Piers Morgan has hit back at the campaign to have him taken off of Good Morning Britain following complaints of his “dehumanising dismissal” of transgender people and those who identify outside of the gender binary.

On Friday, a petition directed toward ITV's Chief Executive, Dame Carolyn McCall was launched calling for Morgan to be removed from the programme which he has presented since 2015.

The creator of the online petition, a musician known as Kennedy, said ITV was "actively choosing to promote an insidious agenda against transgender people" by keeping Morgan in their employ as he "regularly berates and mocks those who do not identify in a way he is willing to comprehend".

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However, viewer Margaret Lowry started a rival petition entitled "Keep Piers Morgan on GMB for his common sense approach to life" which the journalist urged his Twitter followers to sign yesterday.

View photos Piers Morgan arrives at Old Church, 1 Marylebone Road in London for the funeral of Supermarket Sweep star Dale Winton. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA Images via Getty Images) More

The subject was a key talking point on Good Morning Britain today as Morgan defended his point of view by addressing the claims of transphobia which had been made against him.

As the show kicked off, he began: "Apparently I'm transphobic so despite spending the last four years explaining how I support anyone who transitions, and always have done, and completely support all what transgender people go through.

"It is an extremely difficult, emotional, psychological process. I've taken the position that if we suddenly start saying there is a hundred genders it does the people who have transitioned a grave disservice.

View photos Piers Morgan spoke about the petition today on 'Good Morning Britain'. (ITV) More

"It makes them look pointless, like why are they bothering, and I have been consistent on that position and I think most people including most transpeople think a hundred genders, or the concept of a hundred genders, is ridiculous."

Morgan went on to call himself a "two-spirit penguin", however, he claimed he was not mocking transgender people by doing so.

Spread the word, my people...

Sign, RT, and save me as your voice against the shriekingly illiberal liberals who want to cancel everyone who dares challenge them... https://t.co/oWxIhaLL7t — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 13, 2019

The father-of-four went on: "People think I'm mocking transgender people, I'm not.

“If you decide people can identify as anything they like and there are now a hundred genders according to the BBC, which they're now teaching kids, if you could be anything you like, including a two-spirit person and blah blah blah, then why can't I be a two-spirit penguin?"

The petition to keep Morgan on air received over 28,000 signatures, surpassing the original campaign which has so far received 13,500 signatures.