Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: Blowtorch Britain, Stanley Johnson, and Priscilla Presley

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

 On this episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Piers takes on climate change and the major incident in London. Stanley Johnson also joins to discuss the latest in Tory leadership news, and Priscilla Presley gives her perspective on Baz Luhrmann's new film about Elvis.  Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8pm on TalkTV on Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217. Listen on DAB+ and app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Piers Morgan, uncensored. Tonight, Britain burns and buckles on the hottest day in this country's recorded history. If this is the new normal, the scientists say, well, what the hell are we going to do about it? One of these three people will be Britain's next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunnack, remains in the lead, who will make him sweat? And should preaching Prince Harry keep his big nose out of US politics? We'll debate that. Would Elvis Presley have survived cancelled culture? wife Priscilla joins me live.

Good evening, I'm Pierce Morgan, Uncensor. Welcome to Blow Torch Britain. This is what a record-breaking heat wave actually looks like. Flames tearing across parts of the capital. At least eight homes burned to the ground. Nine major fires still raging as London Fire Brigade declares a major incident. 90 firefighters deployed to stop a wildfire engulfing this major road in Kent. All across the country, people have sweltered while services are buckled or failed.

No trains out of Kings Cross, London's biggest train station. Travel Bedlam up and down the country. Rail companies urging people not to travel at all. Official advice to stay at home, it's not safe to come out. A dramatic spike in calls to emergency services as fire has got homes and people fall seriously unwell in the heat. Flights delayed over melting tarmac, even airfields built for jet engines no longer able to cope. We used to say Britain bars in glorious summer sunshine. Now it's Britain burns.

Parts of Lincolnshire hit 40.3 degrees today, 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot on the Maldives, Ethiopia and Jamaica. The simple fact is, we're not prepared as a country for this kind of torrid temperature. We know it's going to happen more often. We know that more people will suffer and die as a result. So what do we do about it?

Well, I'm joined now by Jonathan Smith, Assistant Commissioner with the London Fire Brigade. Well, good evening to you. Can you just bring me up to date, Mr Smith, on where we are with what is clearly a big crisis today? Yeah, so we declared a major incident about 2 o'clock this afternoon due to the sheer number of calls that we were receiving from the public within London. We've never seen this level of call volume being received into our control room. We've had a number of significant incidents spread right across the capital, right from major incidents where we've deployed over 100 firefighters to bring them under control through to much more lower level incidents,

most of which have been driven by the heat wave that we've been going through and the fact that the ground is tinderbox dry. So we've seen grassland and woodland fires in particular, but then that has, of course, impinged on some of our urban conurbations. And we've seen firefighters working in extremely arduous conditions right across the capital, and we've seen the same with our home county services as well, who have also come under significant pressure.

We're urging, really, the public, to think very carefully and moderate their behaviour over the course of the next 12 hours in particular, that they're not having barbecues in open parks and spaces, that they're being very careful when they're extinguishing cigarettes, that they're not leaving rubbish around, particularly broken glass, that can reflect light and then cause a spark. I should say that we have been able to respond to every incident that has come into our control room, but we have seen the brigade placed under unprecedented pressure,

which was why we kicked in our major incident protocols, which then stood up a lot of our multi-agency arrangements with the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Services, local government and the mayor of London to make sure that we're ready to deal with what the next six, 12 and 24 hours bring. Well, you and your teams are doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances.

To those, and there are many of them on social media today, trying to play down this kind of heat, trying to play down the warnings that have been given. What is your message to them? Well, our message is that this is what was once regarded as a once-in-a-generation-type incident. seeing time and time again and much more regularly. Obviously the heat that we've experienced today and some of those temperatures around 40 or 41 degrees is unprecedented, but we are now starting

to really factor in the impact of climate change in terms of all of our strategic planning because we need to make sure that firefighters are trained, equipped and prepared to deal with the challenges that we know climate change is bringing, whether it's the significant heat-related issues we face today or whether it's wide area flooding, which is another result of climate change. This is a clear and present threat and all of the emergency services are now having to make sure that we've got the right plans in place so that we're ready to go when these incidents happen again in the future as we know sadly that they're going to. Assistant Commissioner, thank you very much indeed. I know you got a busy night and good luck to you and all your teams. Thank you very much.

Well, let's pick up on all this with tonight's Piers Pack, talk to be contributor Esther Cracku, and President of the National Union of Students, Larissa Kennedy, along the journalist Mark Day from Sydney, who said today's British weather's nothing compared to some of the extremes they've been having in Australia. in Death Valley in California, which holds the record for the hottest place on Earth, recording 57 degrees Celsius or 134 Fahrenheit, back in July 1913. And environmentalist and father, Boris Johnson, Stanley Johnson, to welcome to all of you, a big pack for a big day and a big crisis.

Let me start, if I can, with Mark Day, the former editor of the Australian. You're over there in Sydney. I was in Sydney recently, Mark, and it rained every single day. I was a all day, every day. It carried on raining ever since, I think, and was raining for much of a time before.

So clearly, a lot of climactic change going on around the world in different ways. But what Australia has had for a very long time is sustained periods of this kind of heat. What is your message, really, for Britain, as we now start to experience what you guys have had for a long time? My message is that it'll be hot next summer and it'll rain next winter. You know, climate change is very important. about that. In fact, I was rather proud of myself writing for the

son, McCollum, I didn't mention climate change. But that's what this is all about. It's getting hotter and it'll continue to get hotter. We've got to get used to it. We've got to know how to handle it. And in Australia, we're well trained at that. Well, you are. And I think that's

a key lesson for us here, actually. We seem to be completely useless at being able to deal with this. Because, frankly, we're not used to it. What is the best advice you would give? And look, I've been in London in 29 degrees, and it was stonkering. You know, it was worse in 29 degrees in London than it is in 39 degrees in Australia. You know, you're not set up for it. We are because we live with it.

And, I mean, that's the message. You've got to learn to live with it because it ain't going away, mate. No, it certainly isn't. It's got it, Nick Aramirez, Part Ranger, Death Valley National. park. It's been 120 degrees for the last several weeks, but that's almost a cool, cool period for you, Mr. Ramirez. You are renowned around the world for having the highest temperatures. When do you see what's happening throughout Europe and now in the UK at the moment, what do you think of it? What do you make of the climate change debate? And what's your view about this from Death Valley?

Good evening to you, Pierce, afternoon here in Death Valley. That's a really good question. So we live with hot temperatures all the time. And really what I can say is one of the biggest things we push here is we promote safety. So staying safe, we have a number of measures and information that we give out to visitors that come to visit Death Valley because one of the reasons they're here is to sort of experience the heat of the desert because the heat really is one of the reasons that make Death Valley special. So listening to your authorities and what they say about heat safety is really important.

Here at Death Valley, we do a lot of those same things when we're hitting high temperatures. We're doing things like staying indoors, not spending a certain amount of time. We have a heat safety plan, which is really important that we follow depending on the heat temperatures are. There's a certain amount of work we can do outside versus how much time we should spend inside to stay safe. And if it's too hot, we cease that work all completely and we stay indoors. Just like extreme temperatures where it's cold, we hibernate in the summer. We stay indoors in the AC, and we encourage people to stay in their AC vehicles and also just not push themselves or go any further. You've obviously seen the direct impact of very extreme heat on a regular basis.

How deadly can it be? And there are some people who just don't seem to take you very seriously. Yeah, so as the last speaker was saying, we live with it. So one way that we do that and we manage that is we have climate. to it. So we live here. It takes our bodies and a little bit of time to acclimatized to that. But when it's really hot, pushing your bodies outside of a limit on what you're not used to is not something you should move forward. So we promote safety and caution first foremost so that we're not putting ourselves in situations. So climatizing, avoiding the heat, staying indoors. We have two, we have redundant cooling systems.

We have swamp cooling system which uses evaporative cooling and we have AC so that we have back. just in case of the situation. See, I think that's interesting because we don't, we don't have, I mean, I've got a place in California myself, and we just don't have that kind of infrastructure. You know, it's not embedded into British life because we're just so unused to this kind of temperature. Mr. Ramirez, thank you very much for joining me.

I really appreciate it. Stanley Johnson, first of all, good evening to you. Hey, good evening, good evening. You've been campaigning about climate change for a long time. I mean, do you feel that your persistent warnings have been vindicated by what we're seeing, not just here, but also throughout Europe. I mean, France in particular is having a horrendous time.

Well, I have been campaigning a long time. I remember going to the very first meeting of something called the intergovernmental panel climate change, representing the EU in November 1986. Well, that's 25 years before we had the Paris Convention. The Paris Convention set a goal. Set a goal keep the temperature rise below 2 degrees centre of Celsius. is above pre-industrial levels. Keep it below 1.5 if you can. Well, a lot of work went into the Paris Convention. A lot of work went into the Glasgow meeting we just had. The idea there was

to say, are we on track to keep these temperatures down? Well, the answer was we weren't on track. I mean, people like Alok Sharma, my own son, Boris, put a huge amount of evidence into that. The answer is at Paris and in Glasgow, it turns out we're not on. Now, I was very impressed by what your correspondence were just saying, Mr. Almea. There's no doubt about it, that at this present moment, the name of the game probably is adaptation. You actually have to work out how to deal with the rising temperatures which are there, which are experienced by people all over the world.

You know, okay, we are complaining today about 40 degrees on Celsius. You know, 40 degrees Celsius would be a nice warm day in parts of India, you know, who are more used to 50 degrees. Well, adaptation, crucially. But picking up your point, is my message getting across, not my message because it's been a message to now at Sartis for 40 or 50 years. I think the message is getting across. What is not getting across is the political action. I've got to say to you that I have been disappointed, looking just at the domestic political scene over the last few days, at how little attention the candidates have been bringing to bear on this issue. Yeah, I completely agree. I completely agree. They've been

so engrossed in their own power grabbing, they've forgotten that actually there's a huge crisis unfurling right before our eyes. Let's go to Esther here. Esther, what's your view about? I mean, the climate change debate divides people like everything these days. When you see what's going on here and Europe

and so you hear the arguments, it's in arguable, isn't it? That we are if we're not very careful, heading for a cop-apocalypse? I don't actually, and this is something that we argue within the Conservative Party as well. You know, I don't, I I don't believe that any rational person is a climate change denier.

I don't think so. I don't think that's the case. But, you know, like he was saying, we've had these conferences and we've had all these agreements, like the Paris Accord and, you know, Glasgow. But the people that are polluting the most, the people that are really responsible for this are not even in the room. China said they've committed to being net zero by 2060.

They've laid out no plans for that. We don't even know how they plan on getting there. Indonesia said, oh, yeah, we'll kind of do that. Neurandromodi in India, 2050. How are we getting there? We don't know. The UK contributes about 1%. of global emissions, and yet we're expected to completely fundamentally, you know, change our lives

to accommodate this plan. And the people that are really polluting are not even playing their part. And it just makes you question, you know, that is where the pressure should be. I think that's a very good point. Larissa, you represent students. Young people are the future. This is your future that is being imperiled here by political inaction. What's your view? I'm in fact former president, so we'll say how... Are you on your way out, aren't you? That's right. way out. But what I would say is... You understand what students feel about it. Absolutely. And I think there is a kind of readying number of students who are looking at the action that's being taken

and saying it's nowhere near fast enough. You know, I was at COT26 representing students. And there was a vast gap between what was being said in the room and what was being said on the streets by young people who were coming from across the world to demand radical change and transformative action that reckons with an issue that has been on the horizon for a long time. And, you know, yet we're still seeing these massive companies that are huge polluters, who we know are contributing the vast majority to climate breakdown. Are the tactics being used by people protesting about this the right ones? In other words, lying in front of busy traffic, stopping people getting to school,

hospitals and so on, you know, destroying or defacing famous artworks. You know, the News UK building was a tactic... I think people are at a lot. People are at a lot as what to do. And vandalism just to get attention, does that actually help win over an argument? But I think what's happening here is that people are at loss as to what to do because we've had the talks, we've had the summits, we've had the conferences, we've had the annual meetings. What else do we do at this point to make us vote? This is the thing.

I understand these arguments, but my bigger thing is we are not voting on these issues. We have people, we have these economists in Switzerland and Glasgow and all of these things, making these radical decisions for the British public. And we're not being allowed to vote. You can convince people. You do not disrupt their lives. You do not include yourself to rule. But Stanley Johnson said if the three candidates, or as four as it was, left to run the country,

if none of them are talking about this, even as this massive heat wave is erupting, the highest temperature we've ever had, I'm not sure what would drive a political debate about it. The reason why they're not talking about it's because of where democratic pressure is. People have feel alienated from this conversation because they say, actually, it doesn't really matter what we say, because there's going to be some, you know, Swedish,

some Swedish teenager or some, you know, Swiss economist somewhere that says we need to make decisions and forcing it down on us. So there's no point. That is how you make change. You get people involved. You don't terrorize their lives by gluing yourselves to roads. And you actually have a real conversation. You let people vote on it. It depends on how you define democracy. Because, you know, when I've been on these marches myself and many peaceful protests about climate action, and often you hear the chant, this is what democracy looks like. Are people voting on it? It's general people. But I think marching and peaceful protesting is very effective.

I think trashing historic art is self-defeating, actually. While the race to replace Boris Johnson's prime minister is reaching the end game, just a moment I'll be talking his legacy with his father, Stanley Johnson. But first, an update on the leadership contest. Kemi Badmanoch has been knocked out today. That leaves Rishi Sunak, Penny Morden, and Liz Truss. The talk to the political editor, Kate McCann, is in Westminster, Boris.

All the latest. We're down on the last three. My prediction right from the start of Rishi and Truss with Rishi as the winner. I think it's holding water. Do you see a mordant surge to the top two? It's possible. I think it's unlikely, but it's entirely possible. And the reason for that is because what's going on with the voting at the minute

is pretty much entirely tactical. Just look at what happened today, for example. Rishi Sunak. He only added three votes to his number after 14 yesterday. that sound like it makes any sense and the fact that Penny Morden yesterday went backwards and today piled on 10 votes despite the fact that many more of Tom Tuganhats were expected to go her way and for that matter Liz Truss who's the candidate probably least aligned with Mr Tuganhat seemed to grab the most of his vote something fishy is going on in Westminster and MPs are

talking about it tonight in fact there are reports that Rishi Sunak is on the terrace of the House of Commons now that's unusual and what it tells you peers is that even the frontrunner isn't necessarily 100% confident, although I think he's fairly certain to be in the final two, because the votes could well change tomorrow if Tom Tuganhat's votes move from Liz Truss to another candidate. And, of course, depending on what happens to Kemi Badock's votes from today, they could well favour Liz Truss. The question is, when it all shakes down, there are a group of Conservative MPs who want to see Penny Mordant and Rishi Sunak in the final two.

Do they have enough votes between them to make that happen? Or will it be, as you say, the more predictable result of Liz Truss? and Rishi Thunat going down to the wire. Well, it's very fishy, but my money's on Rishi, mainly because he's so dishy. Anyway, we're going to leave me there. Sorry, Kate, can only apologise to you and the nation for that appalling series of puns.

I appreciate you joining me, as always. Let's pick up with Boris Johnson's father, Stanley Johnson. Stanley, who's your money on to be the new leader? Well, I'm not betting. I'm not betting, but I want to pick up on the use of that word fishy. Well, fishy. I think we saw, in recent weeks, a truly fishy, a squalid political assassination is all I can say is at this point. Really, of your son.

A squalid political assassination, which bears no reference to my mind, to the achievements which he put out, and his administration put out, and I do go back, obviously I wasn't Brexit here, but Brexit was one, COVID was another. The environment, we were talking about the environment of the beginning of this program, Well, he really pushed on the environment and the biodiversity. And then you've got Ukraine. So honestly, I am bewildered and, you know. Well, in the end, in the end, Stanley, he lost the trust of 60 of his own senior ministers

because they were sick and tired of the lying over party gate and then pincher gay and all the other things. I mean, it wasn't because they suddenly woke up and thought we're going to assassinate him. They've been driven to the end of their tether, would be their argument. That's what you say. That's what you say, peers.

I have a much blacker view of this whole thing. I have a much blacker view, and I don't see anything in this, except political opportunism by the opponents. Some of the opponents were in-house, some were on the other side of the chamber. That's the way it went. Her policy is a tough game.

I hope that life pans out again in a different way. Do you think that Rishi Sunak is the biggest culprit in this political assassination? I don't want to get into that either. What I'm saying is that any objective view, and I spend a lot of time traveling abroad, they cannot believe what happened in this country. They simply cannot believe that a politician, a prime minister, who was elected with a majority of, I think, over 80,

and a massive popular, large than we've had before, cannot believe that a handful of people can turn him out. That's my position now. But it's much more important at this moment to concentrate on, quote, unquote, the legacy and I think, you know, there we see real, real opportunity to build on that. And I think the environment is one of those things. By the way, I think building bridges with Europe is another one.

It's another one. Well, hang on. Hang on, Stanley. I mean, you say building bridges are Europe, it's your son that took us out of Europe and suck a massive two fingers up to Europe. So I'm not sure how that's going to be his legacy. I'm saying that once we're out of Europe,

what was the big challenge? The big challenge was create a new architecture in Europe. We didn't do that, and I think we would have been doing that. I, for example, wants to rejoin the European Environment Agency, which allows for countries like Switzerland and Turkey and Norway and Sweden, not Sweden, to be part of that. I'd like to say, get back into that. Can I ask you, Stanley, can I ask you?

Does Boris believe that he was the victim of a political assassination? If he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't read enough novels, because as far as I'm concerned, but you must have talked to him. The hand, this to my mind, was a put-up job from beginning to end. That's how I see it. And I think that we will learn our lessons on this one. We'll learn our lessons that you can't proceed in a democratic way by this sort of mechanism.

Right, but that is, of course, how he himself took power, isn't it? Well, he took power, but he had the grace within weeks of taking power to go to the country and get a mandate from the country, as he did in December, 2019. Okay, Stanley, look, I understand your loyalty as his dad, and it's very admirable. But do you not understand that a lot of this Boris brought on himself?

I mean, the repeated lying, the Partygate scandal was enough to have toasted most prime ministers. He got fined by the police for breaking his own rules. The way he behaved over Pinscher Gate was ridiculous. And in the end, I think a lot of his top people just threw in the towel because they could feel confidence in the government had just been shattered. Do you not accept that any of that could be correct? I reject every single element of your dossier. I just don't see it. You can't reject the fact he got fined by the police for breaking his own law.

I have no doubt that the cabinet ministers have gone over the limit. The speed limit had fines. I don't think there's anything unusual about being fined. You know, and politicians do get fined. I mean, frankly, as I understood, it was a fixed penalty notice. And as I understood it, it was his birthday. and he picked up a glass. I am not ready to accept your language.

Well, well, okay, all right, okay. Look, Stanley, we'll have to agree to disagree. I fully understand, as a father myself, why you feel the way you do and you feel loyal and you feel he's been betrayed and assassinated. Others will disagree, but I appreciate your candor. Now, thank you for joining me. Always a pleasure, Pierce.

Good to see you. Quick reaction from the pact. I mean, Boris Johnson's dad there saying he was a victim of a squally political assassination. Pretty strong words. A victim. Boris Johnson has led this country into disrepute time and time again. You know, many students and young people are exhausted by having this person represent the country in such a way

that, you know, is divorcing us from our partners in Europe that has, you know, not been serious when it comes to climate action. You know, the world is burning. The country is literally melting. And the conversations that we're having to have because of the... the way that he has led the Conservative Party in the country are just embarrassing. There are so many things that should be on the agenda right now about repairing post-COVID, the gaps in our education system, the gaps in our social care systems.

And yet, we are here in what seems to be such an undemocratic process where many people across the country are so divorced from it, it's just disempowering and very alienating, really. Esther, your reaction to Boris's defence and also what the result is? I mean, I completely, I completely, I. I understand, and I completely agree with you, and I understand, obviously, Boris's father, because it's not easy to see that, but obviously the country has spoken. I just want to say on the point of kind of this undemocratic sort of leadership contest, it would be the same if sort of the Labor Party had one of the majority.

Exactly. If you vote for a party, they're free to choose around the. You know, at the end of the day, the candidates for the leadership contest are not stupid, right? They're going where they think the votes are. They're speaking about the things they think the base wants to hear about. So I completely get that. Who do you think is going to win? I, call me crazy, I still think that it's going to come down to Sunak and Mordant.

And if that is, that's Sunak's worst case in our. And who wins? Mordant wins. Because the thing is, those MPs are thinking, who's going to win me my seat? I'll stay by my original tip, Rishi. We'll see what happens. Thank you both very much for joining us. I know you're fleeing the country to get away from me. So I'll afford to see you. You are not involved, period.

He said you weren't coming back last time. And here you are. You couldn't resist me. Love you to see you, Lister. And safe travels. Unscensored, next Prince, Harry has been banging on to the Americans about how awful they are again.

I'll get a reaction from an American about this TV personality comedian and red-blooded American cat Tim will be giving her view on Harry's comments. Welcome back to Pearson Morgan Uncensored. Now to the gruesome-tusome friends of the show, Harry and Megan. Harry was at it again yesterday.

Entering the political fray in America with another rambling speech. I wonder how it went down, though, Americans. Here is a clip. We're living through a pandemic that continues to ravage communities in every corner of the globe. Climate change wreaking havoc on our planet with the most vulnerable suffering most of all. The few weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many. And from the horrific war in Ukraine to the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States. We are witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom.

Well, joining me now is Fox News contributor, an all-round American gal. Kat Timph, welcome to you, Kat. Your response to this haughty prince lecturing you about how to lead your life. Yeah, I really can't stand the climate lecture from somebody who took a private jet most assuredly to go give that speech. I can't believe, I mean, if we compared my climate footprint to his, There'd be no comparison whatsoever. And look, if I had private jet money, I'd take a private jet. He obviously was born into those kinds of connections. And if you're born a prince, you generally have advantages that almost no one else will have

to make your life whatever it is that you want and to do whatever it is you want with maybe one exception, and that is to be a professional victim, which unfortunately seems to be the career path that he's most attracted to is he is whining. every chance he gets about almost everything nonstop without offering any sort of solution or even acknowledgement for the way some of his own behavior might contribute to the problems he's complaining about. Right. He also likened his struggle for freedom to Nelson Mandela's, who just to remind everybody he spent 27 years in a six-by-six prison cell. Do you see any comparison between the two struggles? I certainly don't see a comparison. I think it's such a

glaring, glaring difference that we really learn a lot. lot more about who he is. Again, I think all Americans, because there's a handful of people in the world that are just get that kind of privilege just by based on, you know, where they're born into and how they're born. He's one of those very lucky few. So all of the rest of us don't want to hear him whining about his struggles. No doubt he has had struggles in his life, but I know that that kind of privilege and power makes any kind of struggle much, much easier for you. Of course it does. Now, America, unfortunately, is two for two. in sending your women over here to inveigle their way into our royal family.

The first was Wallace Simpson, who led to an abdication of one of our kings. The second is Meghan Markle, who's wrestled Harry away from the clutches of his family and taken him to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the royal titles that they were afforded by an institution they professed to despise. What's your view of Megamarkal? Apparently, she's thinking you're running for president? You know what? I bet she does. I mean, all of the, they love the attention so much.

And it's just so remarkable how much attention they're able to get and how much money they're able to get, the both of them, despite I'm not really sure what it is that they're good at. I mean, even this most recent speech from Harry, he was going on and on about the loss of freedom in America, even though he himself called the First Amendment bonkers, he was on a podcast, what he said was, you know, I've got so much I want to say about the First Amendment,

as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers. I mean, that is not exactly the most astute analysis that I've ever heard. And this is the kind of thing where you're getting hundreds of millions of dollars for analysis like that and then not even acknowledging your hypocrisy when apparently you don't stand for freedoms in this country. It blows my mind. It's a great gig if you can get it, honestly. I haven't been so lucky.

We'd all love a gig, love it. I'd love to go on Harry's struggle. It must be so struggling. Kat, great to talk to you. Thank you very much. You too. While he was the King of Rock and Roll, a global icon, would you have survived today's cancelled culture, I wonder?

Who better to talk to you about Elvis Presley and his first wife, Priscilla, who met Elvis when she was just 14 and was married to him for six years. I'll talk to him about the king and this amazing new movie which tracks their life together. Unscensored next.

Welcome back. I'm delighted to say that I'm joined by somebody who knew the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley. like a few other people in the world. Priscilla Presley married Elvis in 1967. They were married for six years. She remained a constant in his life. Despite all the controversies, she remained loyal to him to the end. And Priscilla joins me now, live from Los Angeles. Welcome to you, Priscilla. Thank you. Thank you, Pierce.

Priscilla. I was just imagining that the movie is just exhilarating and fantastic. I want to play a clip first and then come to you. Come on before the scene. And nobody's got to remember. I need you know. I need to get back to who I really have. And how are you, honest? You're making the most of this thing while I can.

This can all be over the flesh. Brissetta, I found it unbelievably exciting to watch this. And I never knew Elvis Presley. You were married to Elvis Presley. What was it like for you to watch this movie? Not least because as a character, character, of course, playing you? Oh, well, to be honest with you, I was very nervous about it because it's Baz Luhrman.

And as we all know, Baz, you know, has his own unique style, which is good. But I just didn't know how he was going to portray Elvis. And I was concerned, very concerned. Baz wanted myself and Jerry Schilling, who used to work for Elvis, to go to New York at the Gala, Metz, Gaila. and also to go to Cannes Film Festival. And I hadn't seen the film yet. So I bowed out gracefully and said, there's no way I can see it

because obviously I don't know anything about what you're doing. So he arranged a screening for Jerry and I at Warner Brothers. We didn't speak for, I guess, three-fourths of the movie. And I bent over and said to Jerry, well, it looks like we're going to Cannes. It was good. It was good. I have to say.

I was completely engrossed in it as well as Jerry. Boston, Austin Butler did an amazing job. It was, I mean, he had Elvis down to a T, literally. He studied him for two years. You see, that's fascinating because I just assumed he had him down to a T. You would know better than most, because Elvis is such a unique performer. People have tried to emulate him over the years,

I think with varying degrees of success. Do you think Austin Butler has got him better than anyone that's ever tried? Hands down. Better than anyone. Anyone. My daughter was quite emotional when she saw it as I. And went, my God, I mean, he just, it was like watching Elvis. His movements, his smirk, his walk, his attitude, his temper.

I mean, it was like really. incarnation. I mean, it was beautifully done, beautifully. And Olivia DeYoung plays you. Were you happy with that portrayal? Yes, I was. I mean, I never, we never talked. Baz did all the talking,

of course, but I thought she did a very nice job. She was sensitive to him, which I was always to him and his needs, and what he was, you know, trying to do with his life and what he wanted out of his life.

I thought she did a very nice job. Elvis was, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant talents that the world of entertainment has ever seen. That's unarguable. He was also quite a controversial figure in many ways. Do you think you would have survived this weird cancel culture that we now have to endure? Wow, that's a good question.

I think of that often. You know, what would Elvis think? He wouldn't believe what is going on right now to this country or to all over. for what's happening to this planet. He was very concerned about our presidents, who was ruling the country. And people would never believe that,

but he was an avid reader as well. And not just, you know, religious books, but also he was reading what was going on in the U.S. What would he have made you think of what is currently going on in the U.S.? Oh, no, he wouldn't believe. I mean, he truly, you know, I don't believe it. I don't think any of us believe what's going on right now. We've never been through anything like this, and it's pretty much global, but us as a country, it's baffling. It's truly baffling. I'm for the first time worried about my future

if I'm not only my children, my grandchildren as well. Very unpredictable, and Elvis would probably go to the president, like he did with Nixon, put his foot down and say, and say, what's going on? What is it that you find particularly saddening or worrying? Oh, my gosh, the state that we're in. I mean, my gosh, I don't know what happened to freedom. I don't know if there is freedom here anymore. You know, no one says what side they're on, Republican or whatever you want to be,

being very careful what you say, how you say it. I think we're in a very dangerous time. We're at a strange stage, Priscilla, where even high-profile women are scared to say what they think a woman is. That's true. That's true. How sad is that? I mean, it's... To watch this going on, being very young, in the limelight and knowing a lot of people who are in the limelight, their fears on what's going on, not that they're just in the limelight, but I think it's spread quite a bit in this country

about where we're headed. And I often think, like you asked, you know, what Elvis would think? You know, what would he do? He just, he wouldn't believe it. He was a diehard American. He was America. Yeah.

He loved this country. He loved it. But it seems to me, Priscilla, there's a kind of movement, not just in America, but I'll talk about America about this. There's a movement to try and try, trash everything that's come before.

And that's why I was curious whether you felt Elvis, whether there would be a campaign to try and cancel him for inappropriate statements, inappropriate behavior, whatever it may be, inappropriate lyrics. We've seen it time and again now as so many people. That's why I was curious what you felt, because it seemed to me he would fly in the face of so much of what this weird culture represents.

Well, per the movie, if you saw, and you did see the movie, you know, a long time, it was, stated that Elvis, you know, was a racist. He was not a racist. He's never been a racist. Elvis had friends, black friends, friends from all over. He loved their music. He loved their style.

He loved being around, you know, black musicians. I mean, that's Domino. When he was in Vegas, he was in the lounge playing, and he would always, we would always go and hang out with him. Semi Davis Jr., the same thing, would always come into the journey. dressing room and he loved, loved being around blacks and being around anyone, actually. He was just not prejudiced in any way, and not racist in any way. So I don't know, you know, this is a very frightening time for someone.

It's almost like, you know, we're looking for something from everyone that we can somehow dispose them in some way. And that's why it's so frightening right now. Was Elvis the great love of your life? Yes, he was. He obviously sang about love so many times. When you're on your own, perhaps, is there one song that Elvis sang

which resonates most with you? Oh, my gosh. You know, there's so many songs. Gosh, that's hard to pick. That's a hard question. That's the hardest one you've asked me. Gosh, I listen to music a lot. Well, someone when you hear it come on the radio

and your heart flips a beat when you hear it? Well, I think it's in Las Vegas watching him do the shows. And I think, you know, the songs that he's saying that people were all drawn to. And I think that, you know, all of us are attached to a song. There's so many with him. I can't even tell you it's now or never. Probably it's now or never

because I heard him sing that in Germany, actually. And that was given to him through the record label of the company, and to watch him sing the song and try to reach the notes in perfection, is what he was looking for, to perfect those notes because his tone, his pitch was not as high in that particular song. So he would always try to reach it and mess up and then hit his leg and try it again and again and again. So watching him kind of rehearse

and trying to get it right was an experience. I can imagine. He was a perfectionist. Do you wish Priscilla in a way that you had never got divorced from Elvis? And do you think that his life would have been different if you'd stay together?

Gosh. To be honest, I think we were better not married. We had a great relationship. He would come over to my home at all hours of the night, talk. It could be 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock. I would have my daughter, I wake my daughter up, be with us at some of that. My mother, the same thing, although Lisa had to go to school. He would come alone sometimes and sometimes bring Charlie Hodge,

one of his guys at work for him or someone else. And we would just sit and talk, and he'd bring him books, and he'd read books to me. and he left me with quite a few books as well but everything just seemed to be more relaxed more at home when the tension wasn't there now remember I'm with Elvis Presley and watching the girls running up to him wanting kisses from him running to the stage

coming backstage it's a you know it's listen being who he was and having all the women, you know, jump him. Excuse me. Kidding. I'm only kidding. I think you're only half kidding.

I'm a little experience. Literally just about, anyway. No, it was an eye-opener for me. And I'm being married to probably one of the most famous musicians or singers in the world. I mean, there isn't anyone that doesn't love Elvis. Right, and I love how affectionately you talk about him. You know, not many divorced spouses would talk with the kind of love and admiration that you have for him. So many years, of course, after he sadly died.

He was a great human being. He really was, and he tried so hard, you know, at what he did to be perfect in many, many ways. You know, he wanted a movie career, a good movie career. That was one of the problems, as we know. you saw the film that Elvis had him tight, I mean the colonel had him tied up with a five-year contract with Hal Wallace of all people.

You know, Hal Wallace did more cutesy movies, girls on the beach, as we know, never really gave him the part that he long for. James Dean part. That's really what he longed for. But you know what, Priscilla? He had

one of the greatest careers that the world has ever seen in entertainment, and he was true icon and the movie is utterly fantastic. I'm so glad you loved it as much as I did. Reseda, I've got to leave it there, but I could talk to you all night. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, that's all for us tonight. Just remember today a scientific survey came out saying Marmite is good for your anxiety. I'm good for your anxiety. Good night.