PIERS Morgan is taking time off Good Morning Britain "to lie under a palm tree" as the row over whether he should be sacked grows.
The presenter, 54, has faced calls to be fired from the ITV breakfast show – which he co-hosts with Susanna Reid from Monday to Wednesday – after an on-air rant about gender last month.
As the argument rages on, Piers responded to a tweet claiming he was "taken off air" saying he has taken himself off – to go on holiday.
The former newspaper editor said: "When you say 'taken off air', I think you mean 'has taken himself off air to go lie under a palm tree in Beverly Hills.'"
The star often goes on holiday to Los Angeles and also never works on Thursdays and Fridays.
The row started when Piers said he identified as a "penguin" in response to BBC films being used in schools to teach children there are "100 genders or more".
It continued when a furious viewer set up a Change.org petition demanding he be fired for his "dangerous and dehumanising" views towards transgender people, which currently has 23,000 signatures.
Meanwhile, a counter petition to keep him on the show for "his common sense approach to life" is at nearly 50,000.
Yet it seemed Twitter turned against Piers on an online poll set up by the official Good Morning Britain account, which asked whether he should be fired.
Almost half a million people voted, with 60% of the 482,270 fans opting to get rid of him.
But Piers bragged the poll results actually helped his career by bagging him a pay raise.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning, he said: "The poll was 80% in my favour after the day we ran it and then these weird people in Los Angeles, very, very demented, hysterical people, got hold of the poll and they've now turned it into a 60/40 split against me.
"Here's the thing, I think they genuinely think they're going to get rid of me and that's what makes this more the funnier.
"You're not going to get rid of me."
Susanna Reid asked: "How do they get rid of you?"
Then Piers replied: "I don't think this has been worked through.
"They think that making me trend worldwide for two days, ie making me the moist talked-about breakfast presenter in the world, that is the way to get rid of me.
"Let me tell you what you've done, you've helped me get a pay rise, so cheers. Cheers everybody."
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