Meghan Markle insisted she’s “not controversial” as she addressed the backlash she’s received from “powerful people” during a virtual summit this week.
The Duchess of Sussex spoke at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit via video link on Tuesday, and was asked about the backlash she’s received over speaking out about important issues.
Meghan told the audience: “If you look back at anything that I’ve said, it’s really interesting, because what ends up being inflammatory it seems is people’s interpretation of it.”
“But if you listen to what I actually say, it’s not controversial.”
“If you listen to what I actually say, it’s not controversial.”
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, joined the #FortuneMPW Summit and shared her advice for speaking out on important issues: https://t.co/pSn3nFrdtQ pic.twitter.com/4bJ9NBoTuD
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) September 29, 2020
“And actually, some of it is reactive to things that just haven’t happened, which is in some ways, I think you have to have a sense of humour about even though there is quite a bit of gravity and there could be a lot of danger in a misinterpretation of something that was never there to begin with,” Meghan continued.
“But that again is a byproduct of what is happening right now for all of us.”
Meghan’s comments come after she and Prince Harry came under fire for urging people to vote in the upcoming US election.
Last week, Meghan and Prince Harry encouraged Americans to vote in the upcoming election in an official video for TIME.
“It’s time to not only reflect, but act.” This #NationalVoterRegistrationDay, join #Time100 alumni Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in taking action for the future. pic.twitter.com/JerXHxiZK3
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) September 23, 2020
The couple have avoided endorsing any particular candidate, but during the video, they advised prospective voters to “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”
After the video hit headlines, US President Donald Trump slammed Meghan when he was asked about her and Harry’s comments regarding the election during a press briefing.
Trump said: “I’m not a fan of hers and I would say this, and she has probably heard this, I wish a lot of luck to Harry — because he’s going to need it.”
“I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he’s going to need it.”
Donald Trump has taken a swipe at Meghan Markle after she and Prince Harry urged Americans to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
More here: https://t.co/MNeIj1DDM9 pic.twitter.com/euJMSTvB1i
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) September 24, 2020
That wasn’t the first time Trump has publicly criticised Meghan in the press.
During a previous interview with The Sun, which was published in May 2019, Trump was asked about the comments Meghan made about him while he was running against Hillary Clinton back in 2016.
During an interview on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, the former actress called Trump “misogynistic”, and said she was thinking about moving to Canada if he won the election.
Responding to her comments, Trump replied: “I didn’t know that. No, I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
Then in January of this year, Trump spoke out about Meghan and Harry’s decision to step down as senior working members of the Royal family.
Speaking on Fox News, he said: “I don’t want to get into the whole thing but I find it — I just have such respect for the Queen. I don’t think this should be happening to her.”
“I think it’s sad, I do, I think it’s sad,” he added.
After the couple moved to Los Angeles with their 16-month-old son Archie in March, Trump took another pop at Meghan and Harry by tweeting about their security protection.
On March 29th, he tweeted: “It was reported that Harry and Meghan, who left the Kingdom, would reside permanently in Canada. Now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not pay for their security protection. They must pay!”
In response, a spokesperson for the couple said they never intended to use the U.S.’s publicly-funded resources.
They said: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to ask the U.S. government for security resources. Privately funded security arrangements have been made.”
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