Piers Morgan on UK Hacking Scandal: 'Smearing My Good Name!'

July 20, 2011 Hot Topics

CNN host Piers Morgan has been dragged into the escalating phone-hacking scandal at the UK tabloid News of the World.

During the Parliament hearings, Tory MP Louise Mensch claimed Morgan had admitted in his book, "The Insider," that he used phone hacking to get stories when he was the editor of The Mirror, a competing tabloid, in 1996.

Morgan talked with "Extra's" Terri Seymour about the claims, denying ever using that practice at The Mirror.

"Absolutely not, absolutely not," Morgan told Seymour. "What she's trying to do is smear my good name. It certainly never happened at The Mirror when I was there, to my knowledge."

Morgan, who was also Editor of News of the World in 1994, added, "I left in '95, five years before it started there. It's not acceptable, hacking is not acceptable."

Celebrities reacted to "Extra" about the scandal. Backstage at "America's Got Talent" Tuesday, Sharon Osbourne thought Murdoch should retire. "Go home to Australia, love. Go and start a farm or something, write a book."

At the "Crazy, Stupid Love" premiere, "Today" anchor Natalie Morales said, "This is the beginning and I'm curious to see how it affects the tabloids here, because they are up to dirty tricks as well."

New reports are coming out that even 9/11 victims had their phones hacked by the tabloid, about which Murdoch denied knowing anything.

The media baron has maintained he put his trust in the wrong people.

Add Your Comment

  • Please check your inbox ... your comment will not appear until you have confirmed your identity via email.

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put 1 URL in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.