Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid clash over gender-neutral Brit Awards reports

Rumours that the Brit Awards could scrap gender categories in the wake of Sam Smith coming out as non-binary has kicked off an almighty row between Good Morning Britain co-hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.

The colleagues are never afraid to clash on air over their opinions on the issues of the day, and as Morgan let rip about the awards shake-up, he locked horns with Reid.

Read more: Sam Smith asks to be referred to as “them/they”

Over the weekend, it was reported that the Brits were considering scrapping male and female artists awards to accommodate non-binary performers, although organisers have since denied the change is imminent.

They said: "We can 100% confirm that there will be male and female awards in the UK and international categories in February 2020.”

However, the subject provoked a passionate debate on Monday’s GMB as Morgan blasted the awards organisers for what he felt was a sweeping change for one singer.

Morgan ranted: "We change everything for one guy, that's what it boils down to. One guy who can't decide from one day to the next if he's male or female. So all gendered awards have to go."

But as Reid argued that many awards aren’t divided into gender categories and that she didn’t think it would change things across the board of ceremonies, Morgan turned his anger onto his co-star.

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He demanded: “Do you like it? Serious question, do you think that's a good idea? Get off the fence, say what you really think."

But Reid hit back: "Your TV Times award is a non-gendered award. So are you going to get up in arms about that? Do you want to win Best Male Presenter? You should equally campaign about that."

She added: "You're taking it to an extension which is not going to happen.

"Just because one person has decided to do that doesn't mean the whole world is going to. We're not changing everything, one award ceremony has decided to."

Morgan also argued: “I'll tell you what will happen, it'll be like women's sport decimating.

"I suspect what will happen is male performers will end up winning all of the awards than the women. The whole point of having the gender categories is to make it fair and equal, now we're going the other way and that apparently is progress. I think it's a load of nonsense."

Although Brits organisers have not suggested any future review of categories would be prompted by a particular artist, Morgan was linking the story to Smith’s recent announcement of identifying as non-binary, using the pronouns they/them.

Smith’s Instagram statement last week said: “After a lifetime of being at war with my gender, I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out.

“I’m so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision but I’ve been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think but f**k it!”

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If the Brits does scrap gender categories, it would not be the first awards ceremony to do so - in 2017 the MTV Movie Awards and MTV Music Awards went with best movie performance and best artist titles, rather than splitting them into male and female.

The Grammys also have overall artist award categories rather than splitting them by gender.