Karl’s shameful attack is aimed at the wrong royal
The Royal Family may be no stranger to media criticism, but allowing blatant racists to attack the Duchess of Sussex while Prince Andrew is left in peace is so far off the mark it isn’t funny, writes Holly Byrnes.
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As royal scandals go, they don’t come bigger than the Jeffrey Epstein scandal linking Prince Andrew to sordid sex parties and murky human trafficking.
For Nine’s 60 Minutes of old, that would have been bread and butter content, throwing its once esteemed investigative reporters at the embarrassing affair, embroiling the Queen’s second son.
Instead, the ticking clock is wasting its viewers’ time this Sunday with a “world exclusive” by Karl Stefanovic who is swapping his feel good This Time Next Year baton for the global sport of bullying Meghan Markle.
The sell for his fine work was bottom of the dollar bin stuff, telling social media followers the expose would explore how the Duchess of Sussex had gone “from adored to insufferable in less than a year”.
I guess if anyone is expert at doing just that, it’s Karl.
The axed Today host, currently in the career wilderness, really has his taste compass set in the wrong direction — lining up Britain’s biggest racist, Katie Hopkins and one of Markle’s jealous ex-girlfriends as his great ‘gotcha’ guests.
Hopkins’ vile input clearly fits the 60 Minutes tacky brief, telling the bi-racial wife of Prince Harry to go back to where she came from.
While most of the UK media has wisely put a barge pole between themselves and the sewer-mouthed Hopkins, Karl has given her a new TV pulpit to preach her disgusting bile.
For those not familiar with her devil’s work, the last of her hateful missives for money included likening Africans to cockroaches and calling for a “final solution” or genocide of immigrants.
So you can imagine the international reaction to the news she’d been tempted out from underneath her racist rock — with everyone from TMZ to academics shocked that a brand once so highly regarded as 60 Minutes would give airtime to this oxygen thief.
Professor Kate Williams summed up the mood, tweeting: “this is terrible! The dialogue about #Meghan has been racist from [the] outset. Diana was bullied and likewise Meghan has done so much good and is constantly attacked. Why don’t you make a show about #Epstein? No — you’d prefer #KatieHopkins saying a WOC [woman of colour] is ‘insufferable.’”
Of course, as classless click bait, it did the trick, with ‘Katie Hopkins’ trending on Twitter last night.
Disappointingly for some of her detractors, the reason wasn’t her demise, but her resurrection by Stefanovic and Nine’s flagship current affairs program.
Meanwhile, at least one Stefanovic, Sky News presenter Peter has read the room right and will front the network’s investigation into Epstein this Sunday night at 6pm — turning the media blowtorch to where it belongs in the British monarchy, Prince Andrew.
Holly Byrnes is the national TV editor.
Originally published as Karl’s shameful attack is aimed at the wrong royal