Piers Morgan responded to criticism of his comments on Simone Biles’ withdrawal from Olympic events by calling his ‘Good Morning Britain’ exit ‘gutless and cowardly’

• Piers Morgan criticized Simone Biles' withdrawal from Olympic events on Twitter and in an op-ed for the Daily Mail.
• He said his own exit from "Good Morning Britain" in March was "gutless and cowardly" in his piece.
• Morgan has critiqued multiple Olympians in recent months.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Piers Morgan is reflecting on his dramatic exit from "Good Morning Britain" after he faced a wave of backlash for criticizing Simone Biles' withdrawal from Olympic events.

On Wednesday, Morgan published an op-ed for the Daily Mail titled, "Sorry Simone Biles, but there's nothing heroic or brave about quitting because you're not having 'fun' – you let down your team-mates, your fans and your country."

Mental health concerns led Biles to withdraw from the team gymnastics finals on Tuesday after a shaky vault performance, and she later withdrew from the individual all-around finals on Wednesday after a stressful day leading up to the competition. The US Women's Gymnastics team went on to win silver in the team finals.

In his piece, Morgan condemned Biles' decision to withdraw from the Olympic events and disregarded her mental health concerns. "I preferred the old Simone that would do whatever it took to win," he wrote.

Morgan first criticized Biles' withdrawal on Twitter on Tuesday, writing: "Are 'mental health issues' now the go-to excuse for any poor performance in elite sport? What a joke."

-Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 27, 2021

Twitter users called Morgan's comments hypocritical because of his March exit from "Good Morning Britain."

The former co-host stormed out of a live taping of the ITV show after one of his colleagues accused him of continuing to "trash" Markle despite her revealing that she developed suicidal thoughts while she was a senior member of the royal family.

In his piece for the Daily Mail, Morgan said he was wrong to walk out of the show.

"Oddly, they didn't think me quitting was as brave, heroic and inspiring as Ms Biles quitting," he wrote. "But here's the thing: they were right, and I was wrong. It was gutless and cowardly of me to walk off."

"If you're going to dish it out, then you've got to take the heat when it flies back at you, which is why I went back and finished the discussion with my co-worker," Morgan said.

Although Morgan did finish the conversation with his colleague, he quit "Good Morning Britain" the day after the incident after ITV received over 41,000 complaints because of his remarks.

And in June, Morgan said he was surprised people wanted him to apologize for his comments about the duchess.

Morgan shared a photo of himself with Biles on Instagram after his Daily Mail piece was published on Wednesday, appearing to reframe his harsh critique of the athlete into words of encouragement.

"You're a great champion @simonebiles (as I had reaffirmed when we met 2yrs ago) and great champions don't quit - they get back on their feet when they get knocked down," he captioned the image. "So, re-engage in these Olympic Games, win Gold, & inspire with the power of resilience not resignation. Go for it."

Biles is not the only Olympic athlete Morgan has criticized in recent months.

He called Naomi Osaka an "arrogant spoiled brat" for refusing to do media interviews in June, and a slew of Olympians called out the former TV host for saying silver and bronze medals weren't worth celebrating on Tuesday.

Representatives for Morgan did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.