Piers Morgan Slammed After Calling Naomi Osaka ‘Petulant Little Madam’

Piers Morgan can't seem to keep his mouth shut these days. He was most recently scrutinizing tennis star Naomi Osaka calling her a "brat" in the midst of her withdrawal from the French Open.

As we previously reported, Osaka announced on social media that she is withdrawing from the French Open. The news of this followed her being fined $15,000 for not speaking to the media, skipping a “mandatory” news conference after her first-round win at the French Open on Sunday.

Osaka wrote on social media, "I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris." She added, "More importantly l would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly. The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.”

Morgan tweeted yesterday in response to Osaka's announcement, calling his column about “world sport’s most petulant little madam” to be published soon in the Daily Mail, prompting backlash on social media. In a follow-up tweet with a link to the article, he said, "Narcissistic Naomi's cynical exploitation of mental health to silence the media is right from the Meghan & Harry playbook of wanting their press cake and eating it."

56-year-old Morgan has gone after Meghan Markle in a similar fashion after she revealed the pressures of royal life which led her to suicidal thoughts earlier this year in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Morgan was slammed for stigmatizing and dismissing mental health concerns as well as being fueled by race on Twitter. See some of the reactions below: