Andrew’s Newsnight interview

[LookSoPerfect]

I’ve rewatched this today with one of my young adult kids as they had never seen it and many parts were worse than I remembered.

Epstein served time in prison for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. After he was freed, Andrew went to stay with him at his house in New York for days, apparently to tell him that they could no longer be seen together. In this time, they went for a stroll in the park and had a dinner party together. The part I had forgot was that Andrew said he went to see him in person to tell him they could no longer be seen together because he was just too ‘honourable’ to do it over the phone. 🤨

He really didn’t seem to understand how badly he came across and that the interview only served to convince most people of his bad character and guilt.

He probably did think it went well. He's had a lifetime of getting away with things based on his status and probably has a distorted perception of his own beleiveability based on how people respond to him. He gave an answer for everything and gave himself a little pat on the back! He couldn't see the look on his face that we all saw.

I do wonder if he was somewhat telling the truth about the having to fly out to tell Epstein in person - can you just drop the big powerful people trafficker who has all that dirt on you? Obviously he wouldn't want to frame like that, so wheels out the 'honorable' guff and breathes a sigh of relief.

Well if Andrew is the most honourable man Fergie knows she certainly must be mixing in the wrong company.
Says all we need to know about the pair of them.

I'm both glad someone had a backbone and also pleased he wasn't listened to because Andrew revealed himself to the public in a way that couldn't be walked back.

I have never been able to get through the interview

Can I ask why?

I can't either. I find it far too cringe and can't handle the 2nd hand embarrassment or his smugness.

I watched most of it again recently and it seemed worse after all the information that we now know. He actually tried to tell us he was too honourable. What a sick little man he is.

Apparently after the interview one staff member remarked, "Wasn't he marvellous?"

It's so distorted being royal, isn't it...

People laugh at your jokes even if they don't find them funny.
They smile and nod agreeing with you all the time
They walk out of rooms backwards, or at least they used to with QE2
They agree with everything you say even if they think you're a wanker like Andrew
They compliment and tell you you're doing something wonderfully even if it's total crap

No wonder they are a dysfunctional family and very peculiar

Didn't Andrew also say the only reason he stayed with epstein in new York for 5 days, when he was telling him they couldn't be friends anymore, was because it was convenient to stay with him, as obviously a millionaire would find it hard getting a hotel in manhatten

Andrew is someone who has never been told NO and it shows in his arrogant attitude. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when he was told to vacate his premises and that all his titles had been removed. I bet he was gobsmacked. Too thick to understand why this has happened, because in his distorted view, he has done no wrong.

His Personal Protection Officer tried to insist he stayed at the Consulate in NY. They were prepared for him.
He refused.

I'm actually glad he did the interview. Obviously more would have come out when the Epstein files were released but I wonder if the lawsuit by VG would have gone ahead if he hadn't done it. I think most people were appalled by it and he really exposed his character. It's one thing to hear or read stories about someone but when they damn themselves from their own mouth there is really no denying it.

I bet he really regrets posing for that photo now.

That was me wasnt it?

I'm not completely sure but I think that mostly I got so angry at his arrogance and lack of remorse, knowing that all that would happen would be to lose his royal work, that I found it really stressful. I'm sure Emily did an amazing job but I would have preferred it if she'd ended by telling him he was an entitled prat who had just shot himself in the foot.

I don't think EMaitlis needed to say anything more than she did. She did relevant pauses, she raised an eyebrow when necessary, she said very little in fact. He just loved the sound of his own voice. And it just got worse and worse the more it went on.
Andrew is very good at blustering and that comes over really really badly in this sort of interview.

Hoisted by his own petard

Yes! I saw Emily Maitlis being interviewed about this recently!

She said that she and the producer or camera person exchanged astonished glances once the interview had finished because they understood the significance of what they had on tape.

And Emily M then said they felt really bad because one of PA’s PR people had been terribly kind to them, but made that comment, and seemed completely unaware of what had just happened.

So Andrew did have some sort of official representation there.

Anyone else thinking of how in Julius Ceasar, Marc Anthony turns the crowd against Brutus with his sarcastic references to how "honourable" Brutus supposedly was?

The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

In short, Brutus keeps saying how honourable he is, but all the evidence is to the contrary... so here are the facts - you decide who is really honourable and who isn't.

Perhaps something for Fergie to ponder on!

I'm sure Emily did an amazing job but I would have preferred it if she'd ended by telling him he was an entitled prat who had just shot himself in the foot.

Then they would have had their footage confiscated.

I saw an interview with EM and she said she didn't mean to call Epstein a sex offender but was so flabbergasted when AMW described his behaviour as "unbecoming" that she just reacted. She had to be really careful because they could have pulled the plug at any time especially with someone so petulant as Andrew.

I also believe his daughter - don't know which one - was in the room too. Which is frankly astonishing.

It was Beatrice. And she helped engineer the whole thing, going to pre transmission meetings with her father.

She obviously thought he was innocent of everything. Maybe still does

They were absolutely right not to say anything that tipped him off.

I thought it was the case that AMW told the Late Queen that it was an interview about his Palace Pitch (or whatever it was called) thing. And did anyone else ( C or W) have standing to ask what he was up to? ( And, if they did, he would have been able to tell.them - mum's OK'd it, so mind your own business,)

They're was a lot of stuff about different palace not working together at that point in time. I can't see William or Catherine knowing enough about what Andrew was up to to have suspicions. Maybe William asked Beatrice but as she apparently thought it was a good idea I'm not sure it would have raised red flags. Plus if Andrew was supported by the late Queen the rest of the family was limited in what they could do, it was very hierachical, and what a good thing it was no one could stop him.

The interview definitely gets worse with a second watch and the knowledge we have now. I don’t know how any of the Royals can stand to be anywhere near him.

I believe the family would have known, not just the Queen. If the Queen did hide it from them, that doesn’t make her look good at all and she covered for him throughout.

In my experience families often find it really hard to believe someone they are related to is capable of sex crimes. I can quite believe that the late Queen didn't believe he was guilty. For the rest it may have been a gradual revelation of just how stupid he had been coupled with the fact that they had no power over him if they couldn't get the Queen on board. We all want these things to be cut and dried but often it's messy and evolving. I'm not saying it was right but i do find the delays and the muddle all very believable.

Stupid? He abused and raped.