After the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, there has been a national debate about American gun policy. Piers Morgan, host of Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, has been at the center of the debate as well as an outspoken critic of American gun policy. Morgan has been so outspoken that pro-gun groups have drafted a petition calling for his deportation back to the UK.
On Monday night, Morgan invited one of the authors of the petition on his show, gun advocate and conservative radio talk show host Alex Jones. The interview was explosive, ranging from gun murder stats, to Stalinist and Mao policies, to 9/11 conspiracies. It spread across social media quickly, inspiring dozens of responses from conservatives and liberals alike. The first part of the interview is below. You can watch part two here.
Soon after the interview aired on CNN Monday night it was uploaded to YouTube. Since then, online audiences have watched it over 4 million times. They've also uploaded over 65 clips related to the interview, many of them snippets or complete copies of the interview. And these numbers are climbing fast -- the view count for the interview has more than tripled since yesterday.
To give the interview's online viewership some context, we've compared it to recent events related to the gun policy debate: the NRA's press conference responding to the Newtown shooting and President Obama's tearful press conference in the wake of the Newtown tragedy.
The NRA's controversial press conference has generated a total 275,000 views from over 40 clips on the web. Obama's Newton speech, by comparison, has been viewed over 9 million times since December 14th. There are over 90 clips related to Obama's speech.
While Obama's press conference currently has more than double the views of the Jones / Morgan interview, that gap will likely close over the next few days. At its current rate, the interview will top Obama's tearful press conference by Friday.
Are you surprised that the interview has been watched so many times online? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below!
