What exactly is "the Sussex Squad"?

[Prydddan]

I don't know whether this is too controversial a topic for such a thread to be allowed to stand. But I post in good faith on a topic I believe has a lot of social and political relevance.

Does the "Sussex Squad" actually exist? If so, how do you join? If not, do people ever identify as belonging to it?

If it exists, was it hijacked by SarahData and Bouzy or was it their creation? And, if so, to what extent?

Thanks in advance.

I came across the name on twitter. It, as far as I could tell, is the name a group of fans of Harry and Meghan gave themselves on social media. Opinions vary as to the effect they have .

Good job I noticed this was in the Royal Family thread before I made an arse of myself suggesting it was maybe the county cricket team from Sussex.

Forgot to answer

People identify with it, at least on twitter. They call themselves the name and refer to themselves as members.

I'm not sure to what extent those individuals have hijacked it but they didn't start it.

Why does it have a lot of political relevance? Or even social relevance? And who are Bouzy and SarahData?

I don’t think most people spend much time thinking about the feuding in the royal family. But there are some slightly obsessed people on both sides it seems.

Have you ever heard of a website called Celebitchy? It's an American gossip website that is obsessed with the royal family. Not sure why they are so invested in it, but they re very pro-meghan and harry and absolutely despise the rest of the family. They have dumb nicknames for them all and the comments section is completely deranged.

If you really feel the need to research the Sussex squad, that's a good place to start.

So much gets lost in translation and it's actually quite funny how much they misunderstand the nuances of British national life. For instance, they once saw a headline with the word 'nappy' and thought it was an abjectly racist reference to Meghan's kids. They didn't realise that the word nappy is the universally-used British term for diaper 😁.

@Dabralor
Thanks for the recommendation. I think I'll need a few glasses of wine before I dare look that up.

I am not ignorant of the general history of the Sussex Squad. But Team Aniston/Team Jolie and Heard/Depp never took.off like this.

I think, like those teams, this is limited to twitter in general and some other social media in passing. I would say the other two you mention would probably be more familiar to the general public.

Assumed it was a small group of their employees. They have been through quite a few so maybe it's just Omid by himself now.

In the film 'Mississippi Masala' Denzel Washington plays a person called Demetrius. He talks about his hair because he feels that it's time he went to the barbers for a hair-cut. He calls his hair 'nappy'. I had never heard the word used to describe hair before and in the context that it was used in the film I didn't have any idea that it is/was considered racist. This is a tangent comment but who can be sorry to be side-tracked down a little rabbit hole to think of Denzel?

@Prydddan I can see that you wrote that you are not ignorant of the history of the Sussex Squad. For someone who is ignorant (i.e. me) why do these people have political consequences? And who are Bouzy and SarahData? I googled Bouzy but all it came up with was names of champagnes, which I am guessing is not what is meant.

From what I can tell they are just a ‘rent a mob’ I didn’t follow any of the Depp/Heard drama but believe the same lot were behind the online games there too.

I doubt they have any personal skin in the game as far as most won’t really give a toss about the actual cause they are trolling for, but it’s a business model for the ‘leaders’ and probably available to hire for any cause you fancy for the right price

Denzel, yes.

But now I'm going to have to work at not imagining him with a nappy in his head.

Well, they are getting journalists ( well, at least one) fired and seem to be targeting whomever is in line to be our next Head of State in a way that is leaking into MSM.

@Prydddan Are you from the USA? We have a Prime minister here in the UK so I’m not sure who you referring to as the next Head of State? Biden (assuming re-elected) or Trump for example?

The PM is the Head of Government in the United Kingdom.

The King is Head of State.

Thanks @IcedPurple so this is something to do with William then (as the next in line to be King). I’m not exactly sure why it can’t be said outright? But to repeat my question, why do this group of people have political and social consequences for William?

I thought there was some political scandal brewing that I had missed, but I am beginning to think this is just a made-up story by some people talking together on the internet who happen to support one side of the royal family about some other people also talking together on the internet who are supporting the other side.

My understanding of Celebitchy is that they actively try to debunk the untrue stories peddled by the British gutter press. This angers some but many others agree with it. They do use some silly names which doesn’t help their case.

@Turtlerussell That is quite a implication you make, that one side of the royal family feud is colluding with the Russians to destabilise the other side. Do you really believe that? Or did I misunderstand?

The BBC article that you linked to covers Russian disinformation campaigns on the royal family but also Macron (and wasn’t it the same for Brexit and maybe also Hilary Clinton email server scandal where the Russians interfered?). I think that is actually quite sad that the Russians (Putin) would do that to what I would say is a non-political person.

But I still can’t see what these Sussex Squad people have to do with Russians?

The Sussex squad is a mixture of groups, there appears to be a centre group, that Harry has acknowledged through senteble for fundraising, Bouzy himself reported that he was hired by Meghan to collect data (as opposed to be hired by a third party in Amber Heards case). Bouzy job is to target through algorithms hate posts or even disagreeable post. Which means he can give stats on Meghan but not on Catherine. His reporting is essentially biased. He has a reputation of engaging with his clients supporters who then group target opposing accounts and been known to doxx. Bouzy meets regularly with Sussex squad members. Bouzy eventually is a hindrance as he has a god complex. There is then the bots where they come from is unknown. Some BLM have been attracted, some anti monarchists, some are plain stalkers. Some genuinely support Meghan and Harry and do not troll. Some will be PR bought. Basically a minefield who have done damage by using “Sussex”.