Piers Morgan rips into Melbourne International Comedy Festival for ‘uncancelling’ Barry Humphries

Piers Morgan has canceled the Melbourne International Comedy Festival because he “didn’t cancel” legendary comedian Barry Humphries after his death at the age of 89 on Saturday.

The popular festival announced on Monday that it was exploring ways to pay the late comedian a “appropriate tribute,” despite previously distancing itself from Humphries over comments he made about transgender people in 2018.

The entertainer had described transgender operations as “self-mutilation” and referred to transgender as “a fashion.”

Morgan, whose war against “wokeness” has been well documented, has since expressed anger at the festival’s apparent decline, calling the organizers “assholeless cowards” in a scorching Tweet.

“You cowards canceled him because he stood up for women’s rights. You can’t undo the cancellation now that he’s dead,” the British media personality wrote.

Australian entertainment guru Peter Ford echoed this sentiment, responding to Morgan’s tweet by adding: “And to announce this 2 days after his death can only add to the grief of the family – who will likely be stunned and angry by the U-turn.’

Ford also labeled the organizers “incredible,” tweeting, “What a truly pathetic move. You should be ashamed.’

‘I really hope [Humphries’] family is asking you not to go through with this idea after the heartbreak you caused him,” he added.

Humphries died on Saturday at the age of 89 during the last weekend of the annual month-long festival.

While event organizers acknowledged his death in a statement, the MICF initially decided not to include an official tribute to the international star in the rest of its program.

This led to some people claiming that the festival had deliberately “disapproved” Humphries for his previous comments about transgender people.

But on Monday, the MICF told their social media followers that they had not sidelined the comedic genius behind Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson and were developing a “appropriate tribute” to him.

“The news of Barry Humphries passing in the final 24 hours of the 2023 festival was momentous,” they wrote.

“As of today, we regroup and begin planning a fitting tribute to his comedic genius and leadership in creating a global platform for Australian comedy.”

Meanwhile, festival director Susan Provan said they never “cancelled” on Humphries and continued to celebrate his brilliance.

“We have celebrated, and continue to celebrate, Barry, an incredible cartoonist who has taken Australian comedy worldwide. We greatly appreciate his contribution to the comedy festival,” she said in a statement.

The famed entertainer helped create the festival in 1987, which has become one of the world’s biggest comedy events.

But Humphries fell out with organizers after an uproar over comments he made five years ago that were seen as ‘anti-trans’ – with comedians such as Hannah Gadsby speaking out against Humphries on Twitter at the time.

Following his comments, Humphries’ name was removed from an award at the festival.