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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
John Bett

Eamonn Holmes laughs off Meghan Markle's 'influential' relationship with ITV bosses

What started as a 'feud' between Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield has now expanded to become one of the biggest dramas in television.

From Amanda Holden to Dr Ranj, stars from across the board have been dragged into the furore.

And last night, Meghan Markle 's name was thrown into the ring when aggrieved former This Morning host and long-time Phil adversary Eamonn Holmes claimed she holds great influence over ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall.

Fellow ITV star Piers Morgan was famously sacked from the network's morning show, Good Morning Britain, after he accused Meghan of lying in her Oprah interview.

Meghan Markle is said to hold sway at ITV (Getty Images)

What do you think about what's going on at ITV? Let us know in the comments...

His remarks about Prince Harry's wife sparked a wave of calls to media regulator Ofcom, with a record 58,000 complaints about Piers' criticism of the Duchess of Sussex.

Piers, 58, alleged that the Duchess of Sussex took it one step further and called his boss Carolyn, "demanding his head on a plate".

Addressing the incident on GB News, Eamonn - who also claims he was forced out of ITV - chuckled to himself, then said: "I think the way of dealing with Carolyn McCall and Meghan Markle and whatever is to laugh at them and laugh at the wokery, and just laugh.

"Seriously, because they're humourless, they're all humourless."

Meghan complained about Piers Morgan, and he was sacked a short while later (Getty Images)
Piers was offended by the whole debacle (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

ITV was eventually cleared by Ofcom, who said that punishing Piers for his views would be a "chilling restriction" on free expression. It did, however, criticise his "apparent disregard" for the subject of suicide.

Then, it was revealed that the Duchess herself filed complaints with the regulator and ITV.

Reacting to the ruling, Piers hit out against Meghan, calling her decision to reach out to his ITV boss "nauseating".

"I was reliably informed recently that Meghan Markle wrote directly to my ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall the night before I was forced out, demanding my head on a plate," Piers said to Mail Online.

Piers went on: "Apparently, she stressed that she was writing to Dame Carolyn personally because they were both women and mothers – a nauseating playing of the gender and maternity card if ever there was one.

Piers said he found Meghan's complaint "nauseating" (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Eamonn said all you can do is "laugh" (Getty Images)

"What has the world come to when a whiny fork-tongued actress can dictate who presents a morning television news programme?"

Piers said he was "delighted" with the ruling, which he described as "a resounding victory for free speech and a resounding defeat for Princess Pinocchios".

Following his win, Piers boldly asked if he would be offered his job back by ITV.

"As OFCOM says, to have stifled my right to express strongly held and robustly argued views would have been an 'unwarranted and chilling restriction on freedom of expression.

"In light of this decision – do I get my job back?"

ITV has been contacted for comment.

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