Wessex rude to comedians

[antelopevalley]

This does astound me. The level of rudeness is breathtaking. The Earl and Countess of Wessex attended the Royal Variety Show and met performers backstage afterwards. Frank Skinner and Baddiel were doing their Three Lions song but Skinner was ill and his throat hurt.

“Sophie led the way, bearing in mind I’d had a really hard day and I battled on like a trooper. So she comes up and she says ‘Well, don’t give up your day job’. I thought ‘This is not how the royal walk thing works’. And we honestly said ‘Pardon?’ It’s supposed to be just banal compliments. I said ‘Was it that bad?’ And she said: ‘Well, you know, I could tell, you know, it’s not what you do’. And I said ‘Erm, well, normally we’re like comics’. She said, ‘Yeah, but you’re on screen aren’t you, you’re not used to a live crowd’.”
“I said: ‘Well we’ve done a bit of live stuff you know, stand-up and stuff’. But she’s sticking with it and she said ‘Yeah, but you haven’t done anywhere the size of this’. I said ‘Look, I did the Palladium last Sunday’. She looked at me like ‘you’re not supposed to be arguing, I don’t think you’re supposed to be arguing with me, you’re supposed to just nod’. It was like a really awkward thing.”
Skinner went on to say that Prince Edward also came up to him and Baddiel and criticised their performance. He said that while he could not recall his exact words, he remembered sarcastically replying “that’s a good review”. The comedian felt their conversational efforts were somewhat lacking for people of their stature."

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/frank-skinner-sophie-wessex-three-lions-b2238854.html

@Pugsbladder I had thought Sophie and Edward would be fine at this stuff. It is not hard. They clearly are not.

@Ohnonevermind Was just about to post about Jason Lee. I believe David Baddiel has finally apologised f2f (as part of his own show about racism), I wonder if Frank Skinner has?

Sophie and Edward are fine at this stuff, especially Sophie. She is a quiet, serious advocate for those fighting against sexual and gender based violence used as a weapon of war. A daft comment which should, in all honesty, have been laughed off by Frank Skinner shouldn't even register on the radar of things to get in a knot about.

You would think Frank would be fine at this stuff. It is not hard. He clearly is not.

Had to read the OP a few times, trying to find the "breathtaking level of rudeness". Didn't see any.

It's very, very obviously an attempt at a joke that FS has leapt on to have a pop at some royals and get some lefty cookies.

He's not a singer. The song is a joke song, not a flipping aria. The so-called "doubling down" sounds more like her trying to express sympathy.

And this: She looked at me like ‘you’re not supposed to be arguing, I don’t think you’re supposed to be arguing with me, you’re supposed to just nod’. It was like a really awkward thing.
He's imagining an awful lot of unevidenced intent into a LOOK there.

I am often of a mind to be breathtakingly rude (more like breathtakingly honest) and to astound someone folk. It would only be deleted in a nanosecond though…

C’est la vie.

I've met Frank Skinner a few times through work. He is rude, demanding and incredibly thin skinned. I've also met David Baddiel and he is very nice.

I've worked with Sophie Wessex. She is polite and kind. I don't believe she would knowingly be rude in this scenario. Sounds like a joke that fell flat.

some folk

an edit button would be a treat

Not as much of a treat as a respite.

The Royals are being paid to turn up
and smile, not be rude to people.

They are being paid because they are better than everyone else by dint of birth or marriage. There is no requirement to be nice or competent- that's antithetical to the idea of having royalty.

Agreed. The whole point of a family whose status is by dint of their superior lineage is that there’s no choice or meritocracy, no ‘these people need to behave according to my standards’ or ‘the Crown should skip Charles and go straight to William’. You get what you get, whether that’s a dutiful ribbon-cutting drone, a Nazi sympathiser or a man who sleeps with trafficked teenagers.

I know that is the reality, which is why the monarchy needs to be abolished.
When you talk about a President people say we could have President Boris, forgetting we could have had King Andrew. But at least Boris would have been temporary and would have been booted out. Andrew would have been King until he died.

What would you post about @antelopevalley if the RF was abolished?

It's interesting to see people fall over themselves to defend a woman who was being extremely rude but Skinner should have just accepted the banter, smile luv it's only a joke etc. There's even incitement to violence: 'I’d not mind if she gave him a kick somewhere painful.'

What's even worse is the digging up of dirt on Skinner and accusations that he is rude himself which are totally irrelevant to this incident - something we've just seen after the appalling racism directed towards Ngozi Fulani. How many threads are there about Meghan Markle right now? I don't even want to look. Smear the victim enough and we can defend our Glorious Royals and their Divine Right from the plebs who dare to say they're not perfect.

Why are some so overinvested in these people to the point where it comes across as though any comment that isn't fawning and obsequious is an attack on them personally? It's the sort of behaviour I expect from a 15 year old fan of Olivia Rodrigo.

@Alltheprettyseahorses Totally agree.

"Don't give up your day job"
perhaps this should have been met with, "And the same to you, your royal highness."

@Alltheprettyseahorses

My husband used to watch his fantasy football show, so I occasionally saw some of his unpleasant banter myself, and also saw the blackface sketch he and David Baddiel did. Every week he and David Baddiel mocked Jason Lee, I personally thought it was bullying, it went too far and was hurtful so excuse me if Skinner’s precious feelings were hurt by a joke albeit clumsily made.

he has never apologised to Jason Lee, so I wouldn’t say it’s in the past ?
Clearly Sophie isn’t going to change career at this stage but most people who’ve met them find her pleasant and Frank the opposite

Perhaps SW had had enough of that fucking song being rolled out and sung badly at every possible opportunity to make more money for FS and DB? Perhaps FS has slagged off SW and her family (quite likely knowing FS) or perhaps she thought that FS (being a comedian known for ripping the piss out of other people) could take a joke? Who knows. Personally I wish she'd asked whether his obsession with anal sex and porn was due to him being an arsehole himself. Surprised that you're on the side of racists though Antelope.

@Sweetpeasaremadeforbees I am not on the side of racists.
But I think the Royal Family if on official public duties do not get to pick and choose who they are polite to and who they are outright rude to.

I still think asking her what her day job is would have been the best reply.

Who'd have thought that pair would be so sensitive. She was right, they aren't singers and their day job is being comedians. If she'd insulted them as comedians I'd understand them being sensitive but have they ever pretended to be great singers?

They are probably better at it than Frank Skinner is at singing.

Sophie and Edward would be nobodies if it relied on the public putting their hands in their pockets as the public did to stream the song.

GS and his friends working hard on their Gold DofE award are far more interested in meeting Edward when they get their award than they are in some old comedian. I can confirm that doing the gold award costs far more than streaming some awful football anthem.

Sophie was lovely when she met DS at a concert he did with Primary school in our local Cathedral. Not sure Frank Skinner would have been the same