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Piers Morgan Live Cancelled by CNN: “It’s Been a Painful Period,” He Says

Piers Morgan attends an event on August 15, 2013 in Beverly Hills

Piers Morgan is out of a job. Three years after the journalist and TV personality took over for Larry King with his own nightly primetime show, CNN has decided to cancel Piers Morgan Live, the New York Times confirmed late Sunday, Feb. 23. Highly opinionated and, well, British, Morgan, 48, struck many as an odd choice to headline an American news program, and the show struggled mightily in its ratings, losing to rivals Fox News and MSNBC.

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"It's been a painful period and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings," Morgan admitted to the Times' David Carr. The decision to cancel the show was ultimately made by CNN's president Jeff Zucker, who has slowly been remaking the news networking.

"Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it," Morgan admitted freely.

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Plans for a 9pm replacement are currently underway, and Morgan added that he'll still have a role at CNN — one which is still to be determined. "I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me."

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"I'm in danger of being the guy down at the end of the bar who is always going on about the same thing," continued the gun control advocate, admitting that many American midwesterners were likely upset about "this British guy telling them how to lead their lives and what they should do with their guns."

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