CELEBRITIES APOLOGISE TO KATE OVER CONSPIRACY POSTS ON INTERNET
Celebrities and online commentators yesterday offered grovelling apologies for indulging in wild and inaccurate claims about the Princess of Wales.
Kate’s announcement on Friday that she has cancer followed weeks of cruel speculation on platforms including X, Instagram and Tiktok, where trolls shared mocking posts and memes about her whereabouts.
Among those to backtrack were left-wing journalist Owen Jones and the actress Blake Lively, who expressed sorrow for ill-judged remarks they had made online.
Kate’s disappearance from public life since Christmas had fuelled a frenzy of uninformed and often tasteless conspiracy theories, which were further stoked when Prince William missed, at very short notice, the memorial service of his godfather, the late King Constantine of Greece, on February 27.
Speculation intensified yet again when an official Mother’s Day photograph of the princess and her children was revealed to have been digitally altered.
Jones was one of a series of high-profile figures to speculate about Kate’s whereabouts. Reacting to a post on X that revealed photography agencies were pulling Kate’s Mother’s Day photo after it emerged the image had been edited, he wrote: “Oh wow. OK, I am now fully on board the Kate Middleton truther train.”
He then responded: “This is insane,” when evidence of the picture being adapted on Photoshop were shared by another X user.
Later he wrote: “I am so obsessed with this already omg!!”
Jones then aired his doubts about a photograph – taken by
a member of the public – which showed Kate and Prince William in a car together that was shared the next day, commenting: “You have to be kidding me. That is not a public appearance. Choo choo! All aboard the Kate Middleton truther express!”
But following Kate’s cancer announcement, he said on X: “As someone who speculated on this without considering it could be a serious health condition, I’m very ashamed to be honest, and all the very best to her.”
Meanwhile, American actress Lively shared her regrets for an ill-advised jibe about Photoshop before Kate’s diagnosis was revealed. She had previously shared an obviously edited photo of herself alongside a post promoting her drinks brand.
The 36-year-old said last night: “I’m sure no-one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. I made a silly post around the ‘Photoshop fails’ frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I’m sorry. Sending love.”