Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: Boris's Resignation Honours List, Mo Gawdat and Gene Simmons

Episode Date: June 8, 2023

On tonight's episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Piers talks about Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list. Piers is joined by former Google X chief Mo Gawdat who warns on the dangers of AI and Pie...rs is joined by Gene Simmons who talks about the Roger Waters controversy. Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored at 8 pm on TalkTV on Sky 522, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237 and Freesat 217. Listen on DAB+ and the app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:06 Live from the news building in London, this is Pearce Morgan Uncensored. Good evening from London. Welcome to Pierce Morgan Unsensored. There are many words of British Public Associates with Boris Johnson's premiership. Chaos, parties, lies, shambles, scandals. Well, they all spring to mind. The word honour is definitely not one of them, even though he remains the right honourable gentleman. A few people have done more to dishonour the high office he held, and the country he was supposed to serve. Johnson lied to the Queen and to Parliament. He bungled the pandemic, partying his way through half of it. He spent fortunes on golden wallpaper. He defended his disgrace cronies at every turn. And he did it all with a carefree
Starting point is 00:00:45 gurning grin and the sartorial elegance of a scarecrow. There can't be many people in British politics, less qualified to adjudicate on honour, which is why it's frankly disgraceful. He's being allowed to move ahead with his personal resignation honours list. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who's in Washington, D.C. tonight, is about to weigh through Johnson's gongs and peerages for his cronies and mates, and apparently even his father, if he can get away with it. And unsurprisingly, Sunak's not that keen to talk about this. I can completely understand the interest in this topic, but all I can say is there's a process that is currently underway.
Starting point is 00:01:20 It hasn't concluded yet. And until it does, it wouldn't be right for me to comment any further. Yeah, but it's a process that I don't agree with, and nor do most people. It should be a very, very short process to which the answer is a rapid, No. Liz Truss, who was outlasted by a lettuce, shouldn't even think about nominating anybody either, but she will. If you resign in shame and disgrace dishonorably, as Boris Johnson does, did and distrust did, why should you be able to then hand out honours? Isn't that just one final insult to the public? One last log on a giant bombfire of all things decent that raged through these terrible time at the top? I think it is. Well, we'll debate that later.
Starting point is 00:02:06 Well, we come first with this dreadful breaking news from France today. There are a few things that have appalled me more than the scenes from this children's playground in France today, in the southeast of France, which just stop you from what you're doing and gasp in utter horror. They show this lakeside playground in Anisee, a picture postcard alpine town where most people were relaxing in the sun on holiday. until a Syrian man, a refugee who come via Sweden, began to unleash utter terror. Graphic video, some too horrifying to share, show him stabbing a toddler in his pram as his screaming mother tries to defend him.
Starting point is 00:02:47 The attacker, who was 31 years old, deliberately attacked children again and again. He could be heard shouting him a name of Jesus Christ. Videos show him running around the part, waving a knife he'd used on defenseless children as members of the public chased him, until eventually he was subdued and reportedly shot by police. The police say we don't know what his motivation is yet.
Starting point is 00:03:09 What we do know is that four children and two adults were injured in the carnage, a British child and little girls among the four children hurt. Two of those children and another are severely and critically injured. Well, I'm joined now by David Chasman. He's the France supporter of the Times, who is at the scene of the attack in Annasie, and in the studio by Talk to the International Editor, Isabel Oakeshaw. Well, let me start with you, David, if I may.
Starting point is 00:03:31 It's one of those things. When you watch the video, it's utterly gut-wrenching to watch this man charging around, armed with a knife, deliberately attacking children, young kids in Prams. Absolutely. It's completely horrifying. And the scene that people witnessed here this morning has left this whole town stunned. I mean, I'm standing now in the playground where the attack happened. The noise you can hear behind me is a demonstration by a handful of right-wing people. They've just sung the national anthem and they're now singing patriotic songs. People have come here and left floral tributes at the place where the children were stabbed. And tonight, so four toddlers, including a three-year-old British girl, are fighting for their lives in local hospitals. The prosecutor here says that there doesn't appear to have been a terrorist motive behind the attack. It was carried out by a Syrian refugee who's been arrested.
Starting point is 00:04:45 He described himself to police as the Syrian Christian. And video of the attack shows him saying, in the name of Jesus Christ, as he launched the attack, that local people and witnesses seem to think that, he was mentally unbalanced rather than attacking the children for terrorist motives. Yeah, there seems to be reports that I've read that he had married a woman in Sweden. He'd been living there for 10 years or so. So he came over as a refugee a decade or more ago.
Starting point is 00:05:20 There'd been no problems with authorities at all, but that he'd split up from his wife and they had a young three-year-old child. And, look, it's wrong to try and guess what has been. gone on here in terms of motivation, but you would think potentially mental health issues, perhaps as a catalyst of what was going on in his own life. Yeah, that's right. I mean, the ex-wife, rather, has spoken to French media. She says that she last spoke to him four months ago, and he was living in a church here in France. It's believed he came here last autumn, and he made a series of applications for asylum here,
Starting point is 00:06:02 which bizarrely were rejected on the grounds he'd already been granted asylum in another EU country. But according to his ex-wife, he didn't want to stay in Sweden because they'd rejected his applications for citizenship. And she says that he often looked after their three-year-old girl when he was in Sweden. And she described him as being nice nature.
Starting point is 00:06:30 So, I mean, it beggars belief. Mental health issues may well be the cause. I think prosecutors have still got to get to the bottom of it. The police are obviously still questioning him and investigating judges also. So we'll see what more comes to light. David, thank you very much indeed for that report from the scene there of this horrific atrocity.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Much appreciated. I mean, I've got four kids, you've got kids. We've all been to these playgrounds. It's like a little sanctuary, isn't it? You go, there's other little tiny kids running around. They're in prams. You can't think of anything more unthinkable than this. It is incomprehensible, particularly as we learned that the attacker is a father of a child that age.
Starting point is 00:07:16 I mean, you know, very difficult for anyone to perpetrate an attack like that, but least of all someone who's got young children themselves. I think the question here is, are there any broader, implications to this politically, or is this just the most horrific act of someone who's perhaps suffering from schizophrenia, perhaps heard voices in his head, we don't know. But what we've seen from our correspondent there is that there are already far-right demonstrations on the scene. Now, the issue of mass migration is already pretty toxic in France. France takes a very high number of asylum seekers, many of them from Syria. That's the top country. Certainly before the Ukraine
Starting point is 00:07:54 war, I don't know what the figures are now. And I think this will inflame an already very, very... I mean, it will, but on that, it's interesting, because when I first saw that, I thought, God, this is going to be a huge political issue, never mind anything else. And then you read, he got asylum in Sweden
Starting point is 00:08:08 10 years ago. It's nothing to do with it. Right. That's the reality, but it won't stop it proving that debate. We've got some breaking news, actually, Rishi Sunnak, has now just commented in Washington about this incident. All our thoughts are with those affected by this unfathomable attack.
Starting point is 00:08:24 including a British child and with their families. I've been in touch with President Macron. We stand ready to offer any assistance that we can. Well, we're joined now by Eleanor Vincent, who was on holiday in Anisee. She's actually from California. Eleanor, thank you very much indeed for joining me. I understand that you turned up at the scene of this just after it had happened. What kind of mood was there when you got there?
Starting point is 00:08:50 Because this is such an appalling thing to have unfurled. Yes, it certainly is. The mood was one of shock. We were many meters away from the actual scene of the crime. It was already a crime scene. The French police were there very quickly within four minutes. There were medical personnel. There was a lifelight helicopter landing as I arrived.
Starting point is 00:09:17 And everybody was on their phones trying to figure out what happened. And I happened to have a live BBC feed update so I knew the very basics because even the news media at that point didn't really know what had happened. And so I just started taking photos of the scene. I'm a former journalist. And in my state of shock, I thought,
Starting point is 00:09:39 well, I need to do something. It might be useful to document what's happening. And so that's what I did. It's sort of, it's a strange story in the sense. It's very hard to work out what motive there is here. The police have very quickly said, they don't think it's terrorism. The fact he's an asylum seeker 10 years ago coming from Syria to Sweden would suggest this is not a sort of immediate issue
Starting point is 00:10:04 with someone coming from a war zone in the last few weeks. There may be a domestic issue, a mental health issue. He's split from his wife and had himself a three-year-old child, we understand. It's a completely baffling story, isn't it? Well, I personally don't feel. find it so baffling. I find it horrific and incredibly sad, but it seems to me that someone from Syria coming, even having been in a state of living in another country like Sweden, which is, I understand a very lovely country for 10 years, still can have untold amounts of trauma.
Starting point is 00:10:38 And the fact that he split from his wife, he had a child that was three years old. And according to news reports here, he was seen hanging out in this park for three days. So I can only imagine the state of mind that this person was in. And whatever happened, he snapped and lashed out in this horrific way. I don't use it in any way. But I personally feel this is a mental health crisis. And we'll wait and see what authorities say. Thankfully, he's alive so he can be interviewed and hopefully they can understand
Starting point is 00:11:10 or try to understand what drove this. But absolutely, I do not think this is an issue about immigration. I do not think it's an issue about terrorism. I think it's an issue about mental health, which we have abundance of in this world. And it's leading to untold problems of violence. In my own countries, there are three times as many guns as people. I partly came to Europe to get away from the ongoing level of violence.
Starting point is 00:11:35 But it's everywhere. And thank God this man did not have a gun. It would have been bloodbath. I mean, it's horrible enough as it is. Yeah. But. No, you're right. Eleanor, I really appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:11:48 Thank you for your passion. I appreciate it. It needs to be said. I appreciate you joining me. Thank you very much. You are very welcome. Welcome back to Pittsburgh and Unsensable. President Biden said the UK special relationship with the US
Starting point is 00:12:06 is in real good shape today as he hosted Rishi Sinek at the White House. Probably better shape than him, I might politely and respectfully argue. Have you previously referred to his counterpart as Rashid Su, a Sanuk, when he got the job, the 80-year-old commander-in-sheet, this time introduced Sunak as Mr. President. He also completely forgot Winston Churchill's name. Completely. Couldn't remember it in a bizarre, rambling anecdote about Churchill prowling around the White House. So how did the big visit go down in the US?
Starting point is 00:12:36 Well, joining me now to talk about this is Washington, D.C., is Fox News White House correspondent, Peter Ducey. Peter, brilliant to have you on the program, first of all. Adding a touch of rare class to our show. Much needed. So I watch you in these press conferences at the White House, and quite often you're taking them to task over the physical and cognitive competence or otherwise of the president.
Starting point is 00:12:59 It wasn't a great day, was it, for them to show him at his best? Well, at one point, the Prime Minister had to bail President Biden out because he's trying to tell this story about Winston Churchill visiting the White House after the Pearl Harbor attack. It's the stuff of legends in Washington, in D.C. And as the president was kind of searching for the name, Winston Churchill, Sunak bailed him
Starting point is 00:13:24 out, and then they kind of moved on. He did accidentally introduce him at first as Mr. President, and then he joked that he had demoted him. And then he corrected to Mr. Prime Minister. And so that does follow. That is just about a week after President Biden fell down, giving a commencement address in Colorado. It follows him getting the name of the South Korean Prime Minister Yun Rung. He called him President Loon. And so it is part of kind of a long couple weeks for the president, Pierce. Well, let's take a little look at you, a little greatest hits, if you like, of what you've just been talking about. Well, Mr. President, Mr. President, I just demote you, Mr. Prime Minister. We've gotten news.
Starting point is 00:14:13 Roshin, Roshin, Sunuk, is now the prime minister. as my brother would say, go figure. There's a lot of stories that are told, probably a bunch of apocryphal about the former Prime Minister like you take baths of that. Anyway. Wandering around at three in the morning.
Starting point is 00:14:38 Yeah, Winston Churchill was bothering Mrs. Roosevelt. So don't worry, you won't see me there at bothering you and the First Lady. I mean, on one level, Peter, it's kind of funny. On another level, it is disconcerting for the rest of the world to watch the commander-in-chief of the United States of America sort of falling apart in front of our eyes. And that's just, that is what we see in public. We don't know what is going on behind closed doors, but you would hope that everybody is as sharp as can be, considering the things that they were talking about. They're talking about these threats to the entire West that Russia poses. They're talking about threats of artificial intelligence, which President Biden, today described as being like science fiction and ways to put together guardrails for that. These are very serious things that the leaders are discussing. And so we don't know how it went.
Starting point is 00:15:31 I'm sure that this Biden White House doesn't really leak that much. I'm not sure how the 10 Downing Street staff are about letting us know what happens in these meetings. But we will hopefully have some more details about how the president and the PM were shortly. And Peter, the special relationship, the much vaunted special relationship, it's felt in recent years more special if you're here in Britain than it perhaps does to many Americans these days. How would you categorize the reality of the so-called special relationship? The reality is, as somebody that covers the White House and literally every single thing that President Biden does, it's been hard to keep track from here of who the Prime Minister even is over the course of the last 18 months. And, you know, a big chunk of President Biden's diplomacy comes at these summits where the prime minister and the president are like two of seven or two of 20. They go sit at some hotel conference room for a half an hour.
Starting point is 00:16:32 We get a picture. And then you don't really hear that much about it afterwards. And so President Biden hasn't gotten a chance to know any of the prime ministers well enough to really have any sort of depth to the relationship. And maybe that'll change now, depending on how things shake out over there. But also over here, President Biden's up for re-election. He just wants stability at home. I don't know how much of a focus the special relationship is going to be for him when he's just trying to convince people in Pennsylvania and Ohio to back him for a second term.
Starting point is 00:17:09 How damning that one of the main reasons the special relationship can't be that specialist, we never have a Prime Minister in the job long enough. I mean, Liz Trust lasted 44 days. A lettuce lasted longer than she did at the end. Peter, just want to talk about something else. The smog issue, that New York has currently got the worst air quality in the world, and it's all coming from these wildfires in Canada. How bad is it?
Starting point is 00:17:37 Even in D.C., I'm told you can smell stuff. It's weird. It's like the air's not right. But New York is looking apocalyptic. This morning walking out of my car into the White House, the air smelled like about nine or ten years ago when I was covering the Baltimore riots. Like there was something right here that was on fire. And I think it is extraordinary that President Biden has said so little about this. He did very briefly mention it near the top of his remarks and he showed an air quality chart.
Starting point is 00:18:06 And they put out a tweet and a statement talking about how they sent firefighters to Canada to try to help put it out. But this is something that affects millions of high-risk people. When we were dealing with COVID, even when COVID was not at a peak, they talked about risks to high, to vulnerable parts of the population, elderly folks, babies. You don't hear anything from this White House about go stay inside. Maybe that's because they know that it is politically a bad time for him to tell people to go back inside their houses after the COVID lockdowns of a couple years ago. But he has said so little about something that affects so many people. And considering the fact that yesterday, so about 30 hours ago, probably around the time that he woke up, I was standing right here and having a hard time like swallowing because my mouth was so dried out from this stuff.
Starting point is 00:19:01 He just has not addressed it. It's something that affects him. He lives right here. I don't know if he's been outside since it got here. We haven't seen him outside. They were supposed to have some party last night, or rather tonight, and it's been postponed to Saturday. I don't know if he's actually gone out, but he can turn on the TV and see that it looks like the mothership just landed in Manhattan. It really, it's amazing. The scenes are really amazing.
Starting point is 00:19:29 Peter, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed with all that. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. Peter Ducey, one of the top reporters in America there. Well, British Sunnack was in the U.S. to tar up British leadership on artificial intelligence, days after one of his top advisors warned that AI could begin to kill humans within two years. It follows an open letter signed by Elon Musk and hundreds of the biggest names in tech. Calling for an urgent pause in the development of AI.
Starting point is 00:19:53 Well, Mo Gaudat, who's a former chief business officer at Google X, was among the first to raise the alarm. He says the situation is beyond emergency. And Mo, author of Scary Smart, which is a scarily smart book, by the way, joins me now. Mo, great to see you. Thank you, sir. You were part of this quite secretive Google X. group, which I presume you were your job was to think that you don't think about stuff like AI. And you very quickly were out of the traps to warn people. Look, this is serious.
Starting point is 00:20:22 Very. What was it that you saw where you thought, okay, we've got to be really careful now? We had a tiny bit of an experiment that was about teaching robotic arms to grip items that were some funny developer used children toys in front of those arms. and basically they kept trying for weeks without any success whatsoever. And I passed by them, and I was thinking we wasted so much money on something that wasn't going to work. On a Friday evening, one of them gripped one yellow ball, showed it to the camera. And basically, I was like, there you go, millions of dollars for one yellow ball.
Starting point is 00:21:00 Monday morning, every one of them was gripping every yellow ball by a few weeks later. Every one of them was gripping everything. the speed at which those machines were learning is staggering. But at the same time, the understanding we have about why they learn, why they do what they do is very, very limited. Is that self-designing what they were doing? They basically are mimicking human intelligence. I mean, the reason I asked that is I interviewed Professor Stephen Hawking
Starting point is 00:21:31 just before he died, his last television interview. And I asked him, what is the biggest threat to mankind? And he said, Well, actually, let me show you the clip. We've got it here, I think. Ever since the start of the Industrial Revolution, there have been fears of mass unemployment as machines replaced humans.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Instead, a demand for goods and services has risen in line with the increased capabilities. Whether this can continue indefinitely, it's an open question, but there is a greater danger from our if we allow it to become self and we may lose control. I mean, it seems very prescient now. That was a few years ago.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Yeah, I mean... That was pressing. This is really what you're talking about. I left in 2018, a warning in my first video that I issued after I left was all about that. And the idea that, you know, we always had three boundaries, if you want, for AI. We said, don't put them on the open Internet until you solve the control problem. Don't teach them to code, because that makes themselves. and don't have other AIs prompting them, other agents working with them.
Starting point is 00:22:45 And we've crossed all three lines. I remember with check, I'm a big chess player fan. Not great, but I like playing it. And I remember when Deep Blue, I think, was the first. You won against Gary Kaspar. Right. That was it. And to start with, the Grandmasters beat the first ones.
Starting point is 00:23:00 And then suddenly Deep Blue won, and then it got completely invincible. And now again, never again did the human win. Well, no human can beat it, even the greatest players like Casparov. So that showed me how quickly it. quickly, robots, technology, computers can leapfrog past human brains. Let's stick with gaming. AlphaGo was designed by Deep Mind, actually here in the UK, amazing, amazing team to win in the strategy game of Go, right? It took them month and months and months and a couple of versions to win and be the world champion if you want. Then they had AlphaGo
Starting point is 00:23:34 master learn the game without ever watching a human player play. They, the, Alpha, ago Master learned by playing against itself. Within three days, it won against the first version. Within 21 days, it won a thousand to zero against the world champion, which was already an AI. You understand that? The speed at which they are learning. So look, they talk me through timings here, because people have been calling experts and misletter calling for a six-month pause. But if nothing is paused, if we carry on up the rate that we're going at the moment, what could happen? The reality in my personal view is that it is very difficult to predict.
Starting point is 00:24:15 Something could happen tomorrow or in four years or in five years. I wouldn't say later than 2029. Most of our predictions... And when you say something, what do you mean? What is the worst case scenario here? Beginning of the worst case scenario is that they are smarter than us, so they are not controllable, right? And what would they do then? What would artificial intelligence do once it becomes smarter than human beings?
Starting point is 00:24:38 Would it see us human entities as pointless? There are two stages of threat, right? And I think the biggest challenge we have in the world today is we're focused on the existential threat that we saw in science fiction movies. The closer threat is much worse, right? This is an Oppenheimer moment. The one that controls AI has enormous power over everyone else, right?
Starting point is 00:25:02 And basically that means that everyone who doesn't control AI today is in an arms race, trying to take control of it. This is why, when I think of the prime minister's move, it's a great move, overdue almost when you think about it, but so difficult to achieve because you have to unify China, Russia and the US to make, to be able to regulate. I mean, a well-intentioned person trying to regulate and control AI would give it morality. It would teach it. That's the whole point. But a nefarious controller of AI, presumably, could teach it to be immoral, the opposite. which is happening as we speak.
Starting point is 00:25:39 There's absolutely no doubt. If you tell the drug lords of the world and the criminals of the world that AI is a super powerful tool, they're finding a way to hack your bank as we. It's scary. It is very, very concerning. And I think the reality is,
Starting point is 00:25:51 interestingly, the only way you can defend against a superintelligence is through another super intelligence, which is what creates that prisoner's dilemma. What I call the first inevitable and scary smart is that we have to continue the development because if it falls in the wrong hands, want the right hands to have power to defend us, right?
Starting point is 00:26:10 At the same time, that complexity of the situation is entirely about morality and ethics. And interestingly, the latest development of something like Chad GPT, for example, is using reinforcement learning, which is a very interesting technique, because it basically allows a human to interface with Chad GPT and say, that was the wrong answer. Can you go back and think about what it is? Really, so challenge is almost like you're teaching a child at school? A hundred percent.
Starting point is 00:26:36 And, you know, in reinforcement learning, I mean, in a simplified way, we're basically telling the machine to revisit its algorithm so that the answer becomes a cat, not a bird, right? Also, we can tell it that answer is immoral. Can you revisit your algorithm so that you become more? Again, the problem I see is that if you're well-intentioned doing this process, that's one thing. If you're teaching it deliberately to be immoral,
Starting point is 00:27:03 very quickly, you could get out-of-control AI, which has very unpleasant tendencies. Talked to it by human beings. Yeah, my very clear statement is that I honestly am not concerned with the machines, even though the existential threats are possible. You're concerned with what humans teach them. I'm concerned with humans, with AI and their hands. I totally agree with you.
Starting point is 00:27:25 Let's end on a happier note. It actually starts on a desperately unhappy note. But you had this awful thing in your life where your son went in for a routine operation and ended up dying through a series of errors made by the medical team. And out of it, you could have fallen apart, like a lot of people may have done in that situation. But you turned it into a huge, extraordinary positive. Tell me what you did.
Starting point is 00:27:49 I don't know, honestly. I felt in a very interesting way that my son should not have left the world for no reason. That I could never bring him back. It was four hours, pierces, between the moment he hugged me. and went into that operating room, to the minute he left our world altogether four hours. And you have to get to a point where you say, what do I do with this?
Starting point is 00:28:16 What do I fall apart and then on my deathbed he's still not here? Or do I try to do something that reminds the world of his essence? And believe it or not, everything I've done since 2014 has been influenced by what that young man taught me. And in a very interesting way, this, my work on AI and Arturo, artificial intelligence, my work on happiness, my work on stress. Tell me about the work on happiness specifically.
Starting point is 00:28:40 I found a happiness equation, basically. You know, when you deal with engineers were weird people. So when I was very unhappy as a young man, I couldn't actually find my happiness through the teachings of, you know, sages and gurus and so on. And I had to give myself a practical, mathematical way of looking at it. I took that, I discussed it with my son. He taught me the hard side of it.
Starting point is 00:29:03 And then I, you know, I... I wrote my first book, Solved for Happy, which basically was based on that, based on an idea that happiness is very logical, that if you can control your brain to have an interesting conversation with you, I can also control my brain to become a little happier, right? Maybe not to become absolutely happy, but to become a little happier, right? And that got a lot of acceptance. Solfor Happy was an international bestseller everywhere,
Starting point is 00:29:28 and basically because the modern world, as we know it, is here. It's no longer here. And so, you know, my... My first mission was 10 million happy, which was an attempt to make the word remember, Ali, if you want. And then my second mission, one billion happy, was 100% because of AI. Amazing. Yeah. And ultimately, actually, it comes back again to the human brain.
Starting point is 00:29:49 100%. And the key denominator here, whether it's dealing with AI, whether it's dealing with your ability to feel happiness. Actually, in the end, it's about the human brain. It's about being human. Yes. Brain and heart, intuition and analysis. It's about being human. Mo, it's fantastic to talk to you.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Thank you for much for coming in. A Scary Smart, The Future of AI and How You Can Save Our World. Well, it couldn't be a more important book at a more important time. This is exciting for me. I'm joined by Rock Royalty. Gene Simmons from Kiss.
Starting point is 00:30:25 How are you? How are you, young man? It's great to have you here. Thank you. In the UK, in London, in my studio. In your studio. We go back a long way. We do.
Starting point is 00:30:34 We do Celebrity Apprentice. What? I knew it. 2008. And just to remind anyone left in the world, I haven't told. Go on. Which one of us won?
Starting point is 00:30:42 Go on. I did. Yes, he did. But only because you quit early, and if you hadn't, you'd have beaten me. Well, that's not so. But you're very bright and good looking. No, that is a case.
Starting point is 00:30:55 You know what? You can come back any time, Gene Seventh. You're very kind. Now, your tour, it's signaling that it may be the end. No, it is. It is. You've got to have, you know, at some point,
Starting point is 00:31:06 we're all grown-ups. You've got to be able to understand when the curtain. comes down, everything's got to come to an end at some point. Have a little dignity and self-respect. Love your fans and understand when it's time to graciously thank them for an amazing journey that's lasted. Could you really walk away from the stage?
Starting point is 00:31:24 Yes. Yes. Really? Because the alternative is staying on the stage too long the way. Who has gone on too long in your estimation? Oh, many, many. You want me to start? Name and shame.
Starting point is 00:31:36 Who have you looked at and gone, come on. It's time to it. It's not fair. You can, look, you can see them by the number of creases on their faces and so on. Because rock, rock basically is a young man's, generally speaking, form of music. And look, half a century is plenty of time to put on more makeup and wear higher heels than your girlfriend. We've done this a long time. December the 2nd is going to be the last time.
Starting point is 00:32:04 And we would love to see those few tickets remaining after R&E. some of our friends in London at the O2. It's going to be the last time we will ever play. Really? That's it? Yeah, we wanted to play indoors instead of usually we headline download or used to be called Monsters of Rock. We wanted a more sort of emotional thing because it is. What's been for you?
Starting point is 00:32:27 I mean, if I could let you relive one moment of your entire rock career right now, which one would you choose? I would choose the beginning. The very first time we ever got. up on stage, fourth on the bill, New Year's Eve, 1973 in New York City, my heart was pumping like nothing nervous all, because you have to understand when you come from the loins of the people, you know, sort of come up on the streets and you see these sort of godlike figures on stage, having the time of their lives being adored. There's no other, plumbers don't get that.
Starting point is 00:33:02 Even the Pope doesn't get knickers thrown in his face. He might, but I'm going to be. He might, but I'm going to get in trouble. But this astonishing lifestyle, and I was never the best-looking guy and all that stuff, but as soon as you start strumming the guitar and, of course, sticking out my prodigious oral appendage, how is the tongue?
Starting point is 00:33:23 Oh, it's very big. Can we have a quick flash? I would, but the floor is dirty. Thank you for that. Thank you. As being a rock star, has it lived up to everything you hoped it would be? Oh, it's more than that. So many people moan about their life in show business.
Starting point is 00:33:39 Oh, it's okay. You've never, you've never moaned about it. He thinks they protest too much. One of your famous writers said that, it's nonsense. How would you like to be, have more money than you know what to do with, have more adoration? Oh, I forgot. You're a Piercemore. You get that every day.
Starting point is 00:33:54 Thank you, Gene. I want to talk about someone else is in town about Roger Waters, Bing Floyd. You're obviously Jewish. He's been coming out with us. And Israeli. And Israeli. he's becoming a lot of very anti-Israel and what people perceive to be
Starting point is 00:34:10 anti-Semitic comments. I'm not sure that's the same thing. Right. So what's your position about Roger Waters? Well, first of all, he's a very talented guy. He's written some of the most wonderful music along with Floyd many, many decades.
Starting point is 00:34:26 And it's obviously held up and he's got lots of fans. There is something to be said for keeping your political and other beliefs off the state. His choice is to use the stage as a platform to further his point of view. There is a difference between a political statement about Israel and about anti-Semitism. By the way, anti-Semitism also involves Arabs.
Starting point is 00:34:50 The definition of a Semite includes the Arab world. So I think he's a well-meaning guy. I don't agree with his point of views, of course. So do you think he's anti-Semitic or do you think he's anti-Israel as a state? He is, from my point of view, inflamed, angry about the political situation, as we all are. You want there to be peace someplace. And look, I turn our attention to this wonderful fairy tale of a country or there are leprechauns. It's on Ireland, the north and the south.
Starting point is 00:35:24 It's been ongoing for God knows how long. And the divisions are deep, if you're either Protestant or Catholic or different. and I've visited Parliament there. We're going to come to that, actually, after the break. I just want to play a little clip. This is Roger Waters today. He popped up doing some interview, and he said this. My story is yet another story of cancel culture.
Starting point is 00:35:49 Why are they trying to cancel Roger Waters? Why aren't the real journalists going, hang on a minute, this is... Maybe I'll call up and see what he has to say. Why aren't you? Pierre Morgan, eh? Well, you know, the truth is, Roger, we have for the last two years at Piers Morgan Uncissussell. Well, actually, about 18 months, six months before we came on air, and since we've been on air,
Starting point is 00:36:14 we have repeatedly asked you, these are all the stuff that we're showing on screen now, all the requests. And back came the response saying, no, not available, can't do it, too busy, on stage, off stage. So, Roger, you need to talk to your people because you've had a standing offer to come on, Pierce Morgan Uncensored the entire time we've been on air. Look, I'd like to jump in just for a quick second. The best way to have a discussion or even an argument is find common ground. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:42 And then get into the diversions of what you think. So what we agree with, and I'm Israeli and Jewish, my mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany and so on and so forth. I'm not saying this to get your heart hoping anyway. We agree there absolutely should be an Arab state, Palestine. No question about it. It should exist side by side with Israel. No question about it. There should be free flow of information and commerce and so on.
Starting point is 00:37:12 Okay, so it doesn't exist. Now, let's work together to try to make it happen. So what's the problem? If only were that easy, Gene. But as always, you have a lot of clarity about these things. That's why I like you. Let's have a short break. We'll come back and talk about, well, Britain and our parliament.
Starting point is 00:37:27 You were there. Yes, so they've been fated, quite rightly, like a rock gone. being baited for selfies by politicians. But what do you think of our system? What do you think of him? Boris Johnson, the shambles, as we call it. We'll have more from Gene Simmons after break. Welcome back to Pierce, Morgana & Sensor,
Starting point is 00:38:02 with me a talk to be contributor to Paula Rohn, Adrian, talked to be a presenter, Richard Tice, and the rock legend that is Gene Simmons. Well, gee, yesterday you were in the heart of our British Parliament. Why? What were you doing there? Well, a beloved and respected MP invited me. As a matter of fact, as a statement of fact, There he is.
Starting point is 00:38:23 Junior, his dad is a legend, of course. I was invited to come by and visit the House of Commons and so on. And so we have a jet. We travel around it. We were playing Newcastle, and all the airports were closed because Mr. Zelensky from Ukraine was here, and for political reasons there. So I called up and I said, you know, I can't come because we can't land our jet.
Starting point is 00:38:44 There was a phone call made by the MP, by the respected MP, and all of a sudden we were the only jet, to land in London. What's up? And we landed and of course, I will tell you, I was a sixth grade school teacher in New York in Spanish Harlem
Starting point is 00:39:05 before I stuck out my tongue for a living. And to try to make 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds understand in New York City this astonishing little island, little by American comparisons, where a monarchy has existed for over a thousand years. The amazing stories, the characters, and so on, and how this kind of transference of power,
Starting point is 00:39:30 of course, the Star Chamber and King Henry VIII, who wouldn't get a different, like all this juicy historical stuff. And then Guy Fawkes notwithstanding, he didn't quite get there, but democracy came forth in full bloom, and I saw it firsthand with, you know, sitting there respectfully and silently and watch it. And I will tell you there's a bit of civility missing in American politics because the fine gentleman is addressed. I would like to say that you're in essence.
Starting point is 00:40:03 You're full of shit. It was all very respectful. Well, you mentioned a point because they call each other the right, honorable gentleman. Richard Seitz, we have a situation now where Boris Johnson's honors list is about to be approved by Rishi Sunak. I don't think anyone who's been dishonourable and had to quit in shame and disgrace and broken the law and be fined by the police and so on. I don't think they should have an honours list. Well, I mean, that's the convention. But the reality is a deal's being done.
Starting point is 00:40:32 Sunnaker said, okay, you can have your honours list as long as you just lay off. Give me a break. You do your thing. And then I suspect there's a deal being done with regard to the party gate inquiry. So this is what's happened, behind closed doors, just marked... Well, he's now had his report, Paula, today Boris Johnson, about the party inquiry. And if it goes the wrong way for him, he's got two weeks to respond. It goes the wrong way.
Starting point is 00:40:55 That could be the end of his political career. Well, we know that he's had a warning letter as well, don't we, in terms of that investigation. But you talk about his political career. What political career? Even when he was in politics, could anyone really say that he had a political career? He bumbled through various different mistakes. We know that he has left us in such a derisory position in terms of where we are on the world scale.
Starting point is 00:41:24 No, who respects us? They're laughing at us. What are you making Boris, G? Well, you have to consider that I'm outsider and the view from far away is decidedly different than being in the thick of it all. I'm a big fan of Boris. The body politic worldwide is really, as far as far as,
Starting point is 00:41:42 as I'm concerned what the story is about. You've either got the ability to confer with and make deals worldwide that then benefits the UK and the various countries they're in, or you don't. Bebe Netanyahu, who I've met up with your constituents. And where has he been for his constituents? And there's been a recent poll that suggests he's going to lose his seat. He's gone. By the way, I love watching Paul at arguing with Gene Simmons.
Starting point is 00:42:11 I don't get this anywhere else. I want my orange today, my just oil protest. If I'd have known that you've got permission to land, I would have been there, Gene, with my back. He was a dreadful Prime Minister, but it's not too late. I just want to quickly put in. Right now, the people's business is being done by Mr. Sunak in Washington, D.C., because there's a momentous and never-before-done deal with the UK and America,
Starting point is 00:42:37 and I'm sure the news people will be reporting on that. What I mean to say is that Mr. Sunak is in Washington, D.C. So perhaps I saw his deputy at the House of Commons addressing certain issues. It's the big story, folks. The world is, as far as I'm concerned, the body politic. Yes, there will always be unions who complain. I don't have enough social security stuff. Right, you can pay attention to that.
Starting point is 00:43:03 But there's a big story. And as far as I'm concerned, Boris was a great communicator. Perhaps locally was not as a problem. All right, well, let's talk about your own backyard, because you and I, when we competed together on Celebrity Apprentice, the person that chose me as the winner was Donald Trump. I don't know if I mentioned that enough, but he became President of the United States. And he, at the moment, is roaring ahead in the polls to be a Republican nominee. Given the state of Joe Biden right now, even calling our Prime Minister and Mr. President today,
Starting point is 00:43:30 you couldn't bet against Trump getting reelected, could you? There is a decent chance. You have to understand that America is physically larger than Europe. And in the same way that the UK is not one group of people, you've got the Celts and the Picts and different languages, different accents and so on and so forth. And, of course, lots of new folks from around the world coming here. So it's not one people.
Starting point is 00:43:54 America likewise, New York and L.A. is not Wisconsin. Who's going to win the American election? Give me a name. Donald Trump. Wow. Wow. We can ignore all the cases. We can ignore the indictments.
Starting point is 00:44:11 We can ignore the sexual. democracy, Paul. We can ignore the fact he's going to potentially be excited. He wasn't making a judgment. He just said he thinks he's going to win. I'm not even saying that I'm for it, but I will tell you, if I was Mr. Trump, and Mr. Biden, I think, is an ethical man and so on.
Starting point is 00:44:26 I call both Mr. out of respect. Somebody is going to run a 30-second sizzle reel showing Mr. Biden falling down. Totally agree. I totally agree. Gene, we've run out of time. I wish I'd had you on for longer. Please come back soon.
Starting point is 00:44:40 Kiss playing 5th of July. in London, 7th, July in Manchester, 8th in Glasgow. They're back in December at the 02. It's the end of kiss, he says. I don't want to believe this. Kiss should never end. It should be forever long going, like your tongue.

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