The ESPYs are still scheduled for Thursday evening. I’m expecting both Prince Harry and Meghan to turn up at the event. I also expect Prince Harry’s acceptance speech for the Pat Tillman Award for Service to be well-received in the room and well-received overall. That’s what the Derangers expect too, which is why they’ve been throwing a huge tantrum about it for two weeks. It reminds me a bit of when everyone knew the release date for Prince Harry’s memoir and so the same deranged individuals all tried to get their hits in before Spare so they could create wall-to-wall negativity. They ended up giving the book millions in free publicity. So it is with the ESPYs – I guarantee that there were will be added interest and added international attention to the ESPYs because of Harry.
As for people getting their hits in… they come across as especially desperate. There’s that Lee Cohen guy who gets paid to write unhinged columns in the British media, all about how much he hates the Sussexes and the Obamas. Well, he’s got some thoughts on the Pat Tillman Award too, but I’m not going to excerpt anything from it. There was this piece in the Guardian which irritated me, written by Arwa Mahdawi: “Harry is the divisive duke – and Meghan is making jam. Can the Sussexes escape their ‘flop era’?” Some lowlights:
When life gives you lemons, make luxury lemon marmalade and sell it to your celebrity friends. That’s what Meghan Markle seems to be doing anyway. Ever since their break with the royal family, the Sussexes have been struggling to find their feet – so much so that last year, Rolling Stone declared they were in their “flop era”. Still, despite setbacks, the pair are steadfastly trying to build their brands. Meghan, in particular, has been busy with her new lifestyle company, American Riviera Orchard. The brand hasn’t launched yet, but she’s been teasing its offerings by sending influencers gift baskets with fruit preserves in them.
While Meghan has had her hands full with homemade jam, her husband seems to have found himself in something of a sticky situation. The Duke of Sussex is now facing a backlash after being nominated for the Pat Tillman award for service at the 2024 ESPYs, a sports-themed awards show hosted by the cable network ESPN. The award is named after a former American football player who turned down a $3.6m contract in order to join the US army after 9/11 and was then killed by friendly fire. It’s given to “a person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of [Tillman]”. Last year the award went to the training staff of the NFL team the Buffalo Bills, after they saved the life of Damar Hamlin, a player who suffered a cardiac episode on the field. This year it is due to go to Prince Harry for his work on the Invictus Games, a sports competition for wounded soldiers he is credited for founding in 2014.
Mary Tillman’s criticism of the “divisive” duke has set off a flurry of bad press on both sides of the Atlantic. Lord West, a former bigwig in the Royal Navy, has said that it is bad publicity for the duke and he should turn down the award. Pat McAfee, an American sports pundit, complained on his radio show that ESPN was “obviously trying to piss people off” by selecting Prince Harry.
Harry has no end of haters in the UK; almost anything he does is bound to be criticised by sections of the British press. But the fact his award nomination is getting so much backlash from Americans speaks volumes about how badly his brand is faring in his new home. The novelty of the newlyfleds, it seems, has worn off; America is growing tired of the Sussexes. And while Harry and Meghan are used to bad press by now, sources told the Telegraph that the fact this bout of criticism relates to Harry’s military record, of which he is very proud, is “a particularly bitter pill to swallow”. Still, rumour has it Meghan might be releasing a rosé wine soon. Perhaps Harry can wash it down with that.
The British press has been trying to make “America is growing tired of the Sussexes” happen since 2020. It’s a line British commentators feed to their domestic audience, because they’re too lazy to explain the nuances of American culture to their readers – the overwhelming majority of Americans view the Sussexes as just another celebrity family living privately and doing their own thing. The Sussexes do not live or die on their public support here in America, so stop spending money on dumb polling of “what do Americans think of the Sussexes?” ESPN is also telling Britain pretty clearly what THEY think of Prince Harry. And that really upsets this forced narrative of a “flop era.” Speaking of flop eras, where’s Kate?
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