One of Meghan Markle’s Biggest Critics Has Been Suspended but People Are Pointing Out a Major Double Standard
Throughout her time as a senior royal in the British royal family, Meghan Markle received an onslaught of hate. Whether it was from social media, from inside the royal family, or from the British press, Markle had (and still has) to endure an astronomical amount of hate, bullying and negativity.
And, as one of the biggest faces of the anti-Markle movement, GB News presenter and former The Sun editor Dan Wootton was ruthless and unapologetic. But, on Sept 27, Wootton was suspended from his role as a presenter.
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As a reminder, in addition to bashing Markle at every opportunity, Wootton scooped many of Markle and Prince Harry’s projects, including breaking the story of their move to North America in early 2020, Newsweek reports.
The announcement of Wootton’s departure from the network was made live on-air, as videos of the broadcast indicate. “GB News has suspended its presenter Dan Wootton,” the presenter stated. “It comes after comments made by presenter Laurence Fox during an interview [with Wootton] last night. Laurence Fox has also been suspended. Mr. Fox made a series of remarks about Ava Evans, who’s a political for the news website JOE.”
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The announcement continued, “In a statement, GB News said it will be issuing an apology to Ms. Evans.”
If you’re wondering what went down between Wootton and Fox, just know it’s the prime example of misogyny. In the interview, Fox was talking about Evans and said, “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel.” “We need powerful, strong amazing women who make great points for themselves,” Fox continued, with Wootton laughing on the other side. “We don’t need these sort of feminist 4.0. They’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who’d want to shag that?”
Following the backlash, Wootton issued a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News,” Wootton wrote. “Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments.”
“I reacted as I did out of shock and surprise in an off-guard moment while working out how to respond as he continued to speak by searching for tweets @AvaSantina had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time,” Wootton continued. “However, I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks. I apologize unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgment on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange.
I know I should have done better.”
And although we’re glad a man as misogynistic as Wootton is no longer delivering the news, we, along with many of Markle’s supporters, can’t help but see the double standard here. After all, Wootton talked negatively and inappropriately about Markle for years and never got a warning, let alone a suspension.
“The fact that Dan Wootton is only now suspended after publicly participating in misogynistic abuse against a white woman while he got away with publicly practising the same vile misogynist abuse against Meghan Markle for some years now says all you need to know about race,” one insightful Twitter user pointed out.
“He and his guests have made worse comments about Meghan Markle over the years, with nary a gasp from those clutching their pearls now,” reflected another user. “Was the abuse of Meghan not worthy of public outrage?”
If you ask us, Markle’s mistreatment in the media should’ve been called out many years ago, just like this incident has been. Overall, however, we’re trying to see the silver lining in that Wootton got what he finally deserved. We’re hoping the Sussex household is at least semi-celebrating today.
Before you go, click here to see every single time the royal family shaded Meghan Markle and Prince Harry since they stepped down as royals.
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