By Ashley Young-
Talk Radio presenter and journalist, Julia Hartley Brown, is under fire after sparking fresh Ofcom complaints on ITV by mocking racist claims made by Meghan Markle during her sit down interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The presenter has joined a list of public figures who have sought to ridicule the Duchess Of Sussex , who claimed to have suffered mental health issues and racism during her time in Buckingham Palace.
Julia(pictured) was referring to the Duchess of Sussex’s recent sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which she claimed a senior member of the Royal Family had expressed racist concerns about the colour of her son’s skin to Prince Harry before Archie was born. The claim sparked uproar and controversy, with some, including Piers Morgan criticising the fact the member of the royal family involved was not named.
Serious claims like that made by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry can be debated all day long in terms of how relevant the context in which it was said, but mockery can be considered racist in itself. The mockery by the television presenter will be closely scrutinised by psychologists and lawyers, who may well officially brand it racist on the coming days or weeks.
The mockery by Julia Hartley-Brewer and Nicola Thorpe who were invited onto This Morning via video-link to discuss the day’s headlines got out of hand after she commented about a newly-released photo of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip taken in 2018, posing with seven of their great-grandchildren. It comes as Ofcom revealed that initial complaints in relation to Piers Morgan’s dismissal of Meghan Markle’s complaints have risen to 6,200.
Asked for her thoughts on the picture, Julia quickly turned the conversation to the Duchess of Sussex, commenting: “I wonder if Meghan [Markle] has managed to take offence to this photograph that doesn’t include her son.”
Julia then suggested Meghan “probably thinks it’s a racist photograph”, going on to point out that it was taken before Meghan and Prince Harry’s son was born.
“I’m sure she’s managed to take offence at it anyway,” Julia then said.
Fellow guest Nicola Thorpe told Julia she was “kind of pushing [an] agenda” with her remarks, stating: “To suggest that Meghan would think that something was racist, something that didn’t even exist at the time, you yourself are kind of pushing this agenda.”
“I’m making a joke pointing out that some people are able to find offence in anything,” Julia responded. “As it seems she would’ve done after pointing the finger at senior Royals without naming names.”
Presenter Dermot O’Leary stepped in to move the conversation along, commenting: “Ladies please, let’s move on to the next subject – we thought we’d start off with a lighter topic.”
Ofcom has now revealed they have received 203 complaints about the incident (per Metro).
As is standard procedure, these complaints will be looked into, before Ofcom decides whether to launch an investigation.
Picture in which Queen is seen with eight of her grandchildren
Last month, Ofcom announced that they would be launching an investigation following a string of comments about Meghan made by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
The day after Meghan’s interview aired, Piers and Susanna Reid watched a clip of Meghan talking about the suicidal feelings she experienced after becoming a member of the Royal Family.
“I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help,” Meghan said in the clip. “I said that I’d never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn’t, because it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”