Piers Morgan has rushed to the defence of presenter Jeremy Kyle, following the cancellation of his ITV show. 

The Good Morning Britain host claimed there was “snobbery and hypocrisy being spewed” by Jeremy’s critics, after ITV made the decision to axe The Jeremy Kyle Show following the death of a guest. 

Posting on Twitter, Piers wrote: “As everyone piles on Jeremy Kyle, I’d like to say he’s a great guy, an excellent broadcaster, and hugely popular with the vast majority of people who watched & appeared (voluntarily) on his top-rated show.

“So much snobbery & hypocrisy being spewed by his critics.”

Piers’ comments followed those he made on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, prior to the confirmation The Jeremy Kyle Show had been permanently cancelled. 

He said: “There’s a snobbery of Jeremy Kyle driven by people who watch it.

“Jeremy Kyle would argue he’s defending the guests. Some of this stuff is really vicious against him.”

He continued: “It’s an interesting debate and raises a lot of issues, it’s opened a real can of worms.

“It’s too easy to just say Jeremy Kyle is the problem. Some of this stuff today is really vicious against him. I’m like fine, but there is another side to this. He’s not been heard from yet but we’ll see how this plays out.”

Jeremy Kyle Show guest Steve Dymond died after filming an appearance earlier this month, where it was reported he took a lie-detector test to convince fiancee Jane Callaghan he had not been unfaithful, but was told he had failed the test.

News of Mr Dymond’s death led to ITV making the decision to axe the show for good, having suspended it from broadcast and production pending a review earlier this week. 

ITV’s CEO Carolyn McCall said on Wednesday that “now is the right time for the show to end” as she announced its cancellation after 14 years on air. 

“Given the gravity of recent events we have decided to end production of The Jeremy Kyle Show,” she said. 

“Everyone at ITV’s thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of Steve Dymond.”

Meanwhile, ITV has said they will “continue to work with Jeremy Kyle on other projects”.

Reacting to the news, This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield also confirmed on air that there’s currently “no indication yet what will replace Jeremy’s show in the future”.

Useful websites and helplines:

• Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
• Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
• The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@themix.org.uk
• Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0300 5000 927 (open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on www.rethink.org.