‘Why isn’t Queen dead?’ American writer’s vile tweet
AN AMERICAN writer who has been fiercely critical of the Royal Family has sparked outrage by joking that the Queen should have died instead of legendary US actress Betty White.
Freelance journalist Nylah Burton – who has written several articles arguing in favour of the Sussexes and criticising the Royal Family – deleted her Twitter account after being widely condemned for her comments.
Ms Burton initially reacted to the news on Friday that Ms White, 99, who appeared in a string of major US sitcoms including The Golden Girls, had died by tweeting: ‘BETTY WHITE IS DEAD!?! Why couldn’t it have been Queen Elizabeth?’
She then replied to a commentator, saying: ‘Why not Queen Elizabeth?? The universe took the wrong old white lady smdh [shaking my damn head].’
The journalist – who lives in Chicago and has written for a number of outlets including The Independent, Vogue, HuffPost and the New York Magazine – was criticised by journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan, who wrote: ‘Delete this, you disgusting piece of work.’
Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Just snuck in as the most vile and offensive tweet of 2021. Nylah with a tweet of pure nastiness and hate.’
Last year, Ms Burton wrote on the US news website Elite Daily that Harry and Meghan’s explosive allegations of racism against the Royal Family in an interview with US TV chatshow host Oprah Winfrey ‘came as no surprise to black women, many of whom are already aware of the racism within the British monarchy’.
In a separate article for the Independent website after the couple’s controversial interview with Ms Winfrey last March, she wrote: ‘It’s important to stress that these aren’t the Sussexes’ political stances. In the interview, they repeatedly stressed they were willing to serve the Crown, but were prevented from doing so either directly or through a pervasive lack of support. For them, it seems to be a situation of hurt feelings, severed family ties they would one day like to repair, and a desire for some reforms within the system.’
After sending her offensive tweets, Ms Burton initially set her account to private, before completely taking it down.