Ever since his shock departure from The Today Show, Karl Stefanovic has been scrutinised within an inch of his life.
But after his 60 Minutes segment on how Meghan Markle has “lost her sparkle” aired on Sunday night, the Channel Nine journalist has been labelled a “racist” and “hypocrite” not just by Aussie viewers, but by people from around the world.
In his introduction to the segment, Karl remarked that following Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s royal wedding, they “took on the role of Duke and Duchess of the world.”
“But now something has happened … the couple appear to want a little privacy,” he continued.
“Too much to ask? You bet! The public feel cheated, the tabloids have turned, and the blame game – much of it directed at Meghan – is fierce.”
Karl’s scrutiny of Harry and Meghan’s desire for privacy, however, was certainly noticed by viewers who pointed out that he himself has demanded privacy from the media on numerous occasions following his highly-publicised split from his wife Cassandra Thorburn and subsequent marriage to Jasmine Yarbrough.
“Watching the hypocrisy of Karl Stefanovic scrutinising a public person after pleading for his own privacy for two years – I mean, what is this?” remarked one person on social media.
Meanwhile, Karl and 60 Minutes have also been slammed for giving leverage to racist commentary including one member of royal staff, who labelled the mistreatment of Meghan based on her race as “misleading” and “irrelevant.”
The segment also heavily featured British commentator Katie Hopkins whose conservative, racist viewpoints have been the subject of many headlines.
“I think that’s where people go with this. If I criticise Meghan, as we can hear I am, people say, ‘Well, you’re racist.’ And, honestly, it’s not even a second thought to me,” Hopkins states on the show.
Later, the British commentator stated, “She’s a no one. She’s a divorcee. When did we want a divorcee in the royal family? She wears bad clothes. When did we ask for that? We’ve just got so much better of our own.”
Katie Hopkins’ controversial opinions have been making headlines for years.
(Image: Nine Network)Actress and body image activist Jameela Jamil, who also featured in Duchess Meghan’s guest-edited September issue of British Vogue, took to Twitter to express her outrage at the show’s decision to highlight Hopkins.
“If you have to bring in Katie Hopkins, you’re scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel, So immediately we can dismiss this trash ‘entertainment’ as any form of ‘journalism’. Are there any POC in this doc other than the woman being bullied? WHERE’S THE DOC ON ANDREW THE PEDO?” she tweeted.
Royal reporter Omid Scobie also penned, “Of our own” — SHAME ON YOU @60mins for giving this racist cretin a platform.”
Other royal fans were quick to point out that the current affairs show should have focused on Prince Andrew’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
“Bringing Katie Hopkins, the raging bigot, on to comment on Megan Markle is disgusting. Who thought that good tv? @60Mins #60Minutes p.s when will you cover Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein?” one person tweeted.
Another wrote, “How is it that the beautiful #MeghanMarkle is receiving such negative publicity when it has been reported that #PrinceAndrew had a connection with #JeffreyEpstein? So disappointing @60Minutes~ you’ve sunk as low as the trashiest tabloids #thumbsdown #60minutes.”
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