Not buying it. Whoopi Goldberg weighed in on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s involvement in a “near catastrophic” car chase.
“Their spokesperson called it a near catastrophic car chase. Others said it wasn’t bad, but I think people in New York know if it was possible to have car chases in New York, we’d all make it to the theater on time,” Goldberg, 67, joked during the Thursday, May 18, episode of The View.
The EGOT winner then cast further doubt on the rep’s characterization of the incident, which took place on Tuesday, May 16, in New York City. “I think their spokesperson referenced something that you generally would reference in Los Angeles. That’s where you have chases, that’s where you can move at high speeds,” she said. “I think they were dealing with aggressive paparazzi, but I don’t think it was where, you know, you’re watching on TV … just watching the cars go … because it just doesn’t work in new York.”
Fellow panelist Joy Behar agreed with the sentiment, chiming in, “Sometimes I’m in the city and I hear an ambulance trying to get through and I think, ‘That person is dead.’”
Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, pushed back at her costars downplaying the severity of the event. “No one ever claimed that there was a high-speed chase and I think when we think about chases, we think about high-speed chases,” she said. The ABC News personality also pointed out that Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, died at age 36 in a 1997 car crash involving paparazzi.
“If they felt scared, I will grant them that. … When you look at a situation like this, where his mother died of a catastrophic car chase and he knows that and [Meghan] knows that, I wouldn’t wanna be in a situation where e-bikes and Sedans are sort of following me aggressively around the city,” Hostin, 54, said.
The View personalities weren’t the only stars to share their opinions on the incident. Megyn Kelly also expressed her disbelief of the reports during a Wednesday, May 17, episode of her SiriusXM show, “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“They’re exaggerating because they like being in the public eye and let’s face it, he’s been trying to make her into Diana from the moment they started dating,” the former Fox News personality claimed of the Duke of Sussex, 38, and the Duchess of Sussex, 41. “Remember early on? She had like a couple of paps following her and he released a statement, like, ‘I’m not gonna allow to happen to her what happened to my mother.’ That’s not what’s happening. Welcome to being a public figure, grow up.”
Meanwhile, Bethenny Frankel — who called the Archewell cofounders “babies who want attention” in January — said in a Wednesday, May 17, TikTok video, that the situation “sounds very scary.” However, the 52-year-old Real Housewives of New York City alum then called the BetterUp CIO “the boy who cried wolf.”
She continued: “Perhaps this was the worst car chase since Princess Diana, but people have a hard time believing it because they’ve been raising their hands so much, saying, ‘We are experiencing the same thing as my mother who was killed in a paparazzi car chase.’ It’s a story that keeps being pushed.”
The Skinnygirl founder then urged the couple — who tied the knot in 2018 and stepped back from their senior roles as royals in 2020 — to take measures to avoid similar situations in the future.
“You can live a very, very well-rounded life without entering into the eye of this very dangerous storm,” Frankel said. “So, don’t go if you know this is a massive risk and you are hounded by the paparazzi ad nauseam and it’s going to risk your life.”
A rep for Harry and Meghan spoke out about the incident on Wednesday, noting that the couple were traveling in a vehicle with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, when a “ring of highly aggressive” photographers began following them.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” the spokesperson said. “While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety. Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.”
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Harry and Meghan — who share son Archie, 4, and daughter Lilibet, 23 months — were in NYC on Tuesday for the Ms. Foundations 2023 Women of Vision Awards, where Meghan was presented with the Women of Vision honor by Gloria Steinem.
