British TV host and columnist Piers Morgan weighed in on the news of criminal charges against Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager to Donald Trump, by mocking Michelle Fields for pressing assault charges.
On Tuesday afternoon, Morgan took to Twitter, calling the criminal complaint “utterly pathetic” and telling Fields to “toughen up.”
These tweets provoked a wave of outrage from Fields’ defenders.
Morgan reiterated his point by comparing Fields’ complaint to veteran women in broadcast news, such as Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.
Then he continued to quote and mock angry tweets, including a missive from former Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro.
Morgan later wrote a full column on the subject for the Daily Mail. He says he has “watched the video multiple times and cannot conceive any sensible interpretation that he is committing any kind of deliberate assault.” He then claims that if Fields were a man, the press would laugh at rather than rally behind the criminal charges.
[J]ournalism’s a rough old game. You dish it out, you have to take it.
But this debate boils down to this: if a male reporter cried ‘battery’ after such a trivial incident, he’d be an absolute laughing stock.
Why should a female reporter be taken any more seriously?
By making such a grotesque mountain of such a tiny molehill, Michelle Fields has embarrassed herself and let down her profession.
Toughen up, young lady – or choose a different job.