Nelson Mandela’s friend rejects Meghan Markle podcast claims

Nelson’s Mandela’s friend, acclaimed actor Dr John Kani, says a huge claim made by Meghan Markle in her new podcast has left him “baffled”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding was “no big deal” in South Africa, according to Nelson Mandela’s friend and acclaimed actor Dr John Kani.

Dr Kani said he was baffled by the Duchess of Sussex’s claim that South Africa had rejoiced when she married into the royal family, calling the comments to a US magazine a “faux pas”.

In the interview Meghan implied her royal wedding sparked reactions similar to the jubilation experienced when anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Dr Kani described Mr Mandela’s walk to freedom after 27 years as a “landmark moment”, while “you can’t really say where you were when Meghan married Harry.

Meghan told The Cut magazine that a South African member of Disney’s remake of The Lion King told her South Africans “rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison” after hearing about the wedding.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive for the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London. Picture: AFP

However Dr Kani, a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company voiced the mandrill shaman Rafiki in Disney’s remake of The Lion King told MailOnline he was the only South African cast member and had never met Meghan.

“I have never met the Duchess at all. I am the only South African member of the cast and I did not attend the premiere in London,” he said.

“I went to Hollywood as we opened there and from there I had to go immediately to Paris where I was shooting a film sequel, so I couldn’t hang around. The only South African was me playing Rafiki. But I did not go to the opening in Leicester Square as I didn’t have the time to do that. It just may be a misremembering on her side.

“It is baffling me. I am the only South African in the cast. I play Rafiki, Seth Rogen plays Pumbaa, Donald Glover plays Simba and Beyonce plays Nala.

“I cannot even tell you now what month she married or what year”.

Despite being baffled, Mr Kani said he did not believe Meghan’s self-comparison to Mr Mandela was an insult to South Africa.

MANDELA’S GRANDSON SLAMS MARKLE CLAIMS

Nelson Mandela’s grandson also slammed the claim.

Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela said: “It can never be compared to the celebration of someone’s wedding.

“Madiba’s celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa. So It cannot be equated to as the same.

Referring to Meghan, he said: “Every day there are people who want to be Nelson Mandela, either comparing themselves with him or wanting to emulate him.

Meghan Markle, arrives to attend the 2020 UN Nelson Mandela Prize award ceremony at the United Nations in July. Picture: AFP

“But before people can regard themselves as Nelson Mandelas, they should be looking into the work that he did and be able to be champions and advocates of the work that he himself championed.”

It comes after Meghan again raised the issue of racism on a new episode of her Archetypes podcast series.

Meghan told superstar Mariah Carey she was not treated as a “black woman” until she started dating Prince Harry.

The second episode of Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast was released on Tuesday, featuring Mariah Carey. Picture: Twitter

US superstar Mariah Carey was Markle’s guest on the second episode of Archetypes. Picture: AFP

Meghan, whose estranged father, Thomas, is white and mother, Doria, is black, said that when Carey first came on the music scene she instantly became a “fangirl” of the star and thought: “Oh my gosh. Someone who looks like me. She’s mixed like me”.

Carey is also bi-racial — her mother is of Irish descent and her father has African-American and black Venezuelan-American heritage.

“Because we’re light skinned, you are not treated as a black woman,” Meghan added.

“You’re not treated as a white woman. You sort of fit in between. If there is any time where there was more focus on my race it was when I started dating my husband. Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a black woman because up until then I was treated as a mixed woman and things really shifted.”

Carey replied: “But that’s an interesting thing, a mixed woman, because I always thought it should be OK to say I’m mixed, like it should be OK to say that, but people want you to choose”.

During the podcast, entitled “The Duality of Diva”, Meghan revealed that she felt music star Carey took a “dig” at her.

The Duchess of Sussex told her guest that she does not personally “connect to” the “diva … persona,” when Carey interrupted.

“You give us diva moments sometimes, Meghan,” the star said.

“Don’t act like (you don’t).”

Meghan Markle’s podcast has rocketed up the charts.

The former Suits star sounded taken aback, asking, “What kind of diva moments did I give you?”

Carey then clarified that she meant Meghan’s “visual(s)” and not her personality, saying she “didn’t mean” anything by the comment and was “playing” with the former actor.

Meghan later told listeners she momentarily went into “quiet revolt” after the Hero singer referred to her as a “diva”.

“It stopped me in my tracks,” she told listeners at the end of the second episode.

“I started to sweat a little bit. I started squirming in my chair in this quiet revolt.

“Why would you say that? My mind genuinely was just spinning with what nonsense she must have read or clicked on to make her say that”.

Meghan Markle initially took exception to Mariah Carey calling her a ‘diva’. Picture: AFP

Meghan then explained that she now understood Carey had used the term “as a compliment”.

“But I heard it as a dig,” she continued.

“I heard it as the word diva, as I think of it.

“But, in that moment, as she explained to me, she meant it as chic, as aspirational.

“And how one very charged word can mean something different for each of us, it’s mind blowing to me.”

Archetypes shot up Spotify’s charts following the release of the first episode, featuring a conversation with Serena Williams, where the friends discussed the double standard society sets for women with ambition.

Meghan also revealed that a fire broke out in son Archie’s nursery during the Sussex family’s royal tour of Africa in 2019.

Two days after it dropped, Archetypes was the number one podcast in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Spotify’s international charts.