Prince Harry hit out at the press Tuesday when he used an interview to reject the phrase “Megxit,” a term describing the decision he and wife Meghan made to depart from their royal duties and seek a life of seclusion and media isolation.
He called it a “misogynistic” term, making the observation while speaking via video at a Wired magazine event titled “The Internet Lie Machine” billed as exploring “the real cost of a lie on the internet to ourselves, our communities (and) our societies.”
The word first appeared in common usage when the two left the UK for the U.S. and commentators compared that exit to Brexit, the UK’s departure from the European Union and its restrictive policies. They told the UK press at the time they were also ending all co-operation with them due to their “invasive” lack of respect for their privacy, as Breitbart News reported.
Delingpole: #Megxit! Ex-Prince Harry Got Woke, Now He’s Broke… https://t.co/aiT78VBVC8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 19, 2020
“Maybe people know this and maybe they don’t, but the term Megxit was or is a misogynistic term, and it was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew into mainstream media. But it began with a troll,” Harry said Tuesday, highlighting what he believes is a prime example of online and media hatred.
Harry and Meghan, the couple formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, moved away from his homeland last year to begin a new life in Montecito, California.
A study released in October by social media analytics service Bot Sentinel identified 83 accounts on Twitter that it said were responsible for 70 percent of the hateful content and misinformation aimed at the couple, the Guardian reports.
Referring to the study, Harry continued “perhaps the most disturbing part of this was the number of British journalists who were interacting with them and amplifying the lies. But they regurgitate these lies as truth.”
The two currently campaign against social media negativity they say is affecting people’s mental health.
Megxit: Bookie Slashes Odds on Meghan Markle Running for U.S. President https://t.co/xOjVotCJ4L
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 11, 2020
Harry told the online panel in the 30-minute exchange he will continue to condemn the UK press as well as online trolls because he “lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness.”
“And obviously I’m determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing,” he said of Los Angeles-born Markle, who claimed life in the royal spotlight left her suicidal.
“I’m not on social media — we’re not on social media — and until things change, that will remain the same.”
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