Rowover Harry’s hate speech call
POLITICS: The Duke of Sussex has been accused of political interference after urging voters in the US to “reject hate speech” and take part in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Harry took part with the Duchess of Sussex in a live video, apparently from their home in California, in which he referred to “online negativity”.
THE DUKE of Sussex has been accused of political interference after urging voters in the US to “reject hate speech” and take part in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Appearing to break with longestablished protocol that prevents members of the Royal Family from expressing polling preferences, Harry took part with the Duchess of Sussex in a live video, apparently from their home in California, in which he referred to “online negativity”.
A source close to the Duke insisted he was not speaking about President Donald Trump, who has often been criticised for using inflammatory language and last month had one of his posts deleted for violating Facebook’s policy against spreading misinformation about coronavirus. In May, Twitter began labelling Mr Trump’s tweets with fact checks.
The ITV presenter Piers Morgan accused Harry of “poking his nose into the US election”. Mr Morgan, a friend and sometime critic of the President, said: “Effectively telling Americans to vote against President Trump is completely unacceptable behaviour for a member of the Royal Family.”
In the video, filmed as part of a celebration by Time magazine of the world’s most influential people, Harry asked Americans to be discerning about the content they see online.
“When the bad outweighs the good, for many, whether we realise it or not, it erodes our ability to have compassion and our ability to put ourself in someone else’s shoes,” he said. “When one person buys into negativity online, the effects are felt exponentially.”
The source in Harry and Meghan’s camp said the Duke was “not talking about any candidate or specific campaign”.
Harry went on to say that as he was not a US citizen he would not be voting in the election and had never voted in the UK. The source declined to comment on whether this suggested he intended to apply for dual citizenship in the US.
Members of the Royal Family traditionally do not vote and the Queen is politically neutral. Royals are not banned by law from voting but it is considered unconstitutional for them to do so.
Harry quit as a senior working Royal in March, along with Meghan, in a quest for personal and financial freedom.
The Duchess, who mocked Mr Trump during a 2016 TV appearance, said in the video that the November election was the “most important of our lifetime”.
Meghan made clear her support for Mr Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, last month, saying she was “so excited” to see biracial Senator Kamala Harris selected as his running mate.