Al Sharpton blasts Meghan Markle backlash: It was ‘somebody Black working in the C-suites’ for the first time

Al Sharpton defended Meghan Markle in a backlash on Tuesday, comparing her to “some black person working in C-suites” or executive-level positions at a company, for the first time.

Markle and her husband Prince Harry stepped down from the British royal family in January 2020 amid media criticism of Markle’s alleged behaviour. In his departure, he condemned the lack of support from Buckingham Palace and the racist press treatment of Markle, who is biracial. The couple moved to the U.S. and, in a few rare interviews and a Netflix documentary called “Harry and Meghan,” made several accusations against the royal family, including discussions within family circles about the color of their son Archie’s skin. .

Sharpton suggested that while the couple’s marriage was celebrated globally, Markle soon became a victim of racism.

“I think it was a beautiful day when they got married,” Sharpton said on “Good Morning Britain.” “And people were celebrating how you saw this woman of color now in the royal family, there were gospel songs, singing at the ceremony, the Queen was sitting there.”

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“And then the reaction was so, so harsh,” he continued. “And just wanting to be treated differently. And people, who, whether you’re in the UK or around the world, are always treated differently, they understood what Meghan was going through. Time. And she You are treated differently.”

“I think she’s become a symbol not of her own making,” he concluded.

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Meghan Markle. (Sameer Hussain/WireImage)

Sharpton also weighed in on British television presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial piece in The Sun in December, in which he wrote that he hated the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level” and dreamed she was British. Naked parades through the cities “while the crowd chants. ‘Shame!’ And throw lumps of glands on it.”

Clarkson apologized for the writing, saying he was “saddened” by it.

“I’m not just sexist and I hate violence against women,” she wrote. “And yet I seem only to be advocating it.”

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“So I wrote to everyone I worked with to say how sorry I was and then on Christmas morning, I emailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologize to them as well,” he continued. “I said I was shocked by what he was saying on TV but the language I used in my column was disgraceful and I deeply regret it.”

Sharpton appeared to reject Clarkson’s apology, calling the article “mean”.

Rev. Al Sharpton delivers a sermon during Sunday Chapel at Howard University Cramton Auditorium on October 09, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Brian Stokes/Getty Images)

“But what makes you feel like you can say that in the first place?” Sharpton asked. “And I think in a lot of ways they exposed something that was already there. And then people try to blame Meghan for being exposed.”

Speculation is now rife about whether Prince Harry and Markle will attend King Charles’ coronation in May. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle on 8 September 2022 at the age of 96. She was the longest reigning monarch in British history.