Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
Piers Morgan issued an on-air apology to Jay-Z and Beyoncé after a recent guest made “totally false” claims about them on his YouTube chat show.
Singer Jaguar Wright appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored last week to discuss the numerous sexual assault allegations facing rapper and mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
During the conversation, Wright called Diddy and Jay-Z “monsters” and alleged that Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé have hundreds of victims themselves. She claimed Jay-Z, for whom she had worked as a backing singer, had links with Combs and others.
In a video published on October 8, Morgan began by revealing that he had received a letter from the A-list couple’s lawyers informing him that Wright’s claims “were totally false and have no basis in fact.”
“[Wright has] made claims about [Combs] for years. Those claims will receive a lot of attention in the media across many platforms for many years. And that’s the thing about platforms. The reality of the modern world is that pretty much everyone has a platform as long as they have something to say that other people want to hear,” Morgan told his audience.
“That’s why we invited [Wright] on to be interviewed. The people making these claims have an audience with or without shows like mine.”
He continued: “Well, Jaguar, unexpectedly, made several serious allegations about Jay-Z and Beyoncé during that interview. As I said in the moment, they were not present to respond or defend themselves, but now they have. We had lawyers contact us to say that those claims were totally false and have no basis in fact, and we’ve therefore complied with a legal request to cut them from the original interview.”
Morgan concluded his message with a direct apology. “Editing interviews is not something we do lightly at a show called Uncensored,” he said, “but like the proverbial cries of fire in a crowded theater, there are legal limits on us, too. And we apologize to Jay-Z and Beyoncé.”
The Independent has contacted Wright’s representatives for comment.
Combs currently remains behind bars after he was arrested in mid-September. Federal prosecutors allege Combs is the architect and leader of a “criminal enterprise” engaged in alleged arson, kidnapping, forced labor, bribery, obstruction of justice and sex trafficking. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He’s been denied bail twice.
It was recently revealed that more than 100 people have planned to file lawsuits against Combs, alleging that he sexually abused and exploited them.
