Harry and Meghan’s denials haven’t quieted ‘South Park’ controversy

It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might have been better served if they had taken a cue from their estranged royal relatives and kept totally silent on “South Park’s” brutal satire of them in the second episode of the animated series’ 26th season.

The Comedy Central episode aired last week, and people are still debating and dissecting its depiction of the California-based royal renegades — or their cartoon likenesses — as privileged, attention-seeking “whingers,” as the Brits would say.

It looks like the Sussexes probably added fuel to the “South Park” fire by having their spokesperson issue a statement on their behalf, denying reports that the couple were furious about their portrayal on the show or that they planned to sue. By Tuesday, the statement mostly served to generate a new round of headlines and social media chatter about the show and its possible damage to Harry and Meghan’s reputation.

The episode, titled “Worldwide Privacy Tour,” centers on a “Prince of Canada” and his wife fleeing to the fictional small town of South Park, Colorado, for “privacy and seclusion.” While the couple display “Stop looking at us!” and “We want our privacy” signs, they still try to dominate TV coverage and magazine covers as they promote the prince’s memoir “‘Waaagh” and annoy their new neighbors by landing on the street in a private jet and putting on fireworks shows and polo matches in their front yard.

At one point, one of the show’s main characters, Kyle Broflovski, declares: “I’m sick of hearing about them! I can’t get away from them! They’re everywhere, in my (expletive) face!” His buddy Eric Cartman responds, “We don’t care about some dumb prince and his stupid wife.”

Kyle complains about a dumb prince and his stupid wife in the all-new episode, titled “Worldwide Privacy Tour” premiering Wednesday at 10/9c on Comedy Central. pic.twitter.com/6Dpa5R5ZZ3

— South Park (@SouthPark) February 13, 2023

Critics of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex continue to delight in discovering new jokes embedded in the episode — lately finding its Meghan character being identified as a “first lady botherer.” This is an apparent reference to reports that Meghan tried to curry favor with former first lady Michelle Obama in an effort to boost her global fame and relevance.

Hoping to dampen the controversy, a spokesperson for the Sussexes told media outlets, including People and The Guardian, that a widely disseminated Spectator report that Meghan was particularly “upset and overwhelmed” by the episode is “all frankly nonsense.” Taking on a blasé tone, the spokesperson also tried to downplay the “totally baseless, boring reports” about the couple filing a lawsuit.

Certainly, It’s hard to imagine that the Sussexes would seriously consider suing Comedy Central or “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, given that they should have U.S. lawyers telling them that satire is protected speech under the First Amendment.

But the protest-too-much wording of the statement also could be seen as confirming reports that the Sussexes probably were “annoyed,” even enough to consider legal action. After all, if the “South Park” reports truly were “boring,” people wouldn’t be reading them and the Sussexes wouldn’t need to think about a response.

Prior to the Sussexes issuing their statement, a leading U.K. public relations expert said that the couple should not respond in any way to the “South Park” storm and should avoid any threat of legal action.

“Dare I suggest that they should take a leaf out of the royal family’s PR book and remain silent,” Andy Barr, a U.K.-based expert in public relations and crisis communications told The Mirror. He said that the royal family’s “comms machine has stuck to their silent guns” over the past several months, as Harry and Meghan have issued a number of attacks against individual family members and the monarchy in interviews, in their Netflix docuseries and in Harry’s best-selling memoir “Spare.”

Barr said it “looks very much” like the royal family have been “weathering the storm perfectly.”

But the “South Park” storm continues for Harry and Meghan. Last week, Newsweek’s senior royal correspondent Jack Royston said the “South Park” episode was “a big thing” for the couple’s reputation, with Newsweek polls showing that their popularity in the United States has taken a sizable hit since they began their media blitz in the fall. With Harry’s story on his frostbitten penis becoming a punchline for “Saturday Night Live,” Jimmy Fallon, Chelsea Handler and now, “South Park,” the couple have “transitioned from being, kind of, Obama 2.0, these really serious celebrities, into being figures of ridicule,” Royston said.

Speaking of America’s former first couple, royal watchers have surmised that Harry and Meghan held up the Obamas’ post-White House choices as a model for how they, too, could launch careers as global influencers and medial moguls by signing lucrative Netflix and Spotify deals. But the discovery this week of the hidden Michelle Obama reference in the “South Park” episode suggests that this goal remains elusive.

The reference pops up when the Harry and Meghan characters visit a PR agency to improve their brand, as The Mirror reported. There, they are shown database profiles of themselves. The profile of the Meghan character describes her as “a sorority girl, actress, influencer and victim.” It also lists her interests as “yoga, calligraphy, cuisine, writing, lifestyle, advocating, acting, blogging and feminism,” but cheekily describes her as a “lawyer pretending” and “a ‘first lady botherer.”

The first lady reference recalls Harry and Meghan’s association with Barack and Michelle Obama. Before Harry met Meghan, he seemed to forge a close bond with the then-U.S. president and his wife when they together promoted the 2016 Invictus Games. After Meghan married Harry, she reportedly met Michelle Obama and bonded over shared interests, including the need to empower women, The Mirror reported.

But the former first lady was “alarmed” by Meghan’s rush to find a prominent royal role for herself, according to the book, “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors,” by Tom Bower.

Michelle Obama also was cautious in her response when asked about Meghan telling Oprah Winfrey that she had “experienced racism” in the royal family, The Mirror reported. The former first couple were known to respect and admire Queen Elizabeth II, and to be friendly with Prince William and Kate Middleton. In an interview with NBC News, Michelle Obama said she wasn’t “surprised” that race had become an issue for Meghan, who is biracial, but she talked about how “this is first and foremost a family and I pray for forgiveness and healing for them.”

The Telegraph’s columnist Camilla Tominey subsequently reported that Harry’s criticism of his family soured the Obamas’ opinion of the couple because the former president and his wife put “family first,” an ethos that makes it unseemly for people to publicly criticize and shame relatives.