US chat show hosts including Kimmel and Colbert attack royals after Meghan and Harry interview
Jimmy Kimmel lays into ‘inbreeding’ Royals and mocks up an ‘old lady’ blowing a dart in to Meghan’s neck after her Archie skin-colour claim – as late night hosts skewer Palace over Oprah interview
- Chat show hosts from Colbert to Corden queued up to give their take on claims
- Kimmel and Colbert both seized on Meghan and Harry’s racism allegation
- Kimmel joked: ‘Charles has the ears of a basset hound and they’re worried about the skin – and by the way they should hope that the kid looks more like Meghan’
- He also included edited clip showing an ‘old lady’ firing a dart into Meghan’s neck at the crucial moment, when Oprah asks who made skin color comment
- Colbert jibed: ‘It’s never good when the British ruling class thinks someone is too dark. They steal their land and make them play cricket’
- Corden avoided controversy, instead making a gag about Meghan’s revelation that she and Harry were actually married before the public wedding he attended
Jimmy Kimmel last night laid into the ‘inbreeding’ royals as late night hosts took turns to skewer the Palace after Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview.
Kimmel included an edited clip of an ‘old lady’ firing a dart into Meghan’s neck at the crucial moment when Oprah asked her who had made the skin color comment – an allegation of racism from the couple on Sunday night which has rocked the Palace.
Stephen Colbert also seized on the controversy, asking if the monarchy’s ‘medieval selective-breeding program might be racist’ and made gags about Prince Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and Seth Myers also took to the airwaves to give their take on the interview which attracted millions of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic.
‘Silenced’: Jimmy Kimmel’s skit included an edited version of the interview in which he joked that an ‘old lady’ was looming in the background to fire a blowpipe into Meghan’s neck
Kimmel said: ‘No one delivers a ‘what’ like Oprah, huh? Who can blame her, imagine after centuries of inbreeding all of a sudden these people are concerned about the color of a baby’s skin. Prince Charles has the ears of a basset hound and they’re worried about the skin… and by the way they should hope that the kid looks more like Meghan than Harry. No offense but I mean Harry kind of looks like the guy who played screech may he rest in peace.’
Colbert also seized upon the racism claim, saying it sounded credible. ‘I’m gonna go on a limb here and say there’s a possibility, just a possibility mind you, that this medieval, selective breeding program might be racist?’ He said. ‘Also, it’s never good when the British ruling class thinks someone is too dark. They steal their land and make them play cricket.’
Chief among the incendiary claims was that a member of the royal family had raised ‘concerns’ about how dark their unborn son’s skin color would be.
Oprah’s jaw appeared to hit the floor when Meghan dropped that bombshell, as she replied: ‘What?’
Kimmel said: ‘No one delivers a “what?” like Oprah, huh? Who can blame her, imagine after centuries of inbreeding all of a sudden these people are concerned about the color of a baby’s skin.
‘Prince Charles has the ears of a basset hound and they’re worried about the skin… and by the way they should hope that the kid looks more like Meghan than Harry.
‘No offense but I mean Harry kind of looks like the guy who played screech may he rest in peace.’
Kimmel also joked that having watched the way in which Meghan dodged Oprah’s question about who made the remark about Archie’s skin color, it made him believe that she had indeed been ‘silenced.’
He included an edited version of the interview when Oprah asked: ‘And you’re not going to tell me who had the conversation?’
The shot then cut to Meghan and an actress dressed like an elderly regal woman appeared in the background with a blowpipe up to her mouth.
She then fired a dart which knocked Meghan out.
The woman, perhaps dressed like the Queen or the Duchess of Cornwall, is then seen putting a finger over her lips to signal that she wants silence.
The footage then cuts to Harry saying: ‘That was awkward, I was bit shocked.’
And Kimmel reappears to say: ‘Well maybe it was that old lady right there!’
Corden, who stole a march on his CBS colleague Oprah with his own Harry interview, avoided controversy in his take – and instead made a gag about Meghan’s revelation that she and Harry were actually married three days before their star-studded televised wedding.
‘So the ceremony I went to was a sham?’ Corden asked. ‘Can you imagine if they were like, “Does anyone here object to this union?” And I was like, “Me! I do!” And then it’s like, “Too bad they’re already married. We’re really just doing this for show.”‘
He also joked that he wanted his wedding present back from the couple, a toaster.
‘That was a wedding present, not a three-days-after-the-wedding present,’ he said. ‘I didn’t actually I got them a Nespresso, and then I turned up and saw that Clooney was there and I thought “Ah no,” that’s a double Nespresso.’
But Corden’s fellow late night host, Colbert was much bolder in his satire, diving straight for the headline allegation of racism.
‘I’m gonna go on a limb here and say there’s a possibility, just a possibility mind you, that this medieval, selective breeding program might be racist?’ Colbert said.
‘Also, it’s never good when the British ruling class thinks someone is too dark. They steal their land and make them play cricket.’
He also put his own comedic stamp on Meghan’s claim that she had never looked Harry up online and had carried out no research into what royal life might be like.
Colbert said: ‘What? Let me introduce you to this thing called Google. Over there, I think it’s called Lorry. It’s full of useful information. For instance, it says your husband knew Princess Di.
‘That might have been an indication that this was gonna be a rough gig. Also, while you’re Googling, you might want to try the combo “Andrew,” “Island” and “Epstein.” It’ll give you an idea about what the royal family is OK with.’
Fallon opened his take with some serious praise for Meghan for her ‘bravery’ in revealing what her life had been like in Britain.
‘Good on Meghan Markle, for being brave enough to talk about her own mental health struggles and all the stuff she had to deal with,’ he said.
Then Fallon launched into a satire of Harry’s fractured relationship with his father Prince Charles, who Harry claimed had stopped taking his phone calls in the Oprah interview.
Fallon said: ‘Even worse, he’d respond to texts with: “New mobile, whom is this?”‘
He also gave his commentary on how Meghan and Harry revealed for the first time the gender of their unborn baby, a girl.
‘It was a big event, mainly because they revealed the baby’s gender in California without burning down an entire forest,’ Fallon said.
Myers meanwhile opened his show, saying: ‘Today is International Women’s Day, while yesterday belonged to a woman who decided to stop being international.’
