ITV stands by Meghan Markle as it responds to calls to sack Piers Morgan

Morgan made disparaging comments about Markle's struggles with her mental health

ITV is coming under increasing scrutiny after comments that Piers Morgan made on air in the aftermath of the much-discussed interview between Meghan Markle and Oprah. In the interview, Markle revealed that she had previously had suicidal thoughts during her time in England after marrying Prince Harry, due to the amount of criticism and abuse she was receiving from the press and public. Addressing these claims on Good Morning Britain yesterday, Morgan said "I'm sorry, I don't believe a word she said", adding that he "wouldn't believe it if she read me a weather report." He went as far as to describe the interview as "contemptible". Many have criticised ITV for its hypocrisy of allowing Morgan to express these views while also running its Britain Get Talking campaign, which encourages people to open up about their mental health, and there are calls for Morgan to be sacked as a result of his comments. This morning ITV's CEO revealed in the broadcaster's earnings conference that they were "dealing" with the calls for the presenter to leave, and the network was "totally committed to" mental health. Regarding Meghan's claims, Dame Carolyn McCall said, according to Variety: "I completely believe what she said, that the most important thing with mental health that ITV does and is totally committed to, is that we support, we get people to speak up, we listen, we say everyone has to listen and everyone has to believe because that’s how you get people to speak up. So we are very committed to that." In the latest episode of what is increasingly becoming the Piers Morgan show, the presenter stormed off set this morning after being involved in a heated row with colleague Alex Beresford, in which Morgan continued to criticise Markle. In response to this Dame Carolyn said of the programme that it was a "very balanced show" and that there was "nothing manufactured" in Piers' reactions.