Piers Morgan Uncensored - Piers Morgan Uncensored: Conor Benn, Harry and Meghan Coronation Invite, Ladybird Books

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

On tonight's episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Piers speaks to Conor Benn after his grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr was called off due to a failed drugs test or was it just a mistake. Also Piers d...ebates whether Harry and Meghan will turn up to the King's coronation after being invited. Piers then delves into speaking about how the woke police are out in force again with Ladybird books now in the firing line. 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Tonight, on Piersburg and uncensored, Harry and Megan, revealed they've been invited to the King's coronation, but they won't say if they'll deign to show up. How much more of this Sussex circus should any of us have to tolerate? Plus, drugs cheat, or victim of an injustice, I'll talk exclusively to boxer Connor Ben on the dramatic fight to clear his name after failing drugs tests. And after ransack-enroll Dahl and Neutron James Bond,
Starting point is 00:00:27 the dreaded sensitivity readers are deployed to sanitize. Lady Bird classics, including Cinderella and Snow White. Well, good evening from London, what could appear is Morgan uncensored. I'm sick of talking about them. Honestly, I am. I think most of us are, but they can't stop yapping about themselves and putting themselves into the news agenda, so we have to. Yes, it's Harry and Megan, who've now regaled us with their truth. So far, in sycophantic interviews with Oprah Winfrey, with James Gordon, with Stephen Colbert, they've bashed Britain in six hours of indulgent whining on Netflix. They've fronted
Starting point is 00:01:10 bogg ass on their self-centered versions of history. Harry has barely finished the global family-trashing tour in support of his treacherous family-trashing memoir. But inevitably, he's decided that the world hasn't heard quite enough from him. So Harry's latest wheeze is a live therapy session with Dr. Gabe Or Marte, a fated trauma expert in which he reminded us again
Starting point is 00:01:33 that he, Harry, is the world's biggest victim. And then at some point you say towards the end of the book, When is someone in his family going to break free and live? Have you done that? I have now. Yeah. It was a few like. It was great.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I do. Once the book came out, I felt incredibly free. I felt a huge weight off my shoulders. Oh, shut up. Fans pay £20 each. Can you imagine paying for 90 minutes of that psycho babble in which Ari revealed he began. Therapy after a row. with Megan and again divulges his fondness for drugs.
Starting point is 00:02:15 I started doing it recreationally, he says, and then started to realize how good it was for me. He's talking about psychedelic narcotics. I would say it's one of the more fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and pains of the past. Well, as ever, there's been an advert not taking drugs. It's old Harry, isn't it? US border agents take a dim view of drug use by non-U.S.
Starting point is 00:02:36 Nigella Lawson is once banned from flying to America after admitting she'd taking cocaine. Another compelling reason why we don't want them at the King's coronation. We might end up being stuck with them for good. Well, this unfortunately worded caption of the story of the time said it best. At the end of the talk with Prince Harry, Dr. Gable Marte said he was suffering from PTSD, ADHD, depression, anxiety and panic disorder. No reports on what Harry's suffering from after that.
Starting point is 00:03:03 So we're all, I think, feeling the same way, which is enough. surely enough and yet it won't be will it they're just going to keep going and going and going depicting themselves as the world's greatest victims whilst pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars to describe their life of victimhood there's no end to the self-indulgent arrogance from the sussexes and their grievances and they've now announced that they've been an email correspondence over their attendance at the king's coronation but i quote exactly an immediate decision on whether they're the Duke and Duchess will attend, will not be disclosed by us at this time. Think about that response for a moment. The lack of self-awareness is jaw-dropping. They've been invited to the new monarch of Britain's coronation, and they'll go back to them with an answer when they've thought about it.
Starting point is 00:03:55 Is it any wonder that their popularity is plummeting on both sides of the Atlantic? Is it any wonder they've become objects of such global ridicule? Comedian Chris Rocks become a lady's comment to target Megan and Harry and his new Netflix special. Some of that shit she went through was not racism. It was just some in-law shit. Sometimes, because she's complaining, I'm like, what the fucking about?
Starting point is 00:04:24 No, they're so racist. They wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be. That's not racist. Because even black people want to know how brown the baby going to be. Well, the suspects have been on what they call a journey when it comes to their claims of racism in the royal family. First, they're sensationally accused the royal family directly of racism.
Starting point is 00:04:52 Then they tried to gas-lid us into believing they'd never accused their royal family of racism at all. It was all the terrible media who'd done that. Now it's increasingly clear that just about nobody takes any of these claims seriously anymore. Harry ended his therapy session by addressing their ruthless mockery in a recent episode of South Park. The more they criticised me, he said. The more I need to share. Oh my God. So same time tomorrow, Harry.
Starting point is 00:05:16 If you keep lying, we'll keep having to cover it. Well, joining me now is author and historian Tessa Dunlop, who just flicked something weird across the desk there in her fury at my monologue. Activist and BLM organiser, Imman Aiton, and talk to be contributor to Esther Cracko and the Sunday Times Royal Editor, Roya Niccoe, I want to start with. Because, Roy, you broke the story that the King's office has sent an emailed invitation to the coronation.
Starting point is 00:05:42 for Harry and Meghan. But their response to me said it all. Just the arrogance of saying, yeah, we've got it and we'll come back to you when we've decided what we want to do. It was an interesting response. It wasn't quite the response, I suppose, I was expecting. I was just very keen and asked and asked
Starting point is 00:06:04 whether or not they had received an invite and got it very late on Saturday night that they had, in fact, been invited by the king. And I suppose that's the olive branch that everyone has been waiting for. There has been so much speculation about whether or not. they were going to be invited and then come.
Starting point is 00:06:18 But of course, now everyone is going to be waiting to see if they both come, if just Harry comes. Of course, it's Archie's fourth birthday on the day, so there is that to take into account. But yeah, we're now waiting to see when they might RSVP to the King. I mean, like you say, an olive branch from the King, and a big one, frankly,
Starting point is 00:06:35 because, you know, he's just had to put up with all this trashing in the book about him, about his wife Camilla, about his son William, about Gay, all of them got it in this book. So he made the olive branch. which is seen as the decent thing for him to do, although I wouldn't have recommended he do it. If they come, we're going to have the circus
Starting point is 00:06:54 the entire time they're over. And it will in some way overshadow the coronation, not completely, but it will certainly cast a shadow. If they don't come, my view is, well, all right, we'll have a bit of noise about them not coming, but there won't be that shadow. They'll be in California, nowhere near the action when it happens. Isn't it a smart play for everybody
Starting point is 00:07:14 that they just stay in Montecito. The thing is, I think the king wouldn't have issued that invite unless he actually really, really wanted his son there. He wants his son there. I think the other thing we saw with the Platinum Jubilee service last year for Her Majesty, the Queen, the late Queen, of course, is that they did come over, and they were actually able, after all the hullabaloo
Starting point is 00:07:37 of earlier last year, after Oprah and all of that, they were able to actually come to parts of it and stay out of the limelight. I think the other thing to remember here is a coronation is a once in a generation, massive deal. There will be golden carriages. There will be 2,000 people in the abbey. It will be an extraordinary sight.
Starting point is 00:07:53 Harry and Megan, yes, okay, there's a bit of a circus around them, but I think all eyes will be on the king and queen and everything else that's going on that day and the rest of the royal family. So I think it's doable. I don't think that if they come, I don't think they're going to completely steal the show. They didn't last year for the platinum jubilee.
Starting point is 00:08:07 It can be done. Well, I hope you're right, Roya. But another cracking scoop. Congratulations in the Sunday Times. I appreciate you joining me. Thank you very much. Okay, let's get into this. Iman, the Chris Rock thing, first of all,
Starting point is 00:08:19 did make me laugh out loud because, of course, I was accused of being a racist for not believing all this racist and garbage that she was going out with. Now Chris Rock has said it. Is he a racist? Okay, well, we have to put everything that he said into context first, okay?
Starting point is 00:08:32 So he said that everyone wants to pay the victim and he also referred to white men being the most recent culprits alongside Meghan Markle. He also said that Megan had won the light-skinned lottery, so otherwise she has light-skinned privilege and so therefore he couldn't quite understand why she was still complaining. He also said that she was acting dumb in regards to the royal family and that's when he proceeded to say that they were the original racist, they invented colonialism and they were the OGs of racism.
Starting point is 00:08:56 So in other words, racism should be expected. So he basically spent the best part of his set making it dead clear that the royal family were a bunch of racists and that Beggarmercour's ignorance and naivism was basically utterly ludicrous. So that was his set really. He was alluding to colonialism and you can certainly frame an argument that there was obviously racism colonialism. I can accept that. We're talking about the current members of the royal family being directly accused of racism. Esther, what really annoyed me about Harry retracting that was that two years of damaging allegations left to hang around the world that the royals have been racist.
Starting point is 00:09:31 And then he turns around and said, well, he never meant to be racist. Well, then I always made the point that he didn't know what he was talking about, because he started trying to wade into a conversation that was way out of his depth, saying he was unconscious bias. And I often made the point that, hold on, you've let these. allegations stew for two years saying that there was concern about the darkness of your child. Even people that are not particularly fond of anything to do with racial
Starting point is 00:09:52 politics would say that is racist, right? But then you need to turn around and say actually, the media said that it was racist and that we are suddenly so, so blind and all we do is follow the media that we can't actually discern this for ourselves. That's when everyone, on both sides of the debate said, you don't know what you're talking about. You're just using your wife for shards.
Starting point is 00:10:08 Yeah, look, I mean, we've talked about this a lot. I feel like Prince Harry here, like the white plonker. Do you know what are you back to draw at me? Bear in mind, when I left Good Morning Britain, I think I've talked about this before, but when I left Good Morning Britain, it's because specifically I didn't believe Megan Markle's claims that she'd gone to someone at the palace and said she was suicidal, and they said she couldn't get any treatment or therapy or help, and also I didn't believe the racism claims. Now, what's interesting is neither of those, but hang on, Tesla, here's my point,
Starting point is 00:10:38 neither of those claims get repeated in Harry's 420-page book. It's like they never happen. And yet they were the incredibly incendiary and explosive allegations which triggered this whole thing. What happened to them? Where did they go? It's a question of nuance. I am very clearly a white woman. But I am married to a foreigner at the bottom of the European pecking order, a Romanian. And I remember, and why do family deny this? I remember my aunt, her little pink fist banging on the table. Our country is too full. We don't want him over here.
Starting point is 00:11:14 remember the way they spoke to him such as some members not all members of my fan with a louder voice like he was a trades person coming in the back door in the 1950s this stuff it filters in it's very hard to prove it's hard to articulate and we're talking about white on white in the context of my family so what I'm trying to explain is right okay I know I've I've explained that but I'm talking about the manifestation of prejudice very hard to articulate they're hard to prove and they're actually what what happens is they get labels They get pigeonholed, they get pushed into teakow.
Starting point is 00:11:46 Hang on, I'm sorry, sorry, hang on. Actually, I believe Harry, when he said he felt something, I've hung around public schoolboys. I've been in a group. Yeah, that's fine. Who referred to the Serena and Venus Williams as silverbacks. I've heard that with my own ears in the last 10 years. We're not talking about any of those things.
Starting point is 00:12:01 Listen, here's my point. But we are, actually, aren't we? Well, no, that's what I'm talking about. They went on global television to Oprah Winfrey, the most famous people in the world, and they made direct allegations of racism. that they now have said they simply didn't make. We didn't mean to say a norm was racist.
Starting point is 00:12:19 They've never named anybody who they originally said said these things. Nothing. It doesn't appear in the book. It's just vanished. After two years of incredible damage to the brand of the monarchy. Can I just say the agenda's changed? I just want to just throw that point in. I've said this several times. Their agenda has changed, peers, and so therefore their tactics have too. And so that is why it's no longer in the book. Because their premise right now is about getting their family back.
Starting point is 00:12:42 Should they have the gall to turn up at the coronation? Bear in mind these two have done so much to damage the institution of the monarchy in the last three years. Why would they even want to be there celebrating the coronation of our next king? Well, firstly, I think it is more than possible to highlight racism within an institution while simultaneously wanting to reconnect with your family. That's the first point. Secondly... Is that what they did? Did they highlight racism?
Starting point is 00:13:03 Or did he... Well, wait, hold that second. That was the original plan to highlight racism. We already know that they have backpedaled with that. Yeah, so there was no racism. We already know that. And in terms of the coronation, well, it's Archie's birthday, as we already know, so for me personally, I don't believe. Yeah, four-year-old kid's birthday party versus the coronation of a king.
Starting point is 00:13:19 I don't believe that's a coincidence. I don't believe that's a coincidence. Oh, do be a favor. I do not. Call me skeptical by. You think they plan the coronation to ruin Archie's birthday? I'm not saying. Just on record, peers is shouting. Just on record, dear man shouting.
Starting point is 00:13:34 Sorry, this is the stuff of total insanity. Of course, they didn't plan the coronation. I never thought. To ruin a four-year-old kid. birthday party in Galapolian. I think it could have been a way out. You think it's deliberate? No, I don't think so.
Starting point is 00:13:48 Because it's sad. All right, time out. Don't look at everyone. Only I'm allowed to shout on this show. Esther, apparently they've done this deliberately to ruling Archie's birthday. I do see that argument. There could be merit there because if they say they're not coming
Starting point is 00:14:02 because of Archie's birthday. Don't tell you've gone nuts as well. No, no. Family politics. We know only. What we've got is, to me, they're like, teenagers and teenagers often make really good points there at the front of pushing the envelope forward. They've
Starting point is 00:14:15 made their case, sometimes articulate, sometimes clumsy, sometimes egregiously. Okay, now they're in their bedroom, right? And we need them to come out the bedroom. No, we don't. Yes, they need to climb down because mummy and daddy at the table want them. Absolutely not, no. So if you do the metaphor, and by the way, here's the other point. It's not just about what the king wants, because it's his son. It's about
Starting point is 00:14:35 what the king should do as the right thing for the country. That's what I wanted to ask. The king represents all of us, right? I don't think the most people in Britain want Harry and Megan anywhere near this. Not just about. Can I just say, I don't think that this is, in terms of the coronation, I don't think this is simply just about whether King Charles wants them there or whether Harry and Megan want to be there.
Starting point is 00:14:52 I actually think that this is due to reputation management and I think it comes down to what is best for the institution. And I believe what is best is forgiveness. Do you think they should be there? Redemption. Yes or no? I think that King Charles should prioritise. They should be there? They should be there?
Starting point is 00:15:06 I don't think they should go. I think this is something for the British public. I'm quite frankly, I'm sick of the saga. I'm sick of the drama. I'm sorry for the issues that they're having, but this should be happening behind clothes. Tessie, if they do come, they do come, here's what they're going to do.
Starting point is 00:15:19 They're going to bring a camera crew. They're going to bring recorders, and they're going to invade the privacy of the royal family all over again. And here's what's going to be the winners. The royal family will win if they come. They will win if they come. And you, the press, the populist press will win, Pierce. So it's all gun to get them on those pews.
Starting point is 00:15:35 Actually, I'm no longer the popular press. I'm a television presenter. Oh, I see. Oh, I see. Oh, Britain. Morgan Unsenssel. Interesting. Well, look, I'm glad we all reached the agreement
Starting point is 00:15:43 that I'm right. Delusions on Grand Jor, right? One thing for sure, if they do come, it will be, of course, a story and we will, of course, be compelled to cover it. Well, that's it. After the break, it's Connor Benner's boxing career hangs on the balance.
Starting point is 00:15:57 I ask him some tough questions. My exclusive interview is next. Welcome back to Pierce Morgan Unsensu. Connor Ben, the son of boxing legend Nigel Ben, was one of British boxing's biggest prospects. But in October last year, just days away from a domestic grudge supermatch with Chris Eubank Jr, Ben was accused of failing two drugs tests and the fight was postponed. He's chosen to speak to me exclusively on the dramatic fight he now has to clear his name.
Starting point is 00:16:36 Connor, thank you for joining me. Why are you doing this interview? I feel like a lot of people have speculated no time to say what they want to say. And I've never been able to speak on it. The court of public opinion has been pretty savage about what's happened. I think it's because when the public hear anything about drugs in sport or cheating or anything like that, they immediately assume the worst. And most of the time they're right to assume that. Let's be honest about it.
Starting point is 00:17:09 You're in that horrible position for any sportsman where you failed two drug tests and you're trying to prove your innocence. But you've probably seen what social media has been saying. How has that impacted on you? I mean, it's been brutal. You know, it does feel like a witch hunt. I've never seen anything quite like this before in any other athlete, whether they've raised their hands to it
Starting point is 00:17:33 or, you know, they've just taken a small ban. You know, I was willing to fight for my innocence and prove my innocence, although there was an easy way out in the beginning in lying and saying, oh, I may have accidentally done this. I may have done this by accident. and taken a small six-month ban. Instead, I've chose to fight this
Starting point is 00:17:50 because my integrity made more to me, and I would never, ever, ever rose my hands to something I ain't done. Four months ago, you were preparing for one of the biggest fights of your life against Chris Eubank, Jr. Everyone was waiting for this, huge anticipation. We all remembered what happened when the two fathers fought. I remember it very well, know your dad well, and Chris Eubank, senior.
Starting point is 00:18:13 And then your world falls apart. What is that moment like for you when you heard about the failed drug test? I didn't think anything of it, to be fair, when it was the first one. When they said they found an adverse finding, I didn't really think anything of it. Really?
Starting point is 00:18:27 No, not at all. Isn't that every sportsman's a nightmare? No, because I thought they may have been an error. I thought, let's run another test straight away. Let's do, you know, I know I've never even heard of this thing before. This is the first time I heard of this thing. The drug, which is chlamophene, which can boost testosterone levels about to 50%. I'm 26.
Starting point is 00:18:45 And reduced body fat. Yeah, I'm the same what it is. Yes, I'm 26. When people are saying, I may have needed a testosterone boost, so I'm 26 years old. I didn't even know what this thing was at the time. So for me, I thought, okay, you know,
Starting point is 00:18:57 it may have been, you know, an error or an accident somewhere along, we can find out what's happened. And then when it was when I found out, you know, there had been a second adverse finding was when I was like, okay, something's actually wrong. There's something wrong here. And...
Starting point is 00:19:12 What are you feeling in so? yourself at that point? Who's done this to me? I generally looked around and I thought it was the hardest part of this whole period of everything I've been through this was the hard part was because I was looking around and thinking okay I am actively taking it it's actively in something or something's happened it's definitely there and these were the thoughts that were going on through my head who's done this do you accept this was in your body I don't accept it was in my not at all based on independent scientists looking at the reports based on my own scientists looking at the reports and what we found people say you may have paid
Starting point is 00:19:54 for the best legal team damn right I pay for the best legal team down right I pay for the best scientists my career's on the line my image is on the line my name is on the line and I can't be known for this and it was a more so me employing the best people to find out what had actually happened what do you think of people who cheats in sport? It should be bound for life, especially in context. It should be bound for life. Yeah, ban for life. You know, there's no room for it. There's been a fighter today who's just had a brain hemorrhage. There's no room for it. I know firsthand the damage it does from my dad with Joe McClennon from Michael Watson.
Starting point is 00:20:29 I was there at the ring side of that fight. I mean, both men got sick in the hospital. Both nearly died. And you think I do it, and people think I do this. It's hard for me because it's like I turn pro bonnet and mine's with the public guy. They've seen our whole. hard I work over the years. They've seen the three in the morning runs. They've seen the nutrition. They've seen the work I've put with my coaches. You know everyone can vouch for how hard I work, but
Starting point is 00:20:50 that's not good enough. Normally I would say the vast majority of times the sportsman test positive for drugs. They always say I didn't do it, invariably. And then almost always it is proven that they did. You're in the strange position
Starting point is 00:21:06 of, you're in a kind of mid position right now. Because the WBC have come back and they have said that they think there may have been reasons why you had this in your body. But they have made a presumption it was in your body. You don't even accept that.
Starting point is 00:21:26 I don't accept that. When they say you may have taken... And he got a lot of attention to this and some mockery. But when they said it may have been a highly elevated consumption of eggs could have created this positive testing. You don't even... I don't accept that. No. The WBC while I was on the, me and my team were on a phone to them on a Zoom call. They had come out and said that they are one of their scientists are currently dealing with two cyclists who have tested positive for clomophoninin traces and they can prove this in the embryos and the eggs. I'm not willing to accept it because the 270 page report that I sent over to them, well my team sent over to them had nothing to do with eggs. It had everything to do with my test testing negative three times and nine days later testing positive.
Starting point is 00:22:10 They didn't conclude they found anything wrong with the testing. What they did say, they said there was no conclusive evidence that Mr. Ben engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of clomathy. I don't believe it was there in the first place. You've got to remember, I don't even know what this thing is. Coincidentally, for my first VADA test, coincidentally for the biggest fight of my career, there's a substance in my body that I haven't even heard of.
Starting point is 00:22:34 The reality is this particular drug, which is becoming more prevalent in sport, and no one's quite sure why, but it can, as I said, boost testosterone levels by 50%. It can reduce body fat. So it clearly would have tangible benefits on an athlete. I mean, it would.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Whoever the athlete is, it would help. If someone was doing it deliberately, it would help. Well, definitely, but what the WBC is saying is even the peak of it in my system is still only a trace. Why don't you give this dossier 270 pages of it? Why don't you give it to the British Boxing Board
Starting point is 00:23:09 of control because they're ultimately the ones that can sanction or not sanction your right to fight in this country. My dad tore up his British boxing license on TV in the 80s. You know, the border don't, that ain't going to stop me from fighting. They can't stop me from fighting. Look, it's not having a professional fight in this country. In this country, and that's fine, so it be it.
Starting point is 00:23:25 They filed seven misconduct charges against me. One of them was they wanted, because we wanted the fight to go ahead. The second one was because we didn't tell Eubank immediately. On the Monday they said, we're upholding all charges. I thought you lock and do one. You think I'm going to sit here and take this.
Starting point is 00:23:41 But if you have, what they've said is, we'll show us the evidence. But I couldn't care of this. You've got 270 pages of apparent evidence. Surely the smart thing to do, whatever your views of the border control, they are the governing body. Surely you should just give them your evidence. Let them respond. That's down to my legal team.
Starting point is 00:23:59 But what would stop you? I don't understand what stops you. My pride, the way they've dealt with this. The way won't get you through this. But I don't have to be licensed by the board. That's my views on it. You need to fight in Britain. I don't plan on fighting Britain any time soon.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Just put it all on the internet. I want to. I want to. Trust me. What's stopping you? The ongoing legal cases. That's the only reason. This is your career, your livelihood.
Starting point is 00:24:23 This is everything at stake here. Isn't it? I agree. Everything's on the light. I agree. And this is what I keep trying to tell my lawyer, but you can't do this. You can't do that.
Starting point is 00:24:32 Mate, this would have been public. I've known what I've known since December. And I've kept quiet. Everyone firing. Everyone attacking me. Everyone. and I've known what I've known since December and I'm sitting here again
Starting point is 00:24:42 going, well, why can't we just release the information? Why can't the public just know what's actually gone on? Because the public, you know, from what I just looked at it today in social media, it's savage. They've convicted you. They think you're guilty. And I'm going to have to deal with that, I think.
Starting point is 00:24:57 How are you going to deal with that? There will be... Because any of her, your promoter says, look, it's time you've got to move on, and I'm going to progress. What do you think when he says that? Well, I don't think the public are made up them already. Irrelevant of what's presented, relevant of what the board say, I've got strong DNA
Starting point is 00:25:12 and I'm one hell of a fire naturally. I work hard, I've made loads of sacrifices and I'm willing to do what other people aren't willing to do. And that's why I'm where I am, not because of cheating. If you feel this passionately about it, I can sense it, I can sense you're emotional about this, to be branded a cheat in the court of public opinion. What does that done to you? Yes, it's, um, it's, um, yeah, it's hurt me. Yeah, it's been, yeah, it's hermit, it says. How badly? I didn't think I was going to make it through this period.
Starting point is 00:25:50 I didn't think I didn't think I was going to make it through. You know, it was shame for saying I ain't even done. You know, it's hard because it was like I felt like I was on death run for something I ain't even done. You know, if I had done something wrong, you know, I'm human. You know, I'll raise my hands to it. I made a mistake. Whatever it is, my personal life.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Whatever is I raised my hands. never this and you know I felt like seven years of hard work and sacrifice and leaving my family and the image I maintained was just you know ruined at somebody else's incompetence you know it was yeah it's been hard for the family when you say didn't think you make it what do you mean I didn't think I would um I didn't think I was taking day by day I didn't think I'd see another day you were feeling suicide yeah I'd say so yeah and it upsets me now because because I don't know how I got so bad. I got in a really bad way, but you got to remember
Starting point is 00:26:47 if you think I'm innocent or if you don't think I'm innocent, I am innocent. Let me be clear. I don't know, right? This is the first time we've met. I know your father from old. I've watched you from afar. I've admired your work in a boxing ring.
Starting point is 00:27:04 I don't know if you're innocent. I would never do this to my family. I would never do this to my supporters. You think I'd do this to my dad? You think I'd do this to my son Who's now got to grow up and look at Well look at this You think it's not who I am
Starting point is 00:27:20 Cheat or victim We're coming up more revelations from Connor Ben And his boxing legend of father Nigel Also joins us for a bold intervention Welcome back now to the final part of my exclusive interview with Connor Ben He's just revealed that he was a feeling suicidal After failing two drugs tests
Starting point is 00:27:48 Which made him a target of savage online abuse So I asked him about that abuse and just how bad it got. I don't, I don't, I've, there's been, there's been too many, you know. What kind of thing? Kill yourself. People have told you to kill yourself. People said, yeah, kill yourself.
Starting point is 00:28:09 Racist comments to my son, my family. On social media? Yeah, yeah. Anything in person? Nothing in person, no, no. Nothing in person. You know, it's cowardly. cowardly. I don't even think it's social media that bothers me.
Starting point is 00:28:24 It was more so the shame I felt leaving the house, although I had done nothing wrong. I was having night terrors, panic attacks, you know. And I don't throw these words out of mental health. I was really struggling. I was in a really bad way, you know, and I was coping terribly with it. I was coping in a really bad way of it. How are you now about it?
Starting point is 00:28:46 It's still hard for me, because it's... it's because I still can't believe I'm in a situation. You know, I still can't believe how much the public want me to be guilty. It's all boxing pundits. You're telling me I'm guilty. Boxing pundits telling me I'm guilty. They know me, they know my family. You know what I stand for.
Starting point is 00:29:02 You know who I am. Why are you trying to label me a cheat? You're not suing the labs, right? Well, there is that tool. You think I've worked manufacturing, manipulating and concealing evidence. I've got an independent scientist's a local report, and that's what we've seen. The best slats, manipulation, manufacturing and concealed evidence.
Starting point is 00:29:21 But that wasn't verified by the WBC. What the WBC going to come out and say? That's what I mean. You've got to go to the governing body that can actually look at this properly. Do I want... It's hard because I want this to be done. I want us to be finished and I want to resume with my career. Should I just sit back and accept the fact that they...
Starting point is 00:29:36 Are you going to sue the board? No, of course. I'll be suing the board. When? When it will be suing them now? My legal team will be in touch. Would you mean when? You know, as soon as soon as...
Starting point is 00:29:47 For how much money, do you know? for the full loss of earnings, damaged reputation. How much is that? Because the board shouldn't recognise VADA. Let me ask you this. Let's assume for a moment your theory is right. It's a theory. It's not proven scientifically yet
Starting point is 00:30:02 and hasn't been ratified by any governing body. But if your theory is right, it was contaminated. It would prompt the question, well, why? Who would want to do that? It would be in the... The only way it would be contamination if it would be... In whose interest is it to ruin this great fight? I'm not saying it was deliberate.
Starting point is 00:30:18 in the lab, I'm not saying it was deliberate. You know, it may be an error in the testing. I'm not saying deliberately. I'm not saying that anyone's in the lab's deliberately done this. I'm not saying that at all, but it may be an accident, it may be an error. There are millions and millions of pounds at stake in dollars, wherever you...
Starting point is 00:30:34 Does this all sound... From what I've said about the testing, manipulation, manufacturing, casino evidence, from what I'm saying to you, does that sound... Does that sound... Listen, you sound like you have a welter of information, but I cannot for the life of me understand why you wouldn't, give it to the governing body.
Starting point is 00:30:51 It's down to them whether you fight in this country again. So I don't understand that. That to me makes no sense. Because I can get a license elsewhere. What does Eddie, I mean, a lot of time, Brady Hearned, I think he's a brilliant promotion. He cares about his fighters. He wants you to try and move on from this.
Starting point is 00:31:07 That's his advice, right? What have you said to him about that? I just said only the biggest fight possible, the hardest fight. So that when I beat that person, in devastating fashion, there's no questions. as to my whole career. There's no questions.
Starting point is 00:31:21 That's what I want to do. I can't come back. I don't need no warm up. I don't need no easy fight. I don't need a warm up to get back into it. I'm 26 years old. Give me the best name. Give me the biggest name.
Starting point is 00:31:32 Have you been training properly? Of course I have. I've tried throughout this whole period. Is you hard to train properly when you're in this mental state? Now is fine. I struggled. There was probably about two months where I was,
Starting point is 00:31:42 in a really bad way. Did you talk to your dad about it? I did, but my dad was in a bad way as well. Why? Over this? Over this, yeah. Yeah, my dad was in a bad way. I was sobbing most nights. I didn't want to go to sleep because if I knew what I had to wake up to, you got me when this is a nightmare for me.
Starting point is 00:32:04 How has this happened? How have I got in this situation? My faith let me down. You feel that? Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah. Let me bring in your dad. He's been listening to this. He's over in Sydney. Nigel, I've not talked to you for a long time. We used to have a few dinners together.
Starting point is 00:32:20 It's good to see you. I've got three sons all in their 20s, actually, one of whom is Conner's age. And I can't imagine many tougher things for a father to have to deal with than listening to your son talking in such a profoundly emotional and upsetting way about feeling suicidal in the last few weeks and months since all this went down.
Starting point is 00:32:44 How does that, first of all, make you feel as a father to hear this? I'll tell you what, Pierce, I was actually in the same position as my son. I was really struggling as well for myself. I don't really drink. Every night, I was drinking like half a bottle and wine a night on medication. And, yeah, we both were in a dark, dark place because to me, it looks for a. like, this is a witch hunt. It's like we're going back to the 80s, she's a witchy, the witchy, the witchy, the witch, burner, burner.
Starting point is 00:33:26 And it's like, yeah, burner, burn her. Hold on a minute, that's my son. And one thing is, peers, if I ever thought my son was guilty or really thick, mate, I'd say, son, I love you, but you know what? You've got to deal with this on your own, mate, I'd hang him out to dry. But I was actually in this training camp with him, I was training with him. I would say on that that there are lots of benefits to being the son or somebody famous. I've had this conversation with my sons.
Starting point is 00:33:53 But there are also disadvantages. Connor will get an irrational amount of attention because he's your son. I don't understand why if there's this compelling dossier of 270 pages of material, why not make that public and why not give it to the British boxing board? Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:13 Listen, I agree with you, Piers. but the same way I feel that they're deep in McConnell and not these other fighters is the same way they dealt with me. Listen, Nigel, I understand your passion, I understand Conner's passion, but I also think if you've gone to all this trouble to draw up this massive dossier of evidence,
Starting point is 00:34:35 and the British boxing board is asking for it, I don't understand how it can be anything but bad for your case if you don't hand it over. I mean, at very least, call their bluff. Say, right, here you are. Get them to respond to it. I don't know why, if I was in your position, that's what I would do. You're like your father.
Starting point is 00:34:54 You are your own man, right? You are. And if you wanted to, you could put this out there tonight. Yeah. I still don't think that proves minuscence at all. I've just been cleared by the organisation, the test in which I failed. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to counter that agenda by making public this dossier.
Starting point is 00:35:12 Because I don't know what it is they got in for me. I don't know what, I don't know what, I don't know what, what vendetta is. You know, but it's like saying you're accused of killing someone. Okay, but I've been proven innocent by the authorities that run that test. I wouldn't say you've been proven innocent. They just couldn't produce.
Starting point is 00:35:27 Just give me the clear. They've said you're... They said there was no conclusive evidence. Just to be clear exactly what they said, right? It's not an absolutely unequivocal, you're definitely innocent, but it's certainly not unhelpful. I've seen sportsmen come back from this
Starting point is 00:35:39 when they've gone through the process. Nigel. Yeah, I do agree with you. I don't know what the legal side of it, but yeah, I, me personally, and I love my son, you know, and I know for the fact that he's an innocent man. Nigel, again, speaking as a father now, Connor talked very movingly about, you know,
Starting point is 00:36:03 sobbing every night while talking to you. You're in Australia, the other part of the world. You know, the time zones, you're drinking, you're feeling terrible too. Those conversations must be some of the most painful you've ever had in your life, right? What did you say to Connor in those conversations to try and stop him from, as he put it, you know, considering taking his life? I'll be honest with you, Piv, it was like, I come home here because I was with Conner for five months.
Starting point is 00:36:37 I wasn't here. I was in England with him. So while he was going through this period, like I was there with him, my state. I'd stay until January and then after my mum died. So I had so much pressure on me. And I was just a mess. And so I was an actually really good thought kind of because actually I was trying to directly strong.
Starting point is 00:37:04 But there again, it was like while he was out, you know, he was dealing with his own issues. I would have tried to deal with mine. And we struggled and we struggled. We both got through it again. Thank God. Nigel, I've got to wrap it, unfortunately. What I'm going to say to, Connor, is I feel that you're in a lot of pain about this. That's clear.
Starting point is 00:37:25 And I'm extremely sorry you've been going through what you've been going through because nobody should ever feel that way. And it's awful. And the court of public opinion on social media could be particularly brutal. I've experienced myself. It's a very, very unpleasant thing. But I also think you can turn that around. But ultimately, this may be down to you
Starting point is 00:37:45 deciding what you want to do with your life and your future and your career. I mean, what is the dream for you out of this hell? Just cut back fighting. The fighting's the easy part. This has been the hardest part I've ever had to face. The fighting's the easy part. That's the only I'm born fighting.
Starting point is 00:38:02 It's in my blood. Well, Connor, I wish you well in pursuing this. I'm not going to make a judgment until it's all concluded. You know, the facts are what they are as we know them. but the facts can develop. If there is genuinely new information which exonerates you, my advice is get it out there.
Starting point is 00:38:20 Thank you. So thank you very much. And Nigel, I appreciate you joining me from Australia. It's very early over there. And I thank you also for your candor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Until I can get that finger off his top lip. Well, that is a problem, I agree.
Starting point is 00:38:35 Yeah. Some things fathers can't just get the sons to do. All my sons have weird facial hair. It's got to stop. I agree. Good to talk to you, Nigel. It's been a while, and I appreciate you joining me. Well, next tonight, lock up your Disney princesses, the so-called dreaded sensitivity readers. They're coming for them. We'll discuss that after the break.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Welcome back. Join me. I'll talk to you contribute to Esther Cracker, associate with The Daily Mirror, Kevin McGuire. So, a sort of extraordinary interview with Connor Ben there, because I don't know whether he's telling me the truth or not. How can I know? Only he really knows. He's failed these two drug tests. And he's pleading with us to think he's not that kind of guy. The problem I have with these sort of interviews, Kevin, is that, I mean, pretty much Everly sporting cheat, that's the kind of thing they say when they get caught. Yeah, Lance Armstrong, Ben Johnson back in the day. Shane Warren, actually, who did rebuild his career.
Starting point is 00:39:43 See, I think fail one, fail two. Sorry, it's becoming a coincidence here. But if you have evidence, you've got to publish that evidence. Well, that's the bit I don't get, it's like he kept telling me. I've got all the evidence. I've got this dossiers. Give it to the governing body. Or at the very least publish it.
Starting point is 00:40:02 Let the media see it, right? And then they can decide. I mean, he's reacting very emotionally, clearly, because obviously this is his career on hold it at the peak of his career, at 26. And I understand that. But, you know, there was a lot of kind of blaming not himself. And I just think you are very talented, very elite sportsmen.
Starting point is 00:40:19 You are surrounded by an elite team. You could say that, oh, someone gave me a pill and I didn't know what it was. will qualify, so I just took it. But at the end of the day, I'm assuming that might be in the dossier or if he has evidence... Well, what is bizarre is the World Boxing Council,
Starting point is 00:40:32 the WBC, they issued this report saying, look, they can't prove that he deliberately ingested this thing, but they did say they believed it was in his body. He doesn't even accept that. They even gave him a get-out. They said, look, it could be too many eggs. He got... This got ridiculed.
Starting point is 00:40:47 But there was a WBC offering him a kind of alibi for why this might be in his body, which he has just completely rejected. Now, either that is the response of a lunatic. In other words, you're being given to get out here, or it's the response to somebody who genuinely believes he's been aggrieved it. Or he's been badly advised. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:07 Maybe that's the third option. Don't know that, but it could be. Because they were bending over backwards, to be fair. Yeah, they were. And he thinks he's the victim of a conspiracy theory. He thinks someone is conspiring against him at the peak of his career. And I'm like, okay, fine, but you have the evidence that you're clean. I don't think he's got any chance of clearing his name.
Starting point is 00:41:24 hands that dossier to the police control and publishes it simultaneously. Well, I would do. It's Chris Eubank Jr. I really feel, sorry for. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he lost the fight. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. Let's turn to, well, first of all, sensitivity readers,
Starting point is 00:41:41 raising their ugly heads once. I don't know who these people are, but you just know they're ugly. Right, first they came for Roll Dahl, then they came for James Bond. Now they're coming for fairy tales, which apparently are too offensive, and need to be changed. Well, Lady Bird books are said to be examining tales like Cinderella and Snow White. So Cinderella won't be assuming the prince uses he or him pronouns. It could be non-binary, handsome prince and beautiful princess.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Well, they're out too because that could make young readers think that all that matters in life is being attractive, God forbid. And don't you dare have old ugly villains because that's agist. So you can't be beautiful, you can't be ugly, you can't be a villain, you can't be, you know, already be fat, you can only be enormous. This is all ridiculous, isn't it? I mean, I am deeply offended because this is Disney and I love Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and all of these stories growing up. I just think, what is the point? Why are you rewriting an author's vision?
Starting point is 00:42:44 Because it goes far, you can disagree with the ideology, you can disagree with calling a princess beautiful. But who is offended by this? But you don't get to rewrite it. As to who is offended? Who are these people? Who are these absolute cretons out there? Who think, you know, the thing about Cinderella is it's offensive. Shut up, go away, go back under the crawl you came out of,
Starting point is 00:43:05 and sensitivity readers, they should all be banned, fired, sent away. Hang on, hang on. You wouldn't say Agatha Christie's and then there were non, would go back to its old title of 10 little and then use the N-word, would you? So you accept the principle There is a line that is crossed So I'll accept that There is a line
Starting point is 00:43:27 Because I don't think it should be completely Everything should be published The way it used to be If for example it has the end word and a title I get that right Although some people don't Some people think you should just stick rigidly to how they originally publish it
Starting point is 00:43:40 But I can accept there might be very very few exceptions But when you start getting into Whether a prince might be non-binary This is complete nonsense It is. Even you. Even you are well-groomed old woke. Even me, and I kind of think books should, by a large, stand as they were written. But I read books to my grandkids, and they're bought by their parents,
Starting point is 00:44:06 my daughter and a husband. And they're very different to the books we read to our kids than I read to my daughter. And I can see, perhaps people aren't buying them anymore. Perhaps if you're ladybird, you've got repealed to a new market. So it's a commercial pressure. Because this market is a tiny market of people. Honestly, who do you meet in real world who thinks this way? I don't meet these people.
Starting point is 00:44:28 I mean, I think, to be honest, there is a part of the thing. I go out of the street. Are you a woke imbecile? Where are you? Are you feeling oversensitive today? Does a lady bird book upset you? I think they're trolling us. I think the point where they talk about the prince being non-binary.
Starting point is 00:44:44 I think they're trolling us. To an extent. Ridiculous. We're talking to trolling us. So in the telegraph lockdown files, which are endlessly sort of riveting and entertaining in equal measure, and horrifying, of course. He emerges exactly how I thought he was, which is basically all about Matt Hancock. And we actually, we saw one message today in the coverage where he's talking about the vaccine rollout, desire for a turbo boost for it. I called for this two months ago, he messages on WhatsApp to his team.
Starting point is 00:45:14 This is a Hancock triumph. He's talking about himself. I mean, what is he doing here? I mean, these theories that Alok Sharma might go on TV, which, given how appalling, Alok Sharma was on TV, I don't blame him for being furious. Apparently, I'm not in the commons. I should do a clip.
Starting point is 00:45:31 I should definitely do the rounds tomorrow. It must not be Alok, because Alok might get some credit. It's pathetic. I mean, he has no self-awareness. I think that, I mean, we were able to establish that. But this just shows the extent of his narcissism, because he actually felt like he was a victim of, you know, a privacy breach because he was caught heavy petting,
Starting point is 00:45:52 a lady he was cheating on his wife with. And then he got, these messages were released and he thinks he's part of a conspiracy to, you know, breach his privacy. And now he believes that he should get credit for everything. As if he's some sort of min-dictator. Well, the one thing, Kevin, which emerges from this, is a sort of conclusion is nothing constitutes a Hancock triumph.
Starting point is 00:46:11 No, no. I mean, he's the man who put the cock into Hancock as health secretary. And I think he just shows himself to be thin-skinned, incompetent, chaotic, and attention-seeking, because he wants attention, but his triumphs, when they don't exist. And none of that would have really mattered if he hadn't been health secretary at the time of COVID and the pandemic. And people weren't dying in large numbers. Yeah, in care homes and elsewhere. You're in a carehomes.
Starting point is 00:46:37 The words Hancock triumph are not being used. No, his protective ring was not a protective ring at all. Guys, got to leave it there. Thank you very much indeed. Enjoyed seeing you. That's it for me. are up to keep it uncensored. Good night.

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