Names and faces
■ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have filed a lawsuit in a bid to stop the sale and publication of a photo of their 14-month-old son, Archie, that they say was shot at their Los Angeles-area home in an invasion of their privacy. In the suit, filed Thursday, Meghan and Harry said the tabloid harassment finally came to a head when they saw that a photo of Archie was being offered to media outlets that was purportedly taken on a family outing in Malibu, when, in fact, it was clearly shot while he was in their yard, unbeknownst to them. “Archie has not been in public, much less in Malibu, since the family arrived here,” the lawsuit says. It alleges the picture is mislabeled because the sellers knew it would be unlawful for them to sell a photograph of a child in his own home. The couple has not learned the identity of the photographers and sellers of the photos, who are listed as John Does in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The plaintiffs are listed as Harry, The Duke of Sussex and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. The lawsuit seeks to identify the defendants, and for the court to issue injunctions requiring them to turn over all photos of Archie and cease harassing the family. The lawsuit says the family erected a large mesh fence to block photographers with telephoto lenses from shooting pictures of them from a ridge hundreds of yards away. That led to the appearance of close-flying drones as well as early morning helicopter flights in attempts to get photos, the suit says.
■ Bob Costas, who ended his 40-year hitch at NBC Sports more than a year ago, this week signed on as a CNN contributor to offer commentary on the intersection of news and sports. Costas and CNN chief Jeff Zucker have a long history. Zucker’s first job was as a researcher for NBC at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, where one duty was fetching coffee for Costas (no sugar, just a drop of milk). “My relationship with Jeff makes me comfortable with the whole arrangement,” Costas said. “So far, so good.” Costas made some appearances on CNN, talking about the return of baseball from the coronavirus lockdown with Michael Smerconish and the involvement of sports figures in social protest with Don Lemon. As those examples illustrate, his role is to opine when sports news moves onto the front pages. With sports attempting to return amid a pandemic, Washington’s football team ditching the “Redskins” name and baseball players kneeling to support Black Lives Matter, there’s plenty of fodder. “Most broadcasters … think of it as their job to cover the games and, if anything, to be boosters,” he said. Despite being a sports fan, Costas said, “I’ve always been someone who’s been willing, at the right time and in the right proportion, to take a look at the larger picture.”