There Are No Girls on the Internet - DISINFORMED： Meghan Markle has been the target of a racist harassment campaign

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00:01:19.460 I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive

00:01:26.780 what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files.

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00:01:51.900 Just a heads up, today's episode contains mentions of suicidal ideation.

00:01:59.300 You're listening to Disinformed, a miniseries from There Are No Girls on the Internet.

00:02:04.280 I'm Bridget Todd.

00:02:05.060 Today I wanted to do a quick special episode

00:02:11.340 Breaking down Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah

00:02:14.200 That aired on CBS this past weekend

00:02:15.960 So I'm not someone who really follows the royals very closely

00:02:19.600 Though I was pretty excited at the possibility of getting a black princess 0.83

00:02:23.120 Even though I know, I know, she was a duchess, not a princess 0.82

00:02:27.060 Now because I'm not so interested in the royals

00:02:29.780 I almost didn't watch the Oprah interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

00:02:33.160 And I'm really glad I did, because Megan's story fits into what we already know about racist, sexist disinformation and online harassment campaigns.

00:02:41.380 And I wanted to talk a little bit about that today.

00:02:43.860 Now, if you haven't watched the interview, I'm going to be talking about it in specifics during this episode.

00:02:48.540 When I first watched the interview, so much of it rang true for me.

00:02:52.000 I was watching it while scrolling Twitter, and all my Black woman friends were being like,

00:02:55.680 yes, yes, yes, I know exactly what she's talking about, even though technically none of us are actual princesses.

00:03:02.340 Megan's story of being a Black woman facing racist abuse and harassment online is sadly pretty universal.

00:03:08.620 It's something a lot of us have already dealt with.

00:03:10.900 You might not be surprised to learn that we have a digital media landscape that traffics in distortions that rely on unfair biases.

00:03:17.720 And we already know that Black women face more harassment and abuse online.

00:03:21.620 A study from Amnesty International found that Black women got 84% more abuse and harassment online than their white counterparts.

00:03:29.040 So that means that Meghan was really going through it. 1.00

00:03:32.300 This is what Black feminist scholar Moya Bailey has called misogynoir, 1.00

00:03:36.440 or the toxic combination of racism and sexism that Black women can face. 0.99

00:03:41.320 And because Meghan is a Black woman, her race and gender are uniquely weaponized against her 0.99

00:03:45.780 to fuel attacks rooted in stereotypes about her identity. 0.82

00:03:49.300 Now, this is a good time to say that there's a pretty big difference between the kinds of rude,

00:03:53.120 catty gossip that other members of the royal family are accustomed to getting 0.98

00:03:56.380 and the kinds of racist, sexist attacks that Megan endured. 0.95

00:04:00.420 Here's how Megan put it in her interview.

00:04:02.480 If they can compare what the experience that I went through

00:04:05.340 was similar to what has been shared with us,

00:04:08.200 Kate was called weighty Katie, waiting to marry William.

00:04:12.520 While I imagine that was really hard, and I do,

00:04:14.900 I can't picture what that felt like, this is not the same.

00:04:18.600 And if a member of his family will comfortably say,

00:04:20.980 we've all had to deal with things that are rude,

00:04:23.300 rude and racist are not the same. 0.99

00:04:25.360 So what exactly has this racialized abuse campaign against Meghan looked like? 1.00

00:04:29.840 Well, it means that she has to deal with floods of inaccurate news items, 0.98

00:04:33.440 where the storyline is one rooted in unfair stereotypes or distortions

00:04:37.220 that rely on her race and gender to paint Meghan out as being angry or emotional or crazy or untrustworthy.

00:04:44.060 Just look at one of the big stories that Meghan talked about in her Oprah interview,

00:04:47.940 the infamous Meghan Made Kate Cry headline. 1.00

00:04:51.300 So headline after headline framed Meghan as a bully 1.00

00:04:54.020 who made her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, cry during a dress fitting for her wedding.

00:04:58.680 But according to the interview with Oprah, it was actually Meghan who cried,

00:05:02.500 and Kate actually sent Meghan an apology letter afterward.

00:05:05.880 Now, it's easy to see how framing a black woman as driving a white woman to tears

00:05:09.940 is meant to capitalize on a racist trope about black women being angry.

00:05:14.660 Importantly, Meghan says that everybody in the royal family knew the truth of what happened in this situation,

00:05:20.300 But no one actually came forward and corrected the record.

00:05:23.600 They just let this racially charged story fester and grow online and in the media.

00:05:28.420 Now, when we're dealing with racialized bias,

00:05:30.860 it can mean there are completely different standards,

00:05:33.320 one for women of color or black women, and another for everyone else.

00:05:36.680 This is actually a pretty pervasive thing in our culture,

00:05:39.440 and even though it's something that can be subtle and difficult to see.

00:05:42.520 Just take a look at how headlines praised Kate Middleton for certain behavior

00:05:45.740 while trashing Meghan for that very same behavior.

00:05:49.160 Kate was praised by the Daily Mail for, quote, tenderly cradling her baby bump, 0.65

00:05:53.420 while the same publication wondered if Meghan putting her hands on her pregnant belly was a show of pride or vanity. 0.87

00:06:00.020 And it kind of gets to the point where it's ridiculous.

00:06:03.220 The magazine The Express called pregnant Kate eating avocado, quote, good for baby.

00:06:08.780 Meanwhile, that same magazine linked avocado to human rights abuses in a piece about Meghan enjoying avocado. 0.99

00:06:16.160 This pretty clearly establishes that there are two sets of rules, 1.00

00:06:19.760 one for white women like Kate, 1.00

00:06:21.500 and another, harsher standard, for women of color like Meghan.

00:06:25.020 What makes this even harder is the fact that it's not really considered polite

00:06:29.000 to talk about your experiences with racism in public.

00:06:32.340 Even watching the interview, it's clear to me,

00:06:34.080 and probably every Black person who watched it,

00:06:36.780 that Meghan is only telling a fraction of what she actually went through.

00:06:40.620 She's still being so diplomatic.

00:06:42.140 For instance, she refused to say exactly who in the royal family expressed concerns about how dark her son Archie's skin would be.

00:06:50.100 It's clear the royal family wants to act like race wasn't a factor in how she's being treated, when it so obviously is. 0.89

00:06:56.100 Online harassment campaigns are never race-neutral. 1.00

00:06:59.540 The media landscape doesn't just amplify these racist, sexist attacks that Meghan faced. 0.91

00:07:03.840 They actually profit off of them.

00:07:05.760 In her interview, Meghan points out the symbiotic relationship between the royal family and the press.

00:07:11.260 Coverage of the royals sells papers and, in turn, helps keep the royals relevant.

00:07:15.840 But as we know, when coverage traffics in people's racialized hate and biases, everything gets more intense.

00:07:22.900 Megan says, there's a construct that's at play here.

00:07:26.140 They were so attacking and inciting so much racism, it changed the risk level because it wasn't just catty gossip.

00:07:31.860 It was breaking out a part of people that was racist and how it was charged, and that changed the threat.

00:07:36.520 That changed the level of death threats we got. That changed everything.

00:07:40.340 Now, it's kind of a funny example, but this YouTube prank show pretty much shows that royal commentators,

00:07:44.900 including the Queen's former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, CNN's royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter,

00:07:50.920 and Majesty magazine editor, Ingrid Seward, were all pretty much fine getting paid money to lie about Meghan and Harry on television.

00:07:58.560 The pranksters pretended to be with a production company who asked the royal commentators to comment on the interview before it was even out yet.

00:08:05.260 And they had no issue lying about their reaction to something that they hadn't even seen.

00:08:10.060 Here's a clip.

00:08:11.100 In the interview, to my mind, this was an actress giving one of her great performances.

00:08:17.060 From start to finish, Meghan was acting.

00:08:22.120 Meghan is a public figure, so naturally people are allowed to talk about her. 1.00

00:08:25.780 But there's a pretty big difference between commentary and harassment.

00:08:29.540 Meghan shared in her Oprah interview that the abuse that she got drove her to suicidal ideation.

00:08:34.960 On Good Morning Britain on Monday,

00:08:37.020 Pierce Morgan used his platform to mock her for it,

00:08:40.060 saying, I don't believe anything she says.

00:08:42.260 I wouldn't believe it if she read me a weather report.

00:08:44.800 His comment sparked an investigation from media regulator Ofcam

00:08:48.820 after more than 41,000 people wrote in to complain about his comment

00:08:52.880 in the irresponsible way they depicted mental health challenges. 0.70

00:08:56.640 Pierce has been using his platform to harshly criticize Megan for years.

00:09:00.460 And on Tuesday, he actually walked off of his own show

00:09:03.660 because weatherman Alex Beresford pushed back.

00:09:07.580 And I understand that you've got a personal relationship

00:09:10.960 with Meghan Markle or had one and she cut you off.

00:09:14.500 She's entitled to cut you off if she wants to.

00:09:17.600 Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? 0.99

00:09:20.120 I don't think she has, but yet you continue to trash her.

00:09:23.400 Okay, I'm done with this.

00:09:24.560 No, no, no.

00:09:24.900 Sorry, no.

00:09:26.020 Yep, you heard that right.

00:09:27.340 he tells Piers Morgan that Meghan is entitled to cut him off if she wants to.

00:09:31.980 That's because Piers Morgan claims he once had drinks with Meghan

00:09:35.060 and that she ghosted him afterward.

00:09:37.380 So what happened?

00:09:38.700 She ghosted me, Ryan.

00:09:41.300 Meghan Markle ghosted me.

00:09:42.680 Do you think she just went, go on?

00:09:44.700 I'm afraid, look, I really liked it.

00:09:46.740 This is why it hurts.

00:09:48.480 So Piers Morgan has spent years using his television and media platform

00:09:51.940 to trash and berate a woman that he feels rebuffed his advances. 0.93

00:09:56.620 Which is pretty gross. 0.74

00:09:59.300 Pierce announced today that he's stepping down from Good Morning Britain.

00:10:02.300 And on Twitter, human rights attorney Kwasim Rashid put it pretty aptly.

00:10:08.120 Pierce Morgan quit his job after 90 seconds of gentle critique,

00:10:11.400 but can't understand why Meghan Markle and Prince Harry quit the royal family after several years of racist abuse.

00:10:18.340 Now, Meghan and Harry have actually done a lot of good work combating social media hate and mis- and disinformation online.

00:10:24.440 Here's Megan talking to the 19th about the way social media has inflamed our discourse and made us all more polarized.

00:10:30.320 This economy for attention, right, that is what is monetizable right now when you're looking at the digital space and media.

00:10:38.500 And so if you're just trying to grab someone's attention and keep it, you're going for something salacious versus something truthful. 0.56

00:10:44.100 The bottom line is Megan is someone with a lot of status and privilege.

00:10:48.740 She's beautiful. She has money. She has light skin and a supportive husband. 1.00

00:10:53.340 And yet, none of these things saved her from the outpouring of racist, sexist abuse she faced. 0.97

00:10:58.820 Her visibility and her access didn't protect her.

00:11:01.840 And really, it never does. 1.00

00:11:04.160 And this is just what Black women go through. 0.99

00:11:06.700 We've just normalized that it's okay to hurl abuse at Black women online. 1.00

00:11:10.320 And there's an entire media ecosystem that will amplify it and profit from it. 0.99

00:11:14.280 And if this is how bad things got for Meghan, then it pushed her to the point of dealing with suicidal ideation. 1.00

00:11:20.440 Imagine how bad it is for black women who don't have her access or privileges, 1.00

00:11:24.800 whose names you don't know.

00:11:26.960 Meghan was really brave for speaking out about what she went through,

00:11:29.680 and it reminds me so much of another brave woman

00:11:31.660 who didn't keep quiet or do what she was told.

00:11:34.820 In Princess Diana's iconic interview with Martin Bashir in 1995,

00:11:38.720 it almost sounds like she's speaking directly to Meghan.

00:11:42.060 I think every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path,

00:11:45.700 And I think it's the strength that causes the confusion and the fear.

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00:13:47.560 Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed.

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There Are No Girls on the Internet - March 10, 2021

DISINFORMED： Meghan Markle has been the target of a racist harassment campaign

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