Alex Beresford quits social media over 'relentless' racist abuse following on-air clash with Piers Morgan

Alex Beresford has been "forced to step away" from social media after being subjected to "relentess" racist abuse online following his on-air clash with Piers Morgan.

At the start of March, the Good Morning Britain presenter challenged his colleague Piers about his rants over Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey, prompting Piers to storm off the set live on-air. That evening, it was announced that Piers had quit the show.

Writing for the Telegraph, Alex admitted he has been subjected to a torrent of abuse on social media ever since the clash.

"Three weeks ago I took part in a television debate about the decision of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to publicly reveal the racism they claimed to have suffered as members of the Royal Family, and the impact on their mental health," he wrote. "Since then I have been subjected to relentless racism myself on social media. I haven’t announced it.... but I have been forced to step away from Twitter and Facebook myself, because it was getting too much. I am a strong person, but I am not made of steel."

The presenter then went on to recall his experiences with racism growing up with a white mother and Black father and disputed the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities' report that there is no evidence of institutional racism in Britain.

"When I was a child the thought of a 'mixed race' princess in the British Royal Family was as far-fetched as that of a Black president of the United States. Both Meghan Markle and Barack Obama will go down in history for breaking barriers in elite institutions, but you only need to visit the comments section beneath online articles on either of them to see we’ve not necessarily progressed as far as you’d hope," he continued.

Alex explained that the problems Meghan and Harry discussed in their interview - from her having suicidal thoughts and them being asked what colour their son's skin might be - "felt so personal" to him.

He acknowledged that conversations about racism can be difficult but they are necessary "in order to move on the conversation" and he believes social media can help.

"I see hope in younger people who in general feel much more comfortable talking about issues of racism, whereas older generations are less accepting even though it was clearly more prevalent in their day," he shared. "Social media has clearly had an impact on our ability to engage in open discourse and listen to opposing views."