As Piers Morgan gets hacked on Twitter, we remind readers of his ongoing spat with the especially ‘Hacked Off’ actor Hugh Grant
The scourge of the red tops that is the actor Hugh Grant tweets from the handle @HackedOffHugh and ironically last night, one of his favourite targets, Piers Morgan – who formerly worked at papers that most definitely engaged in phone hacking – literally found himself hacked also.
Targeted supposedly by what the DailyMail.com’s James Gordon subsequently termed “a foul-mouthed troll” on Twitter, Morgan’s 8.3 million followers witnessed “[his] account sending out expletive-laden messages.”
The hackers, supposedly a group named the “Chuckling Squad” initially demanded the recognition of “the territorial integrity of Somalia” and used hashtags including #HandsOfSomalia [sic]. One can only presume them to have been a little illiterate and probably to have meant to have tweeted suggested “hands off” instead.
According to Mr Gordon: “The group purportedly behind the attack, Chuckling Squad, is a group of hackers who gained notoriety in 2019 for taking over a number of high-profile Twitter accounts, including those belonging to various celebrities and public figures.”
Though Morgan and Grant’s public spats have been longstanding, their pugnacity most definitely peaked in December 2019 when the pressman and the press reform campaigner “traded insults at each other for many hours” on Twitter.
In one missive, at that time, Morgan declared of Grant and fellow actor Steve Coogan sharing their views about the then ongoing general election campaign: “Who gives a flying f**k what Coogan and Grant have to say about this election? Honestly, the stupefying pomposity of these clowns trying to thwart democracy is beyond parody.” In another, he added: “I suggest you put the halo away, ‘Saint’ Hugh.”
Responding, before getting sent back pictures of himself after his 1995 arrest for participating in “lewd conduct” in a public place with Divine Brown near Sunset Boulevard, California, Grant observed: “Your paper caved and paid off millions to hundreds of victims of phone hacking. And issued grovelling apology. Those were the civil cases. As for criminal charges… I refer to my old friends Mr Tick and Mrs Tock. Happy Xmas.”
In January 2020, Morgan – whose full name is actually Piers Pughe-Morgan and whose birth name was Piers O’Meara – went further and branded Grant “a stuck-up arrogant twerp” and “disgusting” after the latter branded the election result “a catastrophe” and claimed “the country is finished.”
Marmite-like Morgan, loved and loathed in equal measure in Britain and beyond, attended a lunch in Mayfair just before Christmas earlier this month where fellow guests included not only his ‘Brenemy’ Jeremy Clarkson, but also the Queen Consort, Camilla. Fans of the mendacious menace formerly known as Meghan Markle subsequently went mental.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party.
Twitter users reacts to Piers Morgan’s account being hacked…
