Prince Harry, who for some reason the world just can’t let go of, was on Dax Shepard and Monica Padman‘s podcast Armchair Expert recently, where his comments casually admitting ignorance are being twisted in ways that quite frankly are just stupid.
In a response that’s set the internet on fire, fallen Royal Prince Harry dodged a question about the First Amendment because the man is British and knows fuck all, thanks.
“I don’t want to start sort of going down the First Amendment route because that’s a huge subject and one in which I don’t understand because I’ve only been here a short period of time,” Harry said, regarding the ways some paparazzi use legal loopholes to get away with their creepy behaviour.
“But, you can find a loophole in anything. And you can capitalize or exploit what’s not said rather than uphold what is said.”
“I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers,” he said.
Of course, right wing media has taken this to mean Prince Harry hates ~freedom~ and doesn’t think the peasants should have rights, but the Twitter frenzy that’s come with it is too much.
Prince Harry is attacking America’s First Amendment
Tells you everything you need to know
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 15, 2021
The accusations that Prince Harry is DiSrEsPeCtInG fReE sPeEcH (because God forbid he doesn’t immediately lick the proverbial US boot) is peak blind US patriotism, but also a show of how ridiculous our expectations of celebs are. How would Prince Harry have anything nuanced to say about the US Constitution when he literally just got there??
But here’s the thing that’s really on my mind – haven’t we been begging celebs for AGES to just, simply shut the fuck up? To not talk about something if they don’t know shit about it? And isn’t that what Harry just did?
Prince Harry’s poddy interview was supposed to be a discussion on mental health – not the First Amendment.
In a rare moment of what seems to be forethought, Harry basically said “I don’t know enough to discuss this but it sounds wild” which, in my opinion, was probably Harry’s best move here.
Prince Harry: I don’t want to comment on the first amendment, I’m still new here and I don’t really understand it all
The UK and Right Wing US Media: OMG HE DISSED THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Y’all are so fucking stupid pic.twitter.com/kX4aG4birb
— Myra (@SussexPrincess) May 17, 2021
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll die before I become a Royals apologist – but I’m nothing if not my love for media discourse, and I reckon celebs confessing to knowing fuck all about a topic and deciding not to comment is probably something I’d like to see more of?? Maybe we DON’T always need the opinions of random rich people who really don’t actually know that much about the world at large.
I listed to the #PrinceHarry podcast yesterday and I’m shocked but not surprised how the media twisted it. I found it extremely positive and transparent when talking about mental health. The fact he thanked the British press for catalysing his way out, speaks volumes
— Olivia Smith (@__OliviaSmith12) May 16, 2021
We really need to stop asking celebrities for their opinions on things they have no authority to discuss – and we need to normalise people just saying “sorry, don’t know enough to have an opinion.” I’ll take that over a stale, factually dubious take any day.
