News just in: not good | Arwa Mahdawi
It appears that America’s love affair with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have come to an end.
Once media darlings, Harry and Meghan are now the subject of ridicule in the US.
The recent South Park episode titled “The Worldwide Privacy Tour” was the first major blow dealt to their stateside brand.
The animated sitcom featured a couple who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Sussexes, travelling the world with placards saying “Stop looking at us!”
and chanting “We want privacy!”.
Harry’s memoir, Spare, was parodied as “Waaaagh”, while the couple received advice from a PR expert to portray themselves as victims.
Comedian Chris Rock has also taken aim at the couple in his new Netflix special, Selective Outrage.
He dismissed Meghan’s claims of racism in the royal family, stating that some of what she experienced was not racism but rather “in-law” behaviour.
Rock also joked about Meghan’s surprise at the archaic views of the royal family, saying, “It’s the royal family!
They’re the original racists.
They invented colonialism.”
Polls indicate that there has been a shift in attitudes towards the couple in the US, with their approval ratings plummeting since the airing of the South Park episode.
According to Newsweek polling, Harry’s popularity has dropped by 48 points since December, with Meghan’s down 40.
Prince Andrew, who has been linked to convicted s** offender Jeffrey Epstein, currently has higher approval ratings than the Sussexes in the US.
As for how Harry and Meghan are responding to this shift in attitudes, they have not put out a statement saying that they think Rock and South Park are hilarious and that they love nothing more than laughing at themselves.
There were rumours that they were considering legal action over the South Park episode, but a representative for the couple dismissed these reports as “baseless” and “boring”.
Some people are growing tired of the couple’s constant oversharing, with the never-ending pity-me-please performance starting to wear thin.
While many were sympathetic to the couple initially, their grievances seem to be less about systemic inequality and more about feeling they didn’t get a big enough slice of the born-with-privilege pie.
It’s difficult to complain about how backward the royals are while insisting on being referred to as Duke and Duchess.
Perhaps they should read the socioeconomic room and realize that “eat the rich” storylines are currently popular on TV.
From You to Succession, there are more rich-people-are-awful-sociopaths storylines on the telly than ever before, reflecting the current economic climate.
Finally, Harry may want to pick up a history book and brush up on American attitudes towards British aristocrats.
The US has a reputation for losing patience with them.
