Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be uncomfortable after my manager went on a rant about how much she hates Meghan Markle during a team meeting?

449 replies

AlertBird · 11/03/2025 10:34

So, today, in our team meeting, my manager went on a full-on rant about how much she hates Meghan Markle. It seemed completely out of place and unnecessary, especially considering the meeting was meant to be about work. It got a bit awkward and no one really knew how to react.

I get that people have opinions but I just felt like it was unprofessional to bring something like that up during a work meeting. It felt like a personal issue being projected onto everyone else.

AIBU to feel uncomfortable about this or is it just me being overly sensitive?

OP posts:
Munnygirl · 11/03/2025 13:12

SallyWD · 11/03/2025 12:59

We don't know she lied about people being racist. I'm wouldn't be at all surprised if members of the royal family have made racist remarks. Prince Philip was quite blatant about it. I don't know what she said to a judge. If she bullied people that's awful.
However, I still don't understand the level of vitriol. Loads of celebs are supposedly mean and not very pleasant to people but they don't evoke the same passionate hatred that Meghan Markle does. If she's a bully then OK. It's not nice but I couldn't be bothered to feel the level of rage and hatred that many people seem to. She's just not very interesting to me.

Harry has backpedaled on his claim the RF made racist comments

SingingSonnets · 11/03/2025 13:12

So many people are missing the point, probably deliberately, and using this thread to tell us why they hate MM. This is about a manager behaving inappropriately in a work meeting.

BarbaricYawp · 11/03/2025 13:11

I couldn't bring myself to care about this one way or the other tbh. I think the concept of "being unprofessional" is a bit silly, given that most of us probably do quite ordinary jobs. If the woman in question is a simultaneous interpreter at the peace talks in Jeddah and suddenly abandoned what she should have been doing/saying to rant about Meghan Markle you might have a point. Everyone sitting around looking embarrassed strikes me as silly too. Why not react? I think I would probably have laughed and asked her what MM had done to shit on her cornflakes this morning. But then I'm probably quite unprofessional too.

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance · 11/03/2025 13:09

Emeraldsrock · 11/03/2025 13:08

I don’t like her. Nothing to do race and it’s ridiculous to suggest anyone that doesn’t like her is racist. I liked her at first. Her behaviour made me dislike her!

Nobody has suggested that though, have they 🙄

Emeraldsrock · 11/03/2025 13:08

I don’t like her. Nothing to do race and it’s ridiculous to suggest anyone that doesn’t like her is racist. I liked her at first. Her behaviour made me dislike her!

TooBigForMyBoots · 11/03/2025 13:06

Unprofessional and unhinged. YANBU @AlertBird.

AlertBird · 11/03/2025 13:05

SuspiciousChipmunk · 11/03/2025 13:00

Has she ever when on a rant about Prince Andrew or a white woman before?

Not that I’ve noticed. This was the first time something like this came up and it was quite out of character for her. It did make me wonder if there were any underlying reasons for this but it definitely felt awkward given the setting.

OP posts:
Munnygirl · 11/03/2025 13:01

FreyBentos · 11/03/2025 12:57

How absolutely right that you post this in AIBU, OP. Must have been terribly distressing for you.

I hope it's helping you process things to post a selection of the misogynistic standard BS comments that she definitely made. I'm sure a few more of 'her comments' will spring to mind as the thread gathers a bit more pace.

For the love of God 🙄

I’ve just spat my tea out laughing 😆

SuspiciousChipmunk · 11/03/2025 13:00

Has she ever when on a rant about Prince Andrew or a white woman before?

x2boys · 11/03/2025 13:00

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:49

TBH I don’t understand when people cry about the fact others don’t like her. If nothing else she’s a known bully - pretty good reason to not like someone.

Not liking her is one thing but to have a rant about her in a work meeting is weird and unprofessional.

SallyWD · 11/03/2025 12:59

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:51

You really think she hasn’t done anything terrible? Shes lied, great big fat whopping lies about people being racist, lied to a judge and bullied countless palace staff.

We don't know she lied about people being racist. I'm wouldn't be at all surprised if members of the royal family have made racist remarks. Prince Philip was quite blatant about it. I don't know what she said to a judge. If she bullied people that's awful.
However, I still don't understand the level of vitriol. Loads of celebs are supposedly mean and not very pleasant to people but they don't evoke the same passionate hatred that Meghan Markle does. If she's a bully then OK. It's not nice but I couldn't be bothered to feel the level of rage and hatred that many people seem to. She's just not very interesting to me.

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance · 11/03/2025 12:57

OrchardDoor · 11/03/2025 12:53

No one is bothered about people who don't like her. It's the people who have a real hatred for her and rant about her who seem absolutely deranged. I suspect a few of them are on this thread and realising how unhinged they appear and not liking it.

Edited

Exactly, nothing wrong with not liking her, if you don't, you don't.
Some come across as deranged though.

FreyBentos · 11/03/2025 12:57

AlertBird · 11/03/2025 11:02

It wasn’t just casual chit chat that ran over - it happened during the actual meeting. We were discussing a work-related topic, and somehow she segued into talking about MM out of nowhere. It wasn’t just a passing comment either, she went on for a while about how much she dislikes her, how ‘manipulative’ she thinks she is, and how she’s ‘ruined’ Prince Harry.

How absolutely right that you post this in AIBU, OP. Must have been terribly distressing for you.

I hope it's helping you process things to post a selection of the misogynistic standard BS comments that she definitely made. I'm sure a few more of 'her comments' will spring to mind as the thread gathers a bit more pace.

For the love of God 🙄

DubheYouCantBeSirius · 11/03/2025 12:57

Haveanaiceday · 11/03/2025 10:58

Weird thing to do in a staff meeting but it's a strange world right now.

This. The world has gone made entirely. No-one seems to be able to regulate their mouth or their emotions so I would ignore this, file it away as a brain fart and crack on.

OrchardDoor · 11/03/2025 12:56

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:54

Everyone also “hates” someone they criticise. I think most people truly hate very few people, if anybody. But “hates” is a word that’s thrown round when people just mean “don’t love” or “dislike”

Or won't shut up about her.

Psychostates · 11/03/2025 12:55

I can never understand how some people get so emotionally invested in somebody they have never met. If they haven't committed some sort of heinous crime why are they so concerned?

JoyousEagle · 11/03/2025 12:55

We were discussing a work-related topic, and somehow she segued into talking about MM out of nowhere. It wasn’t just a passing comment either, she went on for a while about how much she dislikes her, how ‘manipulative’ she thinks she is, and how she’s ‘ruined’ Prince Harry.

I don't even understand how she'd make a segue into that. I'm not surprised everyone just sat there, I can't imagine people's reactions if someone I worked with just brought up MM (or any random celeb) in a meeting and had a rant. What a completely bizarre thing to do!

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:54

Jade520 · 11/03/2025 12:53

I don't like MM I think she's highly narcissistic but I couldn't be bothered to rant about her. Nobody has to watch or take any notice of anything she does - so I just don't.

On MN though if you don't like someone who's not white then you must be racist, it's peak MN.

Your manager sounds very strange though.

Edited

Everyone also “hates” someone they criticise. I think most people truly hate very few people, if anybody. But “hates” is a word that’s thrown round when people just mean “don’t love” or “dislike”

OrchardDoor · 11/03/2025 12:53

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:49

TBH I don’t understand when people cry about the fact others don’t like her. If nothing else she’s a known bully - pretty good reason to not like someone.

No one is bothered about people who don't like her. It's the people who have a real hatred for her and rant about her who seem absolutely deranged. I suspect a few of them are on this thread and realising how unhinged they appear and not liking it.

Jade520 · 11/03/2025 12:53

I don't like MM I think she's highly narcissistic but I couldn't be bothered to rant about her. Nobody has to watch or take any notice of anything she does - so I just don't.

On MN though if you don't like someone who's not white then you must be racist, it's peak MN.

Your manager sounds very strange though.

JandamiHash · 11/03/2025 12:53

usernamealreadytaken · 11/03/2025 12:52

Given that MM is at least half-white, would a black woman criticizing her be anti-white, or is that just acceptable? Are we only allowed to opine about people of the same ethnic make-up as ourselves? Given that MM spent a large part of her professional life apparently describing herself as Caucasian, is she a racist?

And let’s fa wit nobody knew she was mixed race until she told us. And very few people cared anyway. The RF certainly didn’t!

JoyousEagle · 11/03/2025 12:53

CatsChin · 11/03/2025 11:00

It's so weird how people get so obsessed by her. I never hear it about any other celebrity. If you could give me a list of say, five female celebrities that make people that irate, I'd believe it was not racism but I can only see it as some sort of weird nationalistic rage against a woman who has dared to sully the royal bloodline.

I'd be utterly baffled by someone raising this at work! How weird of your manager.

Lots of female celebrities make people irate. Taylor Swift gets a lot of criticism, Blake lively as well (particularly recently but also before that). JK Rowling makes a lot of people irate. All the Kardashians.

I'm not saying there's never racism but I find it odd that you think other female celebrities don't also come in for a lot of criticism, a lot of the time for simply daring to exist.

Totallymessed · 11/03/2025 12:53

AlertBird · 11/03/2025 12:38

She’s generally supportive and hardworking but I’ve never seen her do anything like this before. I understand what you’re saying - I’ve had some terrible bosses too, so maybe in comparison this isn’t the worst thing. It just threw me off because it seemed so out of place for a work setting especially given the context of the meeting.

I mean, it's completely unprofessional, but if it is out of character for her to be like this I'd wonder if she wasn't having some kind of breakdown or is under a lot of stress.

Munnygirl · 11/03/2025 12:52

whathaveiforgotten · 11/03/2025 12:46

@Munnygirl

MM fans who go on crazy rants about Kate Middleton are just as batshit as KM fans who go on crazy rants about MM. I'm unsure as to why you think I would think any differently?

If you knew this why did you ask?

usernamealreadytaken · 11/03/2025 12:52

Porcuporpoise · 11/03/2025 11:08

How so?
Going full swivel-eyed loon in a work meeting over a woman of colour who you've never met would suggest something pretty fundamental is going on.

Given that MM is at least half-white, would a black woman criticizing her be anti-white, or is that just acceptable? Are we only allowed to opine about people of the same ethnic make-up as ourselves? Given that MM spent a large part of her professional life apparently describing herself as Caucasian, is she a racist?

Swipe left for the next trending thread