15 January 2024 , 14:08
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Piers Morgan branded Katie Hopkins 'despicable' over her vile remarks about Kate Garraway, days after the death of her husband Derek Draper.
The 58-year-old broadcaster was a close friend of Derek - who tragically died at the age of 56 following an almost four-year battle against Covid. Derek was married to Piers’ former Good Morning Britain co-star Kate, 56, and Derek and Kate share a 17-year-old daughter Darcey and a 14-year-old son Billy.
Derek was flown to Mexico in November to undergo treatment at a specialist clinic but suffered a cardiac arrest. Kate flew him back to London before Christmas, and he battled for his life in an Intensive Care Unit, but the former political lobbyist sadly lost his life on Wednesday January 3.
Over the weekend, controversial media personality Hopkins nastily mocked Kate and her grief. In a video shared on social media, the disgraced star- who was fired from her LBC show in 2017 when she made comments about the Manchester Arena bombing and was banned from Twitter in 2020 for “violations of our hateful conduct policy” before being allowed to return - discussed Kate’s family tragedy.
Hopkins made vile remarks about Kate Garraway (Instagram/ @_katie_hopkins_)
Piers called the disgraced star 'despicable' (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)In the clip, Hopkins drank red wine as she claimed to followers that ITV was screening a Life After Derek TV special that night and that Kate had rushed out a book to discuss Derek’s tragic passing. Neither the TV documentary nor the book exists. She tweeted: "Important @ITV documentary tonight. #KateGarraway. #LifeAfterDerek allegedly sponsored by Fizzzzzzzeeerr." The last part of Hopkins' cruel tweet was about the vaccine company Pfizer, even though Derek caught Covid before the vaccine was invented. "Accompanying book available wherever you get your 100th boooooosta #ExcessDeaths," added Hopkins.
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After catching wind of her cruel outburst, Piers took to social media to repost an article about her commentary. In the tweet, he added the word: "Despicable."
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Piers previously opened up about the moment he found out about Derek's death. In his column, he said: "I woke up in Los Angeles on Friday morning to the message from her that I’d dreaded for nearly four years." "‘Dearest Piers,’ it began, ‘Derek has passed away…’," he wrote in The Sun. "I was devastated, but not entirely shocked. Kate had told me things were looking very bleak when we texted each other on Christmas Day."
On January 5, Kate announced the tragic news that Derek died aged 56, with many of her co-stars paying their condolences beneath her post and on their ITV programmes. Piers shared a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said: "RIP Derek Draper. A brilliantly clever & funny man who fought his COVID health hell with such courage & resilience, helped every step of the way by his magnificent wife @kategarraway whose loyal, loving, selfless devotion was truly astounding. Heartbreaking news."