Piers Morgan has branded comedian Frankie Boyle a “hypocrite” and a “disgusting human being” over recent comments he made about newspapers. 

With many ad-funded journalism outlets struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, the Good Morning Britain presenter was irked when Frankie urged his Twitter followers not to buy newspapers so to put them out of business. 

The comedian tweeted: “Many British newspapers are on the verge of going bust, so there’s never been a more important time to not buy one.”

Piers – a former tabloid editor and MailOnline columnist – then launched an attack on Frankie during Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, as the show discussed the Daily Mail having flown in PPE for frontline NHS workers.

Noting that the campaign felt “timely” in light of Frankie’s tweet, the presenter said: “Frankie Boyle, the so-called comedian, tweeted a couple of days ago ‘British newspapers are on the verge of going bust, so there’s never been a more important time to not buy one.’

“This is a guy who’s taken money from newspapers to write columns, so he’s a flaming hypocrite as well as a disgusting human being who wants to see people lose their jobs.”

Noting Frankie’s previous column for The Sun and articles in The Guardian, Piers continued: “I hope that when he comes sniffing for a column in one of the papers, he’s done them in The Sun and others,′ I hope they say ‘No, no thanks.’

“When it really mattered, when we were really suffering as an industry, you actively told two and a half million people not to buy newspapers to put us out of business.

“People shouldn’t forget stuff like that.”

Frankie is yet to respond to Piers’ remarks on his Twitter account. 

Last week, the former Mock The Week star hit back at reports he’d caused upset with a string of jokes about the coronavirus pandemic.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.