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- Piers Morgan called Naomi Osaka a "brat" for refusing to speak to the media at the French Open.
- In a column for the Daily Mail, Morgan accused Osaka of being unable to take criticism.
- In March, Morgan stormed off his own TV show after being criticized by a colleague.
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Piers Morgan's has been accused of hypocrisy after he called Naomi Osaka an "arrogant spoiled brat" for refusing to speak to the media at the French Open.
Osaka withdrew from Roland-Garros on Monday after being fined $15,000 for not attending a press-conference following her first round win over Patricia Maria Țig on Sunday.
The 23-year-old had announced before the tournament that she would not be speaking to the media in order protect her mental health. Upon withdrawing, Osaka revealed she has been suffering bouts of depression since 2018.
In his Daily Mail column on Monday, Morgan hit out at the Japanese star, claiming she was using mental health as an excuse not to face difficult questions from the press.
"This has got nothing to do with mental health," he wrote. "What Osaka really means is that she doesn't want to face the media if she hasn't played well, because the beastly journalists might actually dare to criticize her performance."
Morgan continued by comparing Osaka to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
"This is straight out of the Meghan and Harry playbook of wanting to have the world's largest cake and eating it, by exploiting the media for ruthlessly commercial self-promotion but using mental health to silence any media criticism," he said.
"Osaka's antics stink of a stupendous ego raging out control."
Shortly after Morgan's piece was posted, people were quick to point out that back in March the 56-year-old had stormed off the set of Good Morning Britain after being called out for his treatment of Markle by co-presenter Alex Beresford.
Beresford had criticized Morgan specifically for dismissing Markle's characterization of mental illness, at which point he walked out of the studio and ultimately quit the show for good.
"Piers Morgan walked off his own show's set after 90 seconds of gentle critique but can't understand why Naomi Osaka withdrew from one tennis match after years of media ignited mental health struggles," wrote one Twitter user.
-Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) June 1, 2021
Don Moynihan, a professor at Georgetown University, tweeted a similar criticism, writing: "Piers Morgan, who literally walked off the set in the middle of his own show after getting the mildest possible pushback for his obsessive criticism of a female POC [person of color], has some thoughts about how a female POC should honor her professional obligations."
-Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) May 31, 2021
Morgan was also accused of attacking Osaka because of the color of her skin, which he vehemently denied.
"What does her skin color have to do with it?" he replied to one person who suggested he that he must "hate black women."
"I'd have written the same column if Naomi Osaka was white. For you to now play the race card to attack and silence any perfectly justified criticism of her behaviour is shameful."