Ariana Grande blasts Piers Morgan over nudity comments: ‘Women can be sexual AND talented’

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Ariana Grande had some strong words for Piers Morgan after the journalist launched a Twitter tirade on Wednesday against the UK girl group Little Mix and her mother, Joan Grande.

The feud started after Piers criticised the promotional art for Little Mix's upcoming album, LM5, calling the image a copy of a previous photo shoot done by the Dixie Chicks. "Hey @LittleMix - when are you going to admit you stole this idea from @dixiechicks?," he wrote.

Soon after, Piers targeted the band again, this time blasting member Jesy Nelson for posting a picture of herself in just her underwear.

"Sultry? She looks ridiculous," he tweeted. "Ask her to put some clothes on (if she has any...) & apologise for calling me a tw*t."

In response to the tweet, Joan came to Little Mix's defense before criticising Piers for his previous remarks about talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

"Honestly what is wrong with you @piersmorgan ? Didn't your mother ever teach you, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it! You came for @TheEllenShow yesterday which was disgraceful, she is an angel. @LittleMix today, did you ever hear of paying homage? And..well never mind."

Piers had previously called out double standards in Hollywood in response to a video montage of male celebrity bodies posted by Ellen in honour of International Men's Day. In the tweet, Piers calls Ellen's video "the hypocrisy of modern feminism laid bare."

He quickly responded to Joan, calling Ellen a hypocrite, and denouncing both Little Mix and Ariana for using their nudity to sell albums.

Piers' tweet prompted a series of posts from Ariana herself, during which the pop star praised Ellen before defending the use of her own sexuality and signing off with the title of her latest single, 'thank u, next.'

"Ellen is an incredible & kind human being.. I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because i choose to." Ariana wrote. "Women can be sexual AND talented. naked and dignified. it's OUR choice. & we will keep fighting til people understand. i say this w all due respect but thank u, next."

Ariana ended the conversation by calling out Piers' double standards by sharing his tweet of a semi-nude photo of himself in front of a fireplace.

"When u do it it's ok tho right?," she wrote.