I don’t think it matters much whether she was asked to give a commencement speech, or offered. I’m sure offering happens all the time by all and sundry, and you’d have to be pretty awful to be turned down, which (for the record) I don’t think she is. The main audience was Essence magazine, and the message got out. I thought it was quite a bland message, but it seems to have been well-received by people who found it supportive. So, fine.
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8405595/Meghan-Markle-Prince-Harry-shifting-focus-support-Black-Lives-Matter-movement.html
This, if true, brothers me more. There was a report somewhere (can’t remember where I saw it) about Oprah setting up a discussion panel (maybe for her network?) on current events, considering including MM. The piece I read said Oprah was in two minds about having MM on the panel, lest she detract attention from the discussion itself as it would be her first appearance on US TV since she left the RF.
The phrase that often comes to mind thinking about H&M is “a rolling stone gathers no moss”. One day it’s women’s issues; the next education; the next dogs; then mental health; then environmental damage; elephants; now this. Yes, all Royals have multiple patronages, and yes it’s possible to skim the surface of many causes and it be enough to lend a royal or celebrity stamp of approval.
But BLM, climate change, women’s rights - these are all huge and weighty things. To be taken seriously on any of these, you have to devote a lifetime to these matters. And in these fields, the space is exceptionally crowded with experts.
What does Harry think he can lend to the BLM movement, fgs? He is literally a Prince in the British Royal Family, which remains fiercely proud of its history encompassing the Empire. I mean, come ON. It’s no different from flying on private jets while preaching about carbon footprints.
I believe fully that MM feels passionately about the BLM movement. But she’s married a man who, as an adult, thought it was okay to dress up as a nazi; referred to a P**i fellow military man. Maybe he’s evolved, but it’s difficult to hold credibility when you’ve accepted this ambiguity into your life by marrying it. It’s a crowded field and there are so many more credible headliners.
It’s this fickle, flitting about that I find off putting. Of course it’s possible to love dogs and hate racism and sexism and climate damage all at the same time. I venture all of us do. But to professionalise that and make a living out of it - how does that work, other than through Instagram likes and tagging that onto some other form of celebrity (eg by being a sportsperson, a royal, an A List actress (and even then) etc).