Critics branded the cover “disgusting”
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked outrage after its front cover depicted the Queen kneeling on the neck of Meghan Markle, in a reference to the death of George Floyd.
In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan made a number of startling accusations, including that members of the royal family had “concerns and conversations about how dark his [their son Archie’s] skin might be”.
Meghan said there have been several conversations with “family” on the topic.
The pair were asked by Oprah if these were “about how dark your baby is going to be?”
Meghan responded: “Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.”
“They were concerned that if he were too brown, that that would be a problem?” Oprah asked.
“I wasn’t able to follow up with why,” said Meghan, “but if that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one.”
The issue has now been parodied by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, who depicted the Queen kneeling on Meghan’s neck in a clear reference to the death of George Floyd.
Its title reads: “Why Meghan left Buckingham Palace – Because I couldn’t breathe.”
George Floyd was killed after Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over eight minutes during a routine arrest in May 2020.
His death led to widespread anti-racism protests all over the world, with the aim of raising awareness of police brutality.
It seems Charlie Hebdo has made a crass connection between this incident and Meghan’s decision to depart the UK and step back from royal duties altogether.
Critics have labelled the magazine cover “disgusting”, however.
Others say it is “in really bad taste”, while some stress the publication’s right to freedom of the press.
https://twitter.com/Nadine_Writes/status/1370678104482545666?s=20
Charlie Hebdo was targeted in a 2015 terrorist attack, when two Islamist brothers stormed its offices in Paris after cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were published in the magazine.
12 people were killed while another 11 were injured.
