITV1 weekdays from 10am and is available to stream on ITVX.