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May 12, 2022 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
45:33
20220512_piers-morgan-uncensored-john-lydon-ben-crawford-an
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Serious Answers for Serious Times 00:02:48
Good evening on Piers Morgan, uncensored.
Tonight, perhaps the world's most uncensored man, Johnny Rotten, will be here live.
Also the former Irish Premier on the future of the United Kingdom.
And Britney Spears is free, but is she really free?
We'll talk about that too, but first it's my brain dump.
It's a very tough time right now for many millions of people around the world as rocketing inflation drives the cost of food, fuel and bills through the roof.
And as always, when this happens, the heaviest burden falls on those with the smallest resources, the poorest.
Many get so desperate they rely on charitable food banks for donations to make sure that they and their families simply have enough to eat.
They don't do this because they want to.
They do it because they have to.
And the double whammy of an economy-wrecking pandemic and now ruinous inflation has led to a massive increase in demand for those food banks from America to the UK.
These are serious times demanding serious answers from serious people.
Instead, we have politicians like British Conservative MP Lee Anderson, who reckons he's got it all worked out.
I think you'll see firsthand that there's not this use, this massive use for food banks in this country.
We've got generation after generation who cannot cook properly, they can't cook a meal from scratch, they cannot budget, the challenge is there.
Of course.
How stupid of us.
There was me thinking people go to food banks because they're literally penniless and have no option, but no, apparently, it's because they don't know how to cook or budget properly.
They should simply, as he suggests, be shown how to knock out a nutritious meal.
He reckons for 30 pence.
Now, in the interest of fairness, I decided to fact check Lee Anderson, but a bit of consumer research.
I discovered he might actually have been onto something.
A pint of milk, five pence.
A sliced white loaf of bread, 10 pence.
Packet of crisps, three pence.
Six eggs, 11 pence.
Then I remembered these were the prices in 1972, 50 years ago.
Dig a little deeper into Lee Anderson's political career and you'll soon discover while he might not understand what it's like to be poor.
His salary of more than £84,000 is more than double the UK average.
He also claimed £219,000 in business costs from 2020 to 2021.
And that's £16,000 more than the average for any MP.
Life's a lot easier when the taxpayers stumping up for it, isn't it, Mr Anderson?
Politicians from Boris Johnson's ruling party aren't exactly covering themselves in glory as the voters are suffering.
Last week George Eustace, the senior government minister, offered his own solution.
Generally speaking, you know, what people find is that by going for some of the sort of value brands rather than own-branded products, they can actually sort of contain and manage their household budget.
They just don't get it, do they?
It's not about value brands.
These people literally can't afford food, full stop.
Hypocrisy of the Bald Judges 00:05:29
Anderson and Eustis's tone-deaf, woefully insensitive attitude reminds me of the haughty French queen, Marie Antoinette, who infamously said, let them eat cake when she was told the peasants couldn't afford bread.
But what more should we expect really from this government?
Police today revealed they've now issued a staggering 100 fines for illegal lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall, meaning the very place with the most fines in Britain was also the very place where the rules were actually made.
Let me remind these arrogant clowns that Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France before the country's revolution.
We're talking of clowns, judges on an employment tribunal in the UK ruled today that it's sexual harassment to mock a man for being bald.
Electrician Tony Finn claimed an unfair dismissal from his job because he said he was subjected to discrimination for having no hair.
Specifically, his factory supervisor Jamie King called him a bald bleep.
Incredibly, he won the case because the judges determined that hair loss is much more prevalent amongst men than women, so using it to describe someone is a form of discrimination.
They said in our judgment there is a connection between the word bald on the one hand and the protecting characteristic of sex on the other.
What are they talking about?
Even more absurdly, the judges compare being mocked about baldness to remarking on the size of a woman's cleavage, raising a previous case where a man was found to have sexually harassed a woman by commenting on the size of her breasts.
You might be unsurprised to hear that all three judges on this panel who reached this decision are themselves bald.
You might also be unsurprised to hear that I think their judgment is hair-wrenchingly ridiculous.
There's nothing sexual about being bald.
No bald man's ever been wolfed on the street or objectified in the office by a leering woman saying, that's a hat shiny dome you got there, darling.
Being bald is just a fact of life, not a topic for sexual harassment lawsuits.
Although perhaps I have to consider, I may have got all this wrong.
Because when I sent this story to my family WhatsApp group this morning, my sister pointed out that our folically challenged brother Jeremy has always claimed that his bald head is a solar panel, his words for a sex machine.
That's quite correct, he replied to the group chat, and why I need to be kept out of the sun.
Incidentally, my brother Jeremy retired as a British Army colonel today after 37 years of outstanding service to his country, including numerous war zones.
I got the hair, but he got the balls.
An explosive and shocking video of Broadway legend Patty Lapone berating a theatre goer has emerged.
The two-time Tony Award winner is seen yelling furiously at a woman in the audience.
So what was her crime?
Heckling, filming the performance on her smartphone, chatting to friends maybe during a tense monologue?
Oh no, far more serious.
She wasn't wearing her mask properly.
Put your mask over your nose.
That's why you're in the theatre.
That is the rule.
If you don't want to follow the rule, get the f out!
What do you think you are if you do not respect the people that are sitting around you?
Salary.
You pay my salary.
Oh, the indignant fury, but hang on, one sec.
Can we just go back on that again?
What do you think?
You are if you do not respect the people that are sitting around you.
How weird.
I think I've spotted a bit of a problem with her indignant rage.
It's called bareface, literally, hypocrisy.
Foaming at the mouth in righteous fury at a woman who's surrounded by people and maskless, while you yourself are also surrounded by people and maskless.
Nothing screams absurd liberal COVID rule hypocrisy than an unmasked singer spitting abuse and particles of God knows what at a theatre goer who is doing exactly the same thing that she is doing in that exact same moment.
It's not just delusional divas belting out masks wearing virtual signals to the normal people while singing a different tune themselves.
We see this hypocrisy time and again at the moment.
Here's Hillary Clinton on Twitter.
Couldn't be clearer.
And here's Hillary Clinton on the red carpet at the Met Gala last week.
No masks for Hillary, just for the poor flunky who's puffing her dress.
It's one rule for the flunkies, one for the elite.
Well my memo to the mask mafia is simple.
I see you and I see your faces.
Levi Belfield is one of Britain's most notorious and wicked serial mass murderers now serving a life sentence for killing at least three teenage girls.
His victims included 13-year-old Millie Dowler, who he abducted and brutally murdered in 2002.
Belfield is an evil, depraved, horrible monster.
I don't believe in the death penalty, but if I did, he'd be top of my list for execution.
At the very least, he should rot in jail and never see the light of day again, and be deprived of all the joys of normal life that he prevented those poor girls from ever experiencing.
But incredibly, he's just formally applied to get married in prison to one of those sickeningly deluded women who visit heinous criminals in prison and profess their undying love for them.
This makes me sick to the pit of my stomach.
Through his despicable actions, Belfield ensured that Millie Dowler and his other victims never had the chance to get married.
Sex Pistols and Royal Betrayal 00:14:59
For him to now be allowed to do it from behind bars is an obscenity and it must be stopped.
Uncensored tonight, Johnny Rotten have been cancelled by the Sex Pistols.
Bertie Ahern on the breakup of the UK.
Brittany is back pregnant, free and naked.
And is it child abuse to let a six-year-old run with you in a marathon?
All coming up with all uncensored.
As lead singer of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon, aka Johnny Rock, is no stranger to controversies over his music.
But he now claims he's been cancelled by his former bandmates of a new TV series, Pistol, and ordered not to say anything negative about it.
I'll talk to John about that in a moment.
But first, let's see him performing the once-banned anti-royalist song, God Save the Queen, which has now been re-released for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
Well, John Lydon joins me now.
John, great to see you.
How are you?
I'm very much alive.
Thank you.
You're right for it, Lydia.
I've got some very big news.
I've got to start with some very bad news because, as you know...
Stop it.
You must not do that.
Well, do you know what I'm about to say?
Do you know what I'm about to say?
No, I don't want to.
You know there's a certain football match on tonight, right?
No!
No!
Stop it!
I won't tell you, but it's not good news.
We need a bit of a perk up.
Let's just leave it like that.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, John and I are both massive Arsenal fans, and we're playing a massive game tonight against our most bitter rivals, and we're currently losing.
That's the best.
I don't know about it being massive.
I'm proper Arsenal.
We lose or draw.
That's how it goes.
Well, you're right.
But you're right.
You have to suffer the pain to enjoy the joy.
John, let me talk to you first of all about this issue over this series that's coming out on Disney Plus about the Sex Pistols.
You know, when you go and watch that clip, you guys really were one of the all-time great bands.
Not for very long, the longevity of the band, but you were magnificent.
And it seems entirely right and proper that there should be this series.
But you've fallen out with the band members over it.
Why?
Because they put it together behind my back without mentioning it to me at all until January the 4th last year.
Then we got an email from Danny Boyle on the 8th saying he would like to discuss it with us.
And on the 9th, over the weekend, the press were banging on my door.
And on the following Monday, it was released all over the internet as a done and dusted deal.
Actors were appointed, scripts were written, plots were fully covered, but without me.
So this TV series, they could call it a documentary, I'd prefer mockumentary, is completely without me contributing in any way, shape or form.
And I don't think, to be absolutely honest, anyone could ever consider the sex pistols without the man what wrote the song.
Right.
Well, I completely agree.
I mean, it's absurd.
It's a great shame because Danny Boyle's doing it.
He's a top director.
You know, I don't know.
Have you seen any of the series?
No, I haven't been allowed to see anything at all.
No scripts, nothing.
And do you know any single part have I played in it?
Nothing.
And do you have any reason?
And I find that bizarre.
I agree with you, Piers.
It would have been a fantastic opportunity to really grasp and enjoy the truth of that situation.
But I think they've gone for this watered down kind of cop-out that isn't going to do anybody any good.
And actually what they're doing is destroying the sex pistols.
Which is a great, great shame.
And, you know, I was reminded of the sex pistols.
When you see that magnificent anthem, which got everyone going and got banned and the rest of it, God Save the Queen.
At the time, you know, it was back at the Silver Jubilee, 1977.
And at the time, it was a kind of rant against the monarchy.
You were young anarchic punks.
As you've got older, John, have you softened your view on the monarchy and the queen?
I didn't.
Pierce, let someone talk.
I didn't write it specifically for the Jubilee.
That was my train of thought.
And it was some several, several months before we did that boat party.
It's very anti-royalist, but it's not anti-human.
I've got to tell the world this.
You mustn't presume that I'm completely dead against the royal family as human beings.
I'm not.
I'm actually really, really proud of the Queen for surviving and doing so well.
I applaud her for that.
That's a fantastic achievement.
I'm not a curmudgeon about that.
I just think that if I'm paying my tax money to support this system, I should have a say-so on how it's spent.
And do you think, John?
Do you think it's possibly the end of the monarchy because Prince Charles is not going to be able to handle it?
This is the man that plays Pink Floyd to his cabbages.
Remember that?
So you think we might be seeing the beginning of the end of the monarchy as the Queen enters the sort of twilight of her life?
Possibly.
And that's a shame in itself too, because I do love pageantry.
You know, I mean, I'm a football fan.
How could I not?
You know, I like watching royal weddings because I really did enjoy watching Spitfires and B-52s and the likes flying over the palace.
I get quite emotional with all that.
I love my country.
I love me people and everything about it.
But if there's problems within it, I think I have the right to say so.
And when I wrote God Save the Queen, and believe me, I wrote it, not the others, right?
This is me expressing my fully competent point of view on it.
What do you make, John?
What do you make of it?
You're more than welcome to disagree.
No, no, not at all.
Your opinion is this show is called Piers Morgan Uncensored.
I absolutely want an uncensored John Lydon.
What do you think, talking of being uncensored, about Megan and Harry and their contribution to the royal debate at the moment?
I'm sorry, but I think that they've showed themselves to be parasites.
If you want to opt out of that family situation, then please by all means do and go and work for McDonald's.
But don't expect me to be still forking money out to support your nonsense.
They seem to be amazingly ungrateful, at least he is.
And as for the sex scandals involving the other son, well, you know, less said, best said, until that turns up in court.
I think as public figures, if you don't want to be a public figure, then shut your mouth.
What do you make, John?
A survey came out today about woke and wokeness.
36% of the public, apparently, in the UK think that woke is an insult, but 26% think it's a compliment.
Do you identify as woke?
Certainly not.
My advice to the woke is to please wake up.
It's a lot of typewriter warriors on the internet, isn't it?
Doing this stuff and creating idealized fantasies for themselves in the privacy of their own bedrooms that their mum and dads are paying for.
And unfortunately, left-leaning politicians have grabbed onto that and seen that as their new potential voter base.
That's where it's going wrong.
Because once politicians declare themselves as woke, we're all doomed.
Well, the reason I love it.
I think it's a current fashionable trend that will end very, very sadly for them because it really is all about being selfish.
And ultimately, if the ambition is that we're all woke, then you've achieved nothing.
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, the thing I love about you, John, and I say this with great sincerity, whenever I've interviewed you, you are literally uncensored and uncensorable.
No one has ever told you what you can and can't say, and you wouldn't listen to them if they did.
But so many people now, including many people in the music industry, are terrified of saying the right thing, the wrong thing, worried about being cancelled by this canceled culture.
What do you make of the fear that everyone's now living in?
Well, I think that that shows you that a lot of people don't actually know how to think.
I don't just jump to conclusions.
I spend most of my life studying and observing my fellow human beings.
So I tend to know what I'm saying.
It's not just sloganeering for me or trying to jump onto a bandwagon.
And that's how it should be for all of us.
Let all those that follow the nonsense sink with that ship.
Now, John, I wanted to just end by mentioning that Madonna, another sort of bad rebel of music, if you like, has released some NFTs, these non-fungible, whatever they are, tokens, of apparently of scans of her genitals.
And what I wonder was whether you might be bidding for them.
I think if my memory serves me well, I've seen the real thing and I never ever want to be reminded.
John Long, as always.
Yeah, NFT is interesting to me because I'm getting involved in it myself because I'm a bit of a painter on the side.
And I'm raising money for Alzheimer's victims through an organisation called Spitz out of Islington, you know, the area I was brought up in.
And we'll be sending musicians to the local care centres.
Brilliant.
And because music, as I well know, my wife is with Alzheimer's now, music helps her brain open up and gets her thinking.
Don't let people with Alzheimer's sit and vegetate.
Involve them in things.
And so, yippee, I found a way to do that, not only for my own wife, but with other people.
And also, I'll be planting trees all over Ireland because there's too many golf courses.
And that's an organisation called...
Yeah, so you're not going to call paramilitary.
John, unfortunately, we are running out of time.
But finally, I wanted to ask you one question.
If you could relive one moment from your time with the sex pistols right now, which moment would you choose?
I suppose the first day's rehearsal.
When I became alarmingly aware that these lads really hadn't much going for them, and I had a golden opportunity to use all the writings and thoughts I had in my head and put it to music.
And that was just a most fantastic, rewarding feeling.
Now, anybody looking back at the pistols, please remember with fondness just how vital and important we were, not this new nonsense.
John, you were vital.
You were important.
I think you still are vital and important.
You're a fantastic guest on any show like this, always.
It's great to talk to you.
And all the very best to you and to your wife.
May the road rise with you.
Will your enemies always be behind you?
May this catapatabatter and chatter.
John Lydon, thank you.
Great to talk to you.
What a character.
Well, to time with Mother's Day in the United States last Sunday, Calvin Klein has launched a campaign to, as he, as it puts it, celebrate the diversity of families.
The ad went viral on social media.
It shows Roberto Bette, a pregnant trans man, who's about to give birth to her baby Noah, along with her partner, Erica Feho, who's a transgender woman.
Calvin Klein said, today in support of women and mothers around the world, we highlight the reality of new families.
I don't want to think about this.
I don't have a single anti-trans sentiment in my body.
I believe in fairness and equality for all trans people.
For Calvin Klein to put that out to say they're supporting women and mothers, really?
Is that what you're doing when you're doing that?
Or are you potentially exposing the trans community to unnecessary mockery?
I'm not sure how many trans people will look at that campaign and think that is good for the transgender cause or the transgender community.
And that's all I want companies like Calvin Klein, when they do this virtue signal to think about.
Think about what you're doing and the impact it may have.
Because I watched what happened when that went on social media and immediately lit up with just widespread mockery.
And if that's what you want to achieve, fine.
I don't think it is.
And that's why I think these things are problematic.
That's not really about women and mothers, is it?
All right, moving on.
Uncensored next.
Former Irish Premier Bertia Hearn on how the United Kingdom could be on the verge of collapse.
Welcome back to Pearsmorgan Art Censor.
The British government has rejected claims that Sinn Féin's election victory in Northern Ireland could lead to the breakup of the UK, despite the party's push for a referendum on a united Ireland.
Well, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now threatening to tear up post-Brexit trading arrangements with the EU, despite warnings from American President Biden that it could undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
So are we edging ever closer to a united Ireland and a disunited United Kingdom?
I'm joined by someone who I'm sure will have a strong view about this, the former Irish Prime Minister and one of the founding fathers of the Good Friday Agreement, Bertie Ahmed.
Mr. Ahmed, thank you so much for joining me.
How are you doing, Pris?
Very well.
I've got to say, I'm sort of twitchy about what is going on politically with the United Kingdom, with Ireland, with all of it, actually.
And I've been like this since Brexit and we severed our way from the European Union.
It feels like a lot of things are being splintered.
Do you think we're going to see a united Ireland looming or certainly a referendum on it in the next few years?
And if we do, could this signal the beginning of the end of the UK?
Protocol Breach and Border Fears 00:06:12
Well, I think there are a number of problems at the moment.
Pierce said the elections last week were fairly good.
I mean, there were peaceful elections.
Most of the political debate was on bread and butter economic issues, except maybe for one party.
The protocol was pushed a fair lot, but there wasn't much about the border poll or a united Ireland, New Ireland, shared Ireland, the different names people put on it.
So it wasn't a big issue in the election.
I suppose it is in the Good Friday Agreements that from time to time there can be a referendum.
My view is that until the preparatory work is done of how it would look, what it would cost, how it would evolve, that is not a good idea to have it.
And I think most people are of that view.
So there will be a vote at some stage, but it's early stages before the work is done.
But unfortunately, that has moved away from the issue a little bit.
What happens now is that Brexit is back into the game again.
And the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was part of the withdrawal agreement that Prime Minister Boris used to save Brexit, was done.
That now the British government, through the Attorney General, through various ministers, are saying that they might unilaterally bring in legislation to amend that.
That has created, I think, great friction on the whole island of Ireland.
The government here are really upset about it.
I think our American colleagues are very upset about it.
President Biden is.
But for whatever reason.
It's a betrayal of the agreement.
And the bottom line with all this is that when Brexit was getting done, as Boris Johnson kept telling us, nobody had worked out what to do about the border situation.
And that has never been properly resolved.
And that's why he's trying to reopen it now, because he knows he didn't have a plan for it.
And it's not worked in any way that suits anybody.
And that seems to me the fundamental problem right from the start.
They never sorted this before, during or after Brexit.
Well, worse still, I think, Pierce, that even after Brexit, when the debate took place on the withdrawal agreement, and not to make sure we'd know land border and the island of Ireland, Boris Johnson negotiated with the Irish government and with the European Union that protocol.
And within a few months of negotiating it, he said that he didn't like it and it was a bad idea.
But he was the one who negotiated it.
But I think what I'd like to see, Pierce, is that this thing is negotiated and sorted out in an amicable way.
If the British government go down the road of arbitrarily breaking with the protocol, there will be a response from Europe.
They will probably start looking at sections of the trade deal and it'll just make a total mess of everything rather than have a negotiated settlement.
And several ministers in the last 24 hours, secretaries of state, including the Attorney General, seem to be indicating, they're not saying it definitively, but they seem to be indicating that the British government are prepared to unilaterally change the protocol without consultation with the Irish government or Europe.
And that would just be an absolute mess.
I think it would be a complete fiasco and another betrayal of what was agreed.
Let me, I don't know if you're a betting man, Mr. Ahern, but if you were a betting man or a soothsayer, whatever you want to put it, Nostradamus for a moment, just go forward 20 years.
How feasible could it be that there's by then a united Ireland, that Scotland has gone independent, that the UK basically is left with England and Wales?
I mean, is that something which actually right now could be a realistic situation in 20 years' time?
In 20 years' time, I think it could be, I think Scotland will come up first again, particularly if Scottish Nationalist Party go in with Labour after the next election if they were to have enough seats to form a government.
That's a big if, but it is a possibility.
There will be, in that time scale, hopefully the work will be completed and there will be a border poll.
It'll be up to the people what they decide.
But I think, you know, from my point of view, it should be on the basis of consent and agreement.
The one thing we don't need on the island of Ireland is to go back into the trouble days.
So it will be the ability of the politicians over the next 20 years to see if they can both do the preparatory work and be able to negotiate and be able to satisfy most of the unionists.
I don't think you'll ever get everybody on board and nobody probably should expect that, but it will be a challenge.
But I think what's more difficult, Piers, is if we can't resolve even the protocol, how will we ever resolve the bigger issues that are down the road?
And this is really...
And the protocol, by the way, I should say for your viewers, is really what was brought in, negotiated between Europe and Boris Johnson to avoid a border, a land border in Ireland, so that we could, Northern Ireland would stay in the single market and be able to get investment, be able to get jobs.
If he now rips it up, frankly, it's another breach of trust, and that's the problem.
And I think that in its way, I think the way Boris Johnson is going about this is going to break trust so badly.
I think it makes it more, not less likely, that the UK ultimately fractures, because why would anyone trust him?
I've got to leave it there, I'm afraid, Bertie Ahan, brilliant to talk to you.
Thank you so much for coming on, Piers Morgan and Senson.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you very much, Piers.
Thank you.
We'd all like to believe that we have a Good Samaritan or a guardian angel rushing to help us in an emergency, but very few people will be brave enough to do what we're about to see here.
This is footage released by local police in Florida.
Tommy's Worries About Liberty 00:15:42
It shows a woman called Laurie Rabyer's car drifting wildly out of control after she passed out on a busy intersection.
A co-worker tried to help her stop the car and several others rushed in to eventually bring it to a halt.
One of them even fetches a dumbbell from their car to break the rear windows.
Laurie later said that they saved her life and told local news that she wished she was a millionaire so she could buy them all a boat.
All incredibly, truly impressive.
Really does restore your faith in humanity.
Well, almost, because take a look at some of the other motorists who were around this scene, weaving their way through the people and the stopped cars as this emergency unfurls, just taking care of themselves, worrying about themselves.
There really are, from this scene, two types of people in the world, aren't there?
There are your guardian angels, the people who run to help you in a time of trouble, and then there are the others that you see just taking care of themselves.
Well, next up, most young children spend their weekends playing in a park, maybe learning to ride a bike, but the Crawford family has other ideas.
The family of eight ran a marathon together at the beginning of the month, including their six-year-old Rainier.
Now, unsurprisingly, there's been a bit of a backlash.
Olympic marathon runner lead troops said everything about Rainier running a marathon is completely wrong.
And the race director has now said they'll only let runners aged 18 and over enter in future, which is the case for most marathons.
So the bottom line is, is six years old too young to be running a marathon?
Rainier's dad, Ben Crawford, doesn't think so.
And he joins me now.
Mr. Crawford, thank you for joining me.
Hello, Piers.
Good to be here.
Bit of a delay, so I'll keep my question short.
Why did you let your six-year-old join you in the marathon?
And did you not have any health concerns for him?
We did have concerns, except for this is something we had been working through for nine years.
We've run marathons as a family with all of our other kids.
We have six kids total.
And they've all finished the marathon without any complications or concerns.
And about a year before this marathon, he watched his sisters run, and at that point, he begged us to be a part of this.
And we said, well, if you're willing to train for it, and as long as we run right next to you and keep an eye on you the entire way, we don't have any problem with you participating in this activity because we think it's good for you and we think it's good for our family.
I mean, I'm all for a bit of tough love with kids.
You know, all my kids like sport.
I like to push them as a parent to be the best at whatever they were doing.
But certainly with my sons, when they were six, I would never have put them into a marathon believing that their bodies weren't big or strong enough to cope with such a sort of physical ordeal.
And a lot of the medical guidance, as you know, recommends against it and thinks that certainly boys and girls should get through puberty before they even consider this kind of distance running.
But there are other people who applaud you for being a tough dad.
How have you felt about the criticism that's come your way?
Yeah, well, the first thing I probably have an issue with is the way you phrase it is put our child through this.
You know, we're pretty clear, like, we have a culture of a family where we've done hard things, but we've also experienced the gratification that comes from those hard things.
And our six-year-old has observed that.
And he chose this.
We didn't put it on him.
We didn't, I mean, you could say we gave him the idea because it's kind of the culture of our family, but we didn't put him up to it.
It was, he asked us, and we allowed it.
So there's not a pressure coming from that angle.
And on the research side, there isn't much at all in the medical community.
There's like cautions.
You know, a lot of people say, oh, the risks may increase.
But a lot of the studies are very outdated that are being quoted.
And the bottom line of what the medical community recommends now, or not recommends, but says, is that there is no conclusion.
There's no evidence.
You know, they have their cautions like they do with buying a stick of gum or a pack of cigarettes, which maybe that's a bad example because that's like blatantly bad for you.
But for us, bottom line is the benefits health-wise and emotional that we've seen with him and our family and our other children is that the benefits far outweigh the potential risk that we've heard about medically or in any other way.
I mean, it took him eight hours, 36 minutes to finish it.
Apparently he was tearful at various stages of the run.
How was he afterwards and in the few days after the race?
Oh, the day after he's jumping on, or the day of, he's jumping on a trampoline.
He's asking about doing a half marathon again in a few days.
He's talking about doing the marathon again next year.
Eight hours is pretty much a walking pace.
So it's a fully active day.
It's a long distance.
I've heard that Disneyland says the average kid walks seven miles in Disneyland without any training.
You know, there's no preparation for that.
So it's a full day and it's a hard day, but I don't think it's quite what people are making it out to be.
There's water every mile.
We stop for food and drinks and playgrounds.
I think when people see the video that we made about it, they'll see it's almost ridiculous to even talk about it in a way because of how fun it will appear that we're having.
I mean, I'm in two minds about this.
I've watched the footage.
I've listened to other interviews you've given.
I've heard the criticism.
Every instinct with me is to support a father pushing their kids.
And I do think we've gone very soft as a society.
I do think that.
And I do think there's such a premium now on quitting and not putting yourself through this kind of physical challenge, if you like.
And then the other part of me as a father is like, well, were my boys were that age, would I have made them run a marathon?
I would have been too scared to do that, worried that I might inflict some kind of permanent damage.
So I'm sort of torn.
Do you understand that?
Oh, I completely understand it.
But you keep on using this language of push or have my child do.
And to me, that would be a major red flag.
If we're pushing him using our will to motivate him to enter the race, to continue the race and finish the race, I would expect massive backlash from the community and from the child.
But if the child wants to do it, then I think it's our job to assess, like, are there major medical risks that the child can't understand?
Are there major scientific risks?
If not, then the question is, how can we support the child to do it in the safest way possible and then just be prepared to pull the plug if we have to or if the child changes their mind?
But never once in the 26 miles did he change his mind and say that he wanted to quit the race.
What next?
When he's seven, is he off to the triathlon?
What happens next?
You know, I don't see it that way.
It's not, you know, our family is not competitive in that we're trying to do the next hardest thing.
We're asking the question right now, how can we make running fun for where we're at now?
So next year, it might be something else that's fun and healthy and challenging.
This is not the first difficult thing we've done.
Our family kind of like got some media attention for in 2018 when we hiked the 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail.
So our kids have a roadmap for at least knowing what's possible for them.
I don't care if they run for the rest of their life or become competitive.
They don't time themselves.
We're not pushing them.
But I want them to know that it's at least an option and that it's possible and it's something they can do if they choose to.
Ben Crawford, fascinating conversation.
I actually think I've come around to your way of thinking.
I do, actually, and I didn't think I would.
In that three minutes, really?
I think you've been quite persuadable, actually.
Yeah, because in the end, you know your child better than anybody else.
If he genuinely was on a trampoline after the race, clearly no real harm was done.
You know what?
Who's to say that a six-year-old, if they want to do it, can't do that?
So a great conversation.
Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you.
On Central Next, Brittany Spears is free, pregnant and naked.
Some of fans are worried.
Others think good for her.
We'll discuss that after the week.
In November last year, after a highly publicized legal battle, Brittany Spears was freed from a brutal 13-year-long conservatorship that put her father in charge of her finances, her healthcare, and her personal decisions, effectively her entire life.
Well, since then, she celebrated her freedom by posting pictures to her 41 million followers on Instagram.
Naked pictures.
Well, last week alone, she's posted a series of them.
Concerned fans have flocked to social media, as they always love to do.
Is Brittany okay?
Is she having another mental breakdown?
Well, I don't think she is.
I wrote a column for The Sun this week saying, actually, I think she's expressing the freedom she didn't have for all those years of that conservatorship, which became incredibly draconian.
But to discuss all this, I'm joined by music management legend Louis Walsh, his words not mine, who actually walked with Brittany as a judge on X FAT to USA in 2012, and Fox Nation host Tommy Lehran, who's an unashamed Britney fan.
Well, let's start with you, Tommy.
You know, I looked at these pictures.
I've got to say, my first reaction was to be a bit concerned.
I was like, what's she doing?
Because she's got a history of erratic behavior.
But actually, when I read the captions and I saw what she was sort of saying about it, I genuinely felt this is a woman who feels liberated.
And she always talked about the time of the conservatorship as being like being in prison.
What do you think?
I'm free Brittany all the way.
She's living her life.
She's loving her life.
And you know what, Piers?
What celebrity doesn't post nude photos or suggestive photos?
I mean, scroll through and pick a name, any name, pick a Kardashian, any Kardashian.
They're all posting this kind of stuff.
Is that a little bizarre?
Sure, it's a little bizarre, but with all the craziness that goes on in Hollywood and in the media with public figures, let Brittany be Brittany.
She's not hurting anybody.
She's enjoying her freedom and let her freak flag fly if she so chooses.
It's all up to her.
Thank goodness she is finally free.
Yeah, I kind of feel that.
Louis, you've got a history with Brittany because you did judge X Factor USA with her and it was a bit of a nightmare, wasn't it?
She did one show of thing and over two days was sort of completely out of it, a bit of a diva about everything.
And you were worried and maybe she was.
Yeah.
Tell me about it.
She wasn't in a good place.
She wasn't in a good place.
But you know, I'm a fan as well, Piers, and she's a complete survivor.
She's 40 years old.
She can do whatever she wants.
Madonna's taking all her clothes off all the time.
Why can't Brittany do it?
You know?
And I just think she's enjoying her life, you know, and she's free.
But I'd like her to make a record.
I'd like her to have a hit song, get back in studio with Mix Martin or somebody.
Because I remember watching a perform on the X Factor UK two or three years before you judged it.
I think 2008, 9, something like that.
And it was a really shocking performance.
And she was only about 27.
I thought this is the beginning of the end.
You know, it's really all over for her.
Yeah, I remember.
But when I look at it now.
Yeah, what I'm looking at now, though, Louis, I think, yeah, I think, you know, one great song and it could be one of the all-time great comebacks, right?
Totally.
Max Martin, Brittany, you get a hit.
Absolutely.
And she is a great pop star.
She's a household name.
She's got really loyal fans, you know, and she can do what she wants.
So who's taking the pictures, by the way?
It's not her.
So it must be her guy.
Well, I mean, she's been with this guy, Tommy, for five years.
She's pregnant, expecting another baby.
Let me just ask you, though, Tommy, even as a sort of super fan, does any part of any of this worry you a little bit in the sense that when someone does get liberated after so long under someone's control like her father, you know, it can go wrong.
Are you worried it might or do you trust the process here?
I think that, you know, obviously the posts are a little weird.
I'm not going to lie to you.
I'm a Britney fan.
I look at them and, you know, I cringe from time to time.
But like I said, what celebrity isn't posting weird stuff?
What celebrity isn't erratic?
We've got so many other celebrities and pop stars and figures changing their gender from one day to the next.
Let Brittany do what she wants to do.
She was miserable under that conservatorship.
She said she was miserable.
She was acute enough to understand she was miserable in that conservatorship.
So you know what?
If she's happy now, that's all that matters.
Of course, we hope that the family and friends that she's still close to, we hope that they're watching over her and we want the best for Brittany.
But I think she's going to make a huge comeback.
I think she's going to be stronger than ever and she's going to do it on her terms.
I've just realized you actually look a bit like Brittany.
Yeah.
Hey, I take that as a major compliment.
I intended it as a compliment.
Louis, I've got to ask you before I let you go.
Simon Cowell is on the verge of a truly historic moment where it looks like he may actually get he may actually get married.
Do you believe it's going to happen?
What's your thought about this?
I don't know.
Piers, you know him as much as I do.
You know, he loves himself more than anybody else.
You know, so Lauren is hanging in a long time.
Maybe he should get married.
I don't know.
He told me he never would.
So I don't know.
He's engaged.
Lauren deserves it.
She's hung around a long time.
She deserves it.
She's a lovely lady, actually, Lauren.
She's a lovely lady.
I've got a feeling he is actually going to finally crumble.
Do you think so?
I think so, yeah.
Do you think he'd get married?
Are you going to go?
I don't know.
I mean, he's so tight, isn't he?
Would he invite anyone to come and drink at his expense?
We'd have to see.
We'll have to go.
We'll have to go.
Even if we're not invited.
We should actually be best men, me and you.
After all we've done for him for the last 30 years, we could be wedding crashes.
We could be wedding crashes if he's too mean to invite us.
Tommy, I want to take you back before we let you go, Tommy.
You talked about every celebrity who has naked pictures on social media.
I don't know if you were familiar with my own work in this genre.
So here's my famous Burger King commercial.
Oh.
Which was me in a Burt Reynolds loincloth by a roaring half fire.
And if you believe that's my real body, you're living in cloud cuckoo land.
But anyway, you're right, Tommy.
We've all done it.
Got to leave it there.
Great debate.
I'm glad to see Brittany back.
I think she's one of the all-time great pop stars.
Take care, both of you, Tommy and Louis.
Appreciate it.
Before we go tonight, I thought it might be nice to read some classic nursery rhymes for any kids who are up way past their bedtime.
Except, unfortunately, I can't because, of course, the vegans have cancelled them.
Yes, Animal Rights Organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Peter, have released woke versions of rhymes that they said make light of cruelty to animals or contain archaic negative depictions.
Grab a blanket and settle in for vegan Barbara Black Sheep.
Barbara Black Sheep, can I have your wool?
No, sir, no, sir.
That's not cool.
None for the pastor, none for the dame, none for the little boy who lives down the lane.
Barbara Black Sheep, can I have your wool?
No, sir, no, sir.
It's my wool.
For the love of God.
Leave the nursery rhymes alone, you joyless woke.
That's it from me.
Have a great evening.
Before I go, a word for all the woke, miserable, fun police out there trying to rewrite our nursery rhymes from Johnny Rock.
Take it away, Johnny.
Shut your mouth.
Keep it uncensored.
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