Sussexes statement about Californian wildfires

[PrettyFlyforaMaiTai]

Meghan and Harry have released a statement in regards to the California wildfire via their Sussex.com website.

It reads:

”In the last few days, wildfires in Southern California have raged through neighborhoods and devastated families, homes, schools, medical care centers, and so much more – affecting tens of thousands from all walks of life.
A state of emergency has been issued.
If you feel compelled to help, here are some resources and ideas:
Support
Organizations such as José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which has been a longtime partner of The Archewell Foundation, are serving meals to both first responders and victims of the fire.
CAL FIRE and LA Fire Department Foundation and others are working closely to support firefighters who risk their lives, bravely showing up in these high-risk environments to help save homes, families, and communities in need.
Animal Wellness Foundation is continuing to house and care for animals evacuated by the fires while Compton Cowboys is providing emergency transportation services for horses.
Airbnb and 211LA have partnered to provide free, temporary housing for those who have been displaced.

Baby2baby is providing essential supplies including diapers, clothing, hygiene products, and emergency kits to families in need.
All Power Books and many others are staying open for emergency use, offering supplies and water for pickup while working tirelessly to distribute essentials to those affected.

Open your home
If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do. And be sure to check in with any disabled or elderly neighbors to see if they need help evacuating.
Give back
Some families and people have been left with nothing. Please consider donating clothing, children’s toys & clothing, and other essentials. The American Red Cross is on the ground helping those in need.”

But fair play @MerryMaker it took a few different attempts but congrats on the total deflection from the discussion at hand!

The vigil went ahead - but in modified form. There were speeches and no intervention by the police.

That came 30-60 minutes later, when the crowd did not disperse as requested, and indeed more and more people (booth men and women) kept arriving.

People were arrested for refusing to disperse after the speeches/ceremony.

The comings and goings over the 5 days or so when people were leaving flowers and there was no large crowd was of course totally different to the several thousand people there in a period of a couple of hours one evening.

That's not a comment on the police actions. It's pointing out that Kate did not attend a "gathering" because that gathering was at a specific time, and not the time that she visited.

The vigil was cancelled

No it wasn’t @MerryMaker

Have you told Google about that?

Everyone should just look the other way, let them do whatever …

What about the dozen employees interviewed recently by The Holly Wood Reporter (significant respectd industry publication) in their investigation and expose of workplace bullying by MM.....are they random people?

Yep

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60707646

You are splitting hairs. The vigil went ahead albeit unofficially. Anyway, whether it was official or not, the Princess of Wales was not there in the evening when protesters had been told not to gather. So she wasn’t doing anything against the law or against police advice (whether that was right or wrong) at the time. So the cancellation or otherwise of the vigil is not relevant to the point you originally made. Do you agree?

H & M are private citizens in my country. They aren't elected officials or first responders. They weren't the property owners. There was no reason for their actions and the mayor was wrong to take them on a tour. No deflection will change the fact that they had no reason to be there.

We won a revolution so that we would all be equal ( goes off to throw some tea in the Hudson).

I think if you remove the British connection and imagine Meghan Markle were married to a Danish or Belgian 5th in line to the throne, who went on to write a book like Spare, the sheer silliness of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry inserting themselves into events where they really have no nexus, becomes more readily apparent. Of all the people who could have “toured” the damage, you’d think it would be Biden, Trump, Kamala Harris, Newsom, Pelosi in that order. Even Oprah wouldn’t dare (especially after Hawaii - ahem). Even she wouldn’t have the balls to act as though she’s some representative of the people of California, or someone who could actually do something about the situation.

Oh no….they’re upset

https://pagesix.com/2025/01/13/royal-family/prince-harry-meghan-markle-find-justine-batemans-disaster-tourist-claim-offensive/

“It’s offensive to Meghan and Harry that anybody would think this is merely a photo opportunity,”

Yes, it’s called Hubris.

Well maybe they should have considered the optics first.

Yet another crazy PR move.

To 'clap back' is counter-productive .... why are they fueling this and generating more headlines distracting from the real issue of disaster at hand?

They are, yet again, just putting themselves inappropriately front and centre.

If they believe JB was disingenuous - they could have chosen not to get in her way and let her stand in her own 'bitterness' and the issue would be over sooner (never complain, never explain...).

The reactive grandiosity and delusion of this pair always seeps out.

They are feeling offended!?! What a ridiculous pity play clap back.
They had no qualms about very publicly dishing out offensive comments.
H&M in a hole and they just keep digging, they will be hitting precious metal soon😉

"Countless hours volunteering before the media caught wind" of their actions?

Come off it.

Even if they'd spent every hour since the fire started volunteering it wouldn't be countless hours because they haven't been going that long.

And making out that the media caught wind of it, when they're the ones who issued a statement, then press released more info about what they were supposedly doing to help, then went to Pasadena for a photo op and tipped off the media - who said they'd been alerted that H&M have arrived.

And now they want to act like unsung heroes?

Absolute rot.

They've not yet learned that just saying what you want people to think isn't going to work - shutting up and letting your actions do the talking is far more effective. But unfortunately they want all the PR benefits of being seeing as philanthropic giants, but without any of the actual graft.

They never do though, do they?

Their biggest critics now would appear to be Meghan's fellow Americans. I wonder how Harry's liking them apples?

And then their fans pipe with leave ‘them alone, what have they done to you’ when they are the ones putting themselves out there!

Yes, it's not much of a tactic, is it? 'Leave them be and let them get on with their self-promotion in peace! Why does anyone care about their publicity shots treading around in the literal ashes of strangers' lives and possible deaths anyway?!'

Fuck me but it's desperate stuff.

And now H&M are hurling themselves onto the ol' censorship wagon, that the wheels are coming off. But hey, what's this voice in my ear? 'Why do you care about freedom of speech anyway? What's the first amendment to you? You must be one of the baddies! Be kind! Look away and be kind!'

I may be over analysing it but the ‘source’ using the word merely makes me think it means, yes it was a photo opportunity but we were also genuinely concerned about the situation, ie they were not mutually exclusive motivations for being there.

I’m sure they were genuinely concerned (why would they not be) but they have made people question their motives purely due to all their past behaviours (well mostly Meghan’s) of look at meeee antics.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-14279939/Meghan-LA-fires-Netflix-delay-MAUREEN-CALLAHAN.html

Brutal. I know it’s the dreaded DM but I suspect it sums up the mood in the US generally.

Looks like you have to subscribe to read that. Assume the general gist is not in support of them.

Here's the archived version where you can read Maureen Callahan's MailOnline article for free.

archive.ph/VaspY