Madeleine McCann case is white privilege as a black girl wouldn't have got as much attention: Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan has never been one to shy away from expressing his opinion and recently suggested that Madeleine McCann's disappearance would not have received as much media and public attention if she were a black girl. Madeleine's case was back in the spotlight on Wednesday, June 3, after the authorities confirmed that a man who is currently behind bars for sex crimes had been arrested and charged in Germany over suspicion that he was involved in the three-year-old's disappearance.
The young girl had gone missing on the evening of May 3, 2007, from her bed in a holiday apartment at a resort in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve region of Portugal, and has not been seen since. The case caught the attention of media internationally and has come to be described as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history."
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported that detectives investigating Madeleine's disappearance had found key pieces of evidence in the form of a mysterious phone call that could lead them to unlock the 13-year-old case. They are said to be looking into a 30-minute phone call that the German suspect, now 43, made just one hour before the three-year-old was snatched from her bed, with German authorities reportedly confident they have "almost enough evidence" he is responsible for her disappearance.
The man is suspected to have been in and around Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast around the time Madeleine went missing. Police have gone so far as to take the "really unusual" step of releasing two numbers -- the first number (+351) 912 730 680 was reportedly used by the suspect who received a call from (+351) 916 510 683 while in the Praia da Luz area -- that they believe could help them crack open the case.
Speaking on 'Good Morning Britain' during a discussion about how white people can check their privilege, Morgan questioned whether the authorities and the press would have been so invested if it had been a black child. "The blanket coverage today of this Madeleine McCann development in all the papers, some papers doing 10 pages before they get to any reference of the Hyde Park protests yesterday for example," he said, referring to the Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality and racial inequality which took place in London.
"It seemed to me as an example of unwitting subliminal decision-making," he continued. "I do not think that decision would have been taken if Madeleine McCann had been a black girl. I don’t think it would have galvanized the same attention or attracted the same media attention in such a huge amount so many years after her disappearance."
"That’s the kind of thing, if I was black, I would look at that and go, 'Why is it one rule for white girls that go missing and another for black girls who do go missing and don't get this attention?'"
Morgan's comments came in the heels of massive nationwide protests across the U.S. over the death of George Floyd, and which has lobbed many racial questions in the air including that of white privilege. The disturbing nature of Floyd's death -- he called out for his mom and pleaded he could not breathe as he was knelt on by a cop -- has also seen protests breakout in 18 countries worldwide.