The final show of CNN's Piers Morgan Live aired on Friday, ending with the host giving a final plea for gun control in the United States.
"Now it's down to you," Morgan said. "It's your country; these are your gun laws. And the senseless slaughter will only end when enough Americans stand together and cry: Enough!"
While much of the final show focused on the missing Malaysia Airliner, Morgan spent his last few minutes focusing on guns in America — a topic he had often ranted against in the past. His viewpoint angered many Americans, most notably resulting in a White House petition to have the British-born anchor deported.
Morgan's ratings cratered in recent months and the show's planned end was announced back in February. While he believed his anti-gun stance was at least partially to blame, even Larry King's (who he took over for) ratings tanked toward the end of his tenure, The Guardian notes.
Here are his full remarks:
"I assumed that after 70 people were shot in a movie theater, and then, just a few months later, 20 first-graders were murdered with an assault rifle in an elementary school, the absurd gun laws in this country would change. But nothing has happened.
The gun lobby in America, led by the NRA, has bullied this nation's politicians into cowardly, supine silence. Even when 20 young children are blown away in their classrooms.This is a shameful situation that has made me very angry. So angry, in fact, that some people have criticized me for being too loud, opinionated, even rude when I have debated the issue of guns. But I make no apologies for that."
As Sir Winston Churchill said: 'If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.'
My point is simple: More guns doesn't mean less crime, as the NRA repeatedly says. It means more gun violence, death and profits for the gun manufacturers. And to those who claim my gun control campaigning has been "anti-American," the reverse is true. I am so pro-American that I want more of you to stay alive. But I've made my point. I've given it a tremendous whack. Now it's down to you. It's your country; these are your gun laws. And the senseless slaughter will only end when enough Americans stand together and cry: Enough!"
The show's time slot will be filled by Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, and others until a replacement is named, USA Today reports.
SEE ALSO: Chelsea Handler Rips Piers Morgan As 'Terrible Interviewer' On Live TV