Former X Factor star Katie Waissel has fired back at Piers Morgan after taking part in a panel discussion about One Direction star Liam Payne on his Talk TV show Uncensored.
In an X livestream with her followers after the show, the 38-year-old singer suggested she felt like the chat “didn’t respect the sensitivity” of the topic.
The X Factor star, who auditioned alongside Payne on the 2010 series of The X Factor, had been invited to speak on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday night to discuss her late friend’s death and continue the conversation around duty of care.
An initial toxicology report has found that Payne had multiple drugs in his system when he died aged 31 falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Waissel previously has made a number of claims about a lack of duty of care in the music industry and taken aim at X Factor music mogul Simon Cowell in recent days while posting about Payne’s death.
A row has now broken out over Piers Morgan Uncensored as Waissel was unhappy with how the interview turned out on Piers Morgan Uncensored when she appeared alongside Howie Mandel, radio’s James Barr and broadcaster Esther Krakue.
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She told her followers later in a live stream: “When I was contacted, I said to them this is an incredibly sensitive topic I’m familiar with Piers show Uncensored and I don’t wish to go into a situation where it doesn’t respect the sensitivity of clearly what sparked the conversation about Liam’s tragic passing.
“I was very much assured by the producer this would be different. I was like OK fine. I will speak with him… It was incredibly bizarre how it all went. I was shocked just as much as you all of were. When I went into that thinking we were going to be speaking about Liam and a bigger picture of the industry… I tried my best to hold my own.”
One moment in the interview Waissel took issue with was where Morgan grilled her over her comments about duty of care and said she wouldn’t have done another reality show if it had been that “awful”.
The moment was tweeted out on Piers Morgan Uncensored‘s official account saying: “‘You came 10th on X Factor then you did another reality show, so clearly it couldn’t have been that awful…’ Piers Morgan questions Katie Waissel after she says there was “no duty of care upheld” on the talent show.”
Waissel hit back in the comments writing: “This is factually incorrect as I placed 7th, and my placement on the show was of no relevance to the discussion of the tragic loss of a dear friend and negligence to duty of care for all of us on there during that time. Please fact check and whilst doing so, repost with dignity and respect. Many Thanks – KW.”
There were social media comments criticising Morgan for not letting Waissel speak. Among the comments, one person said: “I just wish Piers would let people speak and not thrust his views so aggressively on his guests.”
Someone else agreed: “I found it to be most rude that @katiewaissel24 respectfully requested to have her time to speak but yet was cut off. What I also don’t understand is that Sharon O posted shortly after the news broke that “we failed you”… Who is the “we”?”
A third said: “He didn’t let you speak, and was very rude to you.”
Another viewer added: “Piers the most despicable human being I have ever seen shame on you.”
Someone else said: “You didn’t give much time to this interview. There were people there who didn’t need to be there which meant Katie Waissel got less time to speak. People aren’t stupid Piers.”
Another said: “What has what position you came got to do with the health of the contestants? do you have to win before you are entitled to help? Given the show is a fix and potrays people how it sees fit to make entertainment rather than it being a natural competition it is entirely complicit.”
However, others defended Morgan for grilling Waissel over speaking out about duty of care. In the comments, one person said: “At last, Piers said exactly what I think about the whole duty of care thing. People knew, what they were entering into, clearly the money for reality TV is very good.”
Another said: “I agree with Piers, if it was so awful, why did she do it again?”
Yahoo has reached out to Katie Waissel and Piers Morgan for further comment.