Author accused of racism for calling Meghan Markle ‘phony’ & ‘unmaternal’
AUTHOR Emily Giffin has been accused of racism, as she slammed Meghan Markle in a series of Instagram posts.
Giffin called Meghan “phony” and “unmaternal” after the former Duchess of Sussex posted a video celebrating son Archie’s first birthday.
In the video, Meghan held Archie in her lap, as she read him the picture book Duck! Rabbit!
The video was created with the Save the Children’s Save With Stories campaign, and shared by the organization’s Instagram account.
Screenshots shared on social media show texts and other messages that Giffin posted on her Instagram, where she blasted Meghan.
In texts with a friend, the author and called Meghan “unmaternal” and “a phony.”
She agreed with a friend who called her an “actress” and said the mother was “playing a part.”
Giffin shared the post of Meghan and Archie together, with the words “Happy birthday, Archie. Go away, Megan [sic].”
“Adorable child and book. But… Holy ‘me first.’ This is the Megan [sic] show,” Giffin wrote in another post.
“Why didn’t she film and let Harry read? And why didn’t she take the moment at the end to say ‘He said daddy!’ Because that would make it about Harry for a split second. God forbid.
She added: “also, you want privacy for your child so you put out a video (by your authorized biographer) of him …. wearing no pants?! Ooookay.”
Users were quick to shoot Giffin down, with some calling her comments “racist.”
“It’s so gross how white women try to dissociate Meghan from her child,” one user wrote. “Undeniable racism seething out of every word.”
“The racist jumped out,” one user wrote.
Another user simply said: “Crazy and racist.”
Giffin issued an apology later, denying the claims and saying her criticism of Meghan “has never had anything to do with her race.”
She said she posts “dozens of IG stories a day in a very honest, unfiltered way, as if I’m confiding directly with close friends.”
“I’m very interested in the British monarchy and always have been,” Giffin wrote.
Giffin said she “absolutely loved that a biracial, American woman woman was marrying into the Royal Family,” and added that she was “appalled by any signs of racism against her.”
The author added, however, that her feelings toward her and Prince Harry have changed over recent months.
She said the criticism of the former Duchess of Sussex has not been race-related.
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“I can see how some of my posts may have felt mean-spirited, and could be construed as having racial undertones,” she wrote.
“It was not my intent, but I understand that intent and impact are two very different things. And I am truly sorry for that negative impact,” she added.
Giffin’s Instagram and Twitter account are both private.
It’s unclear if her accounts were locked, as her Instagram was already private on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.