Why was Prince Philip allowed to keep saying offensive things?

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There are so many examples of Philip saying offensive things such as:

"If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed." This was said to a group of students during a royal visit to China.

"If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" This was said in response to calls to ban guns after the Dunblane incident.

"It looks as if it was put in by an Indian." This was Philip talking about a fuse box in a factory.

There are so many more examples. Why was he allowed to act this way whilst representing the Royal Family? I like a laugh, I can take a joke, but he was so often just really offensive.

I totally agree no excuse. But what the hell could someone do? The police nothing. The government nothing. I’m sure they told him in private and he shrugged and said so what.

It really was the norm.

Have you ever watched any 70s or 80s tv? Bless this House, Steptoe & Son, On the buses, even mild things like Terry & June. Comedy was very different then, and PP was in his 60s and 70s by then.

Yes and look what's happening to the wonderful british sense of humour and our comedy - it's being shut down or our comedians cancelled. My Nana - a cockney would be so confused and upset.

Where did OP say he should be charged with a crime?

The question surely is, why didn’t the media go after him in the same way as they have with other members of the RF when they are deemed to have done wrong (Harry, Diana, Sarah etc). Why did Phillip hold such a beloved status with the British Public? Why did the RF continue to put him in the position of making these comments? The could have trotted him out every 6 months for proof of life and nobody would have bothered.

Defending freedom of speech doesn’t mean enabling people to be racist and keeping quiet about it.

Because he was a rich upper class white man with powerful connections.
They did try to keep him out the public eye in the last handful of years before his death.

Why would the press bite the hand that was feeding them.

I am sure the Journalists were praying he was going to come out with something.

🤣🤣I think you might have missed something too!

The royals like to make out that they don't have any real power, but that they work very hard as ambassadors and representatives of the country. If they can't even do that without causing gross offence on behalf of the whole country, what on earth is the point of them? At least Gerald Ratner only spoke on behalf of his own company and not the entire nation

They are untouchable.

As for her cousins, they were severely disabled and non verbal, and were institutionalised by their mother in the 1930s when QE2 was just a child, she has nothing to do with it. Plus that's what most people did at that time, in all sections of society. It was the norm. It's not even clear if she knew they were still alive, but what should she have done anyway? Hauled them out from where they'd lived for years and put them...where exactly? Doing what?

They were QE2's first cousins FFS. One of them didn't even have a gravestone until the press got hold of it. And ooops, we better sort that!
You are talking like it's a century ago. One of them only died in 2014

Appalling.

👏👏👏I'm absolutely sick to death of them and so are many others.

If you are regularly holding your tongue because you’re told you are offensive, then perhaps consider you are, in fact, offensive?

Have you ever known any older people? You can tell them till you're blue in the face that what they're saying is - at best - rude AF, and if they don't care they don't care. He didn't care.

@Falalalalaaaalalalalaaaa how do you know your child's primary school teacher isn't saying that to her child or her family members? You don't. It just happens to be that he was in the public eye so it was seen. You literally say "Different behavioural standards apply to different roles" and then compare a teacher to Prince Phillip!

Which is the question OP is asking.

Are you suggesting we have no avenue for comedy if we can’t be racist? Because that’s a wild take.

What about Matt Lucas wearing blackface in his shows - Little Britain and then Come Fly With Me (which aired in 2010)? And don’t forget his other characters - pretending to be disabled, homophobic, misogynistic and so on. He’s just been awarded an OBE!

Ahh, if people don’t like racism they are “professionally offended” is that it?

You think people who are the actual targets of racism are generally fine with it?

No that's not what I'm suggesting. I'm replying to the previous posters comment that policing comedy is how authoritarian states start. So don't twist my words.

He’s been dead for years. What’s the point of ruminating over it now?

Because his wife was too soft with him and nobody else had the authority to shut the silly old bugger up.

Probably for the same reason Andrew was able to carry on without consequences, Charles was able to conduct an affair (as was Anne), Diana was fed to the wolves, the Queen Mother was rude and spiteful etc etc - they’re an entitled bunch of liars with no concern for ‘commoners’, surrounded by people who bow and scrape and say yes.

Behind closed doors the queen might have been an absolute bitch but everyone fell for the ‘sweet little old lady’ they saw on TV. She certainly did little to help Diana, Meghan or hold her off spring to account. Nor did she make changes to cut the civil list, and ensured her crusty old relatives were kept in luxury.

William wants to end homelessness. He personally has the wealth and means to do just that without affecting his lifestyle at all. Does he put his hand in his pocket? Does he fuck. He puts his hand out for more freebies and avoids paying taxes on his Duchy empire.

The whole lot are a total waste of space and money. Tourists would still visit - they don’t come here just to look at royal houses - and it’s a weak argument to say they wouldn’t.

People tried to discuss it on here when he was alive and the answers were similar with lots of racist apologisers and minimising.

People in the family that said nothing, at least publicly, about his comments are still alive. Why shouldn’t it be discussed? It’s funny how people are all for Prince Philip being able to say what he wanted, but then try to close down conversation about him. Ironic really.

Which they faced a huge backlash about, even at the time. The racism was probably deemed by many as the least of the problems with LB. It was not ok at the time, god knows why it took everyone so long to remove it from streaming services.

His OBE comes alongside many other prominent Jewish figures. Perhaps that’s been part of the reason he was chosen. It seems an odd choice generally, given he has done little more than his sketch shows and would be considered C-List at best nowadays.

It's a nickname for middle aged, mostly overweight, white blokes of a particular political persuasion. We might not like those people but saying gammon is still offensive. Like calling someone a boomer I guess.

It’s not actually how they start, but people like to pretend it is because it’s a great reason to stand up for racists.

You asked what was happening to the wonderful British sense of humour. What exactly is happening to it, then, in your opinion, if you aren’t lamenting the loss of the “good old’ days” of Bernard Manning, Bless this House and Jim Davidson?

Because at the time we weren’t in a place in where we were fanatical about finding offence in absolutely every comment or opinion towards every area of society and its vast amount of social groups. Most people rolled their eyes and dismissed him as an out of touch upper class snobby type who didn’t live in the real world. We hadn’t yet decided that everyone needed to be publicly shamed, punished & have their lives destroyed for all their past “misdeeds” which would now be judged contextually by new current values which had filtered down from all the “critical theories” being pushed in HE.

He’s dead now and so is his wife. I wouldn’t worry too much about it I were you.