Piers Morgan and David Walliams are both members of the happy ITV family, but they have a famously acrimonious relationship.
The Good Morning Britain presenter has repeatedly voiced his scorn for the Little Britain comedian over the last year.
Outspoken Piers has very publicly ranted about his disdain for David, who has remained silent on the claims made against him.
Pier’s animosity towards David first started back in October last year when he accused the Britain’s Got Talent judge of regularly liking ‘nasty tweets’ about him – and produced screenshots to back up his allegations.
Furious Piers has also said “two-faced” David “makes his skin crawl” amid reports they can’t even be together in the same room.
Last week, reports emerged from The Sun that Piers was being lined-up to replace David as a judge on BGT, with Piers claiming he’d “had conversations”.
With tension at an all time high, here is a look at where Piers’ anger towards David first came from and some of his most savage insults.
‘Nasty’ tweets
The first rumbling of any hatred emerged in October 2019 when Piers ‘exposed’ David on social media.
Angry Piers shared a screenshot of David liking a tweet which criticised him for “endangering the lives of British soldiers”.
“Amusing that @davidwalliams regularly ‘likes’ nastiest tweets about me, yet is such a snivelling toady to my face,” tweeted Piers.
Then mocking David for a fall in BGT’s ratings, Piers added: “Not my fault @BGT ratings were higher when I was in your chair Dave!”
While David did not comment, Little Britain co-star Matt Lucas rushed to defend his friend.
Jumping to his defence, Matt replied: “Purely objectively – 1) He was probably being polite. Some people are.
“2) Boasting about the BGT ratings and popularity when you were briefly on it to someone who has not only transformed the show but is consistently the biggest-selling author in the country didn’t work.”
Obviously Piers refused to back down and hit back at Matt’s defence, calling David “poisonous” in a scathing response.
He tweeted: “Hi Matt, I don’t think it’s ‘polite’ to be friendly to people in person but poisonous behind their back – it’s cowardly.
“As for BGT, I was very proudly on it for the first 4 years when ratings topped 20 million. They’re now half that. Not a boast, just a fact.”
Things escalated once again in November last year when Piers provided proof that David had ‘liked’ another insulting tweet.
The tweet in question read: “I can remember the days when Piers Morgan was just an everyday hack with a higher than average IQ and propensity for self promotion.
“The transformation to full on Trump loving Farage and Johnson a**e kissing populism has been sad to behold.”
Piers did not take it lying down and claimed “two-faced” David “never has the balls” to mock him in person.
“Aww, here he is again, my favourite little two-faced hate-liker @davidwalliams,” tweeted Piers.
“Loves scouring Twitter for nasty stuff on me he can ‘like’ but never has the balls to say anything to my face. Hopefully he’ll grow a pair next time.”
Boycotting NTAs and scathing rant
At the start of the year, Piers announced he was boycotting the National Television Awards because David was hosting the annual ceremony.
Fed-up Piers moaned that the same people always win, with Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly always sweeping the board, so was not bothering to turn up or even watch it on TV.
“I’m not going this year,” vowed Piers to The Mirror. “There’s no point when the same people win the same awards every year. I’d rather stay at home and watch Groundhog Day.”
Piers then made a shocking remark against David, who was presenting the NTAs for the first time.
The GMB host added: “And the host David Walliams makes my skin crawl.”
But Piers changed his mind and did watch the awards, tearing into David in a series of scathing tweets as part of his live running commentary.
Piers claimed David was “bombing so badly” that he asked Ricky Gervais to take over and started the hashtag “#BringBackDermot” to call for Dermot O’Leary to return.
Piers was infuriated when “creepy” David stripped off for a comedy segment in which he pretended he had lost his trousers.
“F*** me. Just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, creepy Walliams strips half naked to give himself an award,” tweeted Piers.
He added: “BREAKING: Me-Me-Me-Walliams invites audience to call him a ‘national treasure’…and is met with deafening silence.”
After Michael Palin accepted his Special Recognition award and handed back to David, Piers claimed it was “like going from Nelson Mandela to a Love Island contestant”.
But he revelled in David’s misery, tweeting: “I’m enjoying not enjoying it. Walliams dying on his fat smug a** is most amusing.”
When a follower asked if there was any “beef” between the pair, the GMB presenter replied: “Nothing personal – he’s just a massive d***head.”
After David joked that Caroline Flack was actually in attendance in The Masked Singer’s Hedgehog costume, Piers used the opportunity to have a swipe at the NTAs host.
“Walliams’ nasty little dig at Caroline Flack went down like a lead balloon. A bit like his entire hosting performance tonight,” tweeted Piers.
He added: “Well, the NTA awards were as predictable as I…predicted, and the host was as awful as I…predicted. Come on ITV, we can do better than this surely? The #NTAs should be a brilliant, unpredictable celebration of British TV, not a tedious carve-up for the same old faces.”
David reportedly ‘threatens to quit BGT’ over Piers
After Simon Cowell broke his back after a bike accident earlier this year, Piers claimed he was approached by ITV to fill in as a Britain’s Got Talent judge.
Piers confirmed he had been in ‘talks’ with BGT bosses – and said he told them there would be issues if he had to work closely with David.
In his Daily Mail column, Piers wrote: “I was quickly sounded out to see if I was potentially available but had to explain that if I was confined to the same close quarters as that insufferable twerp David Walliams, it wouldn’t end well.”
In response to another article claiming they had a rivalry, Piers tweeted back: “Rivalry? That would imply a modicum of professional respect. Try ‘enmity’.”
Piers, who served as a judge on BGT from 2007-2010, did not appear during the live shows and Simon was instead replaced by Diversity star Ashley Banjo.
A BGT spokesman said of the alleged casting process: “The decision regarding who would step in as guest judge was made solely by the producers and Simon with Ashley Banjo the top choice to take part.”
David, who has signed a new deal taking him to 2021, allegedly threatened to quit BGT if the rivals were made to sit on the same panel.
According to reports, David threw a strop over rumours Piers was going to join the panel.
A sourc told the Mail on Sunday: “I heard that David threw his toys out of the pram.
“Imagine David and Piers sitting on either end of that judging panel – what great TV it would have been.”
A source close to BGT dismissed the report, however, telling Mirror Online: “It’s not true at all to say that David threatened to walk away.”
Piers could replace David on BGT
Last week, reports emerged that Piers is being lined-up to replace David on Britain’s Got Talent.
A source told The Sun : “But all shows need refreshing, and Piers will certainly do that. He has been approached by two senior execs and, for his part, has said he would do it if the terms are right.
“He will give the show back its edge and provide those brilliant water cooler moments. He will revitalise the series.”
Addressing the rumours, the GMB host claimed there had been “talks” with show bosses.
He said there would be two reasons for his comeback – the show’s falling ratings and his desire to purchase another Aston Martin.
During Heart Radio’s breakfast show, Piers was asked whether he had been approached by TV executives by BGT judge Amanda Holden.
Piers said: “Well look it’s pretty obvious that the golden hour of Britain’s Got Talent was when I was a judge with you and Simon, when we got 20 million viewers for one final, obviously it’s not quite as strong as this year.”
Viewing numbers suffered a major blow as they sank from last year’s 10.1 million to a low of 6.5 million this year.
While Amanda claimed the invention of Netflix was to blame, Piers gave his own perspctive.
“There’s something driven by the media that it needs a bit of spice back in the pot, of course it doesn’t get spicier than me,” said Piers.
“Let’s see what happens, I’ve had conversations.”