Fans say RIP to ‘Piers Morgan’ as they pay tribute to legendary TV star
Brenda Fricker was beloved by fans for her role as the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York – and her likeness to journalist Piers has been a long-running theme on social media

Piers was flooded with tributes from online jokers(Image: ITV)

The death of Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker has sparked an outpouring of tributes online – to Piers Morgan. News of the Irish star’s passing sparked hundreds of posts online paying condolences to her lookalike tv presenter.

Brenda, 81, was beloved by fans for her role as the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, in which she befriends a scared Kevin McCallister in the festive family favourite. And her likeness to journalist Piers has been a long-running theme on social media.

One wag said after news broke of her death: “RIP Actress Brenda Fricker, best known for playing the Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2, and for her role as Piers Morgan has died at the age of 81.”

Brenda played the beloved Pigeon Lady (Image: 20th Century Fox)

Dublin-born Brenda, who was the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award for her role as Daniel Day Lewis‘ on-screen mother in My Left Foot in 1990, also had roles in tv soaps. Her death was confirmed by her agent Phil Belfield on Friday.

As news outlets and social media accounts reported her death, they were flooded with replies of “RIP Piers Morgan.” There were so many that the phrase was trending at one point, leading one user to ask: “Why’s ‘RIP Piers Morgan’ trending?”

Not everyone found it funny, however. One fan said Brenda – who appeared as Megan Roach in Casualty from 1986 to 2010 – “deserved better”.

Piers was often compared to the character(Image: Twitter/X/piersmorgan)

Brenda’s first on-screen role played a small uncredited part in the 1964 film Of Human Bondage. She then appeared in Ireland’s first soap opera Tolka Row before taking on a role in one of the UK’s most iconic soaps, Coronation Street, where she played a staff nurse.

It was her role as the Pigeon Lady that endeared her to a legion of fans, including one who said: “Central Park should have a statue in her memory.” Another said the Pigeon Lady “was a symbol of kindness, trust and hope”.

Piers himself leant into the lookalike joke over the years, including once sharing a photo of himself holding a picture of Brenda during a family Christmas Quiz. He once angrily replied to a Twitter user, declaring: “I. Am. Not. The. Pigeon. Lady.”

Piers was often compared to the Pigeon Lady (Image: ITV)

It was also a long-running joke between him and co-host Susanna Reid when he presented Good Morning Britain. Two of the feathered friends even sat on his head during a GMB segment in 2018 after his son Spencer brought up the likeness.

Piers has yet to respond to Brenda’s death.