It has been a week since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The explosive interview, where the couple talked about their lives as senior royals, led to much controversy: From Markle being called a liar for saying she had suicidal thoughts to Prince William stepping up to defend the royal family against the couple’s allegations of racism.
The interview has now inspired a cartoon in satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. In the cartoon, Queen Elizabeth II is shown to be kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck with the caption, “Why Meghan left Buckingham Palace: ‘Because I couldn’t breathe.’”
The caricature draws parallels to the killing of George Floyd last year. Floyd, an African American in Minnesota, was choked to death after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes. His last words—”I can’t breathe”—sparked became rallying cry for the BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement and sparked riots across America.
This particular cartoon has caused some sharp reactions.
“The racism I saw living in France on my year abroad was a WHOLE new level so I’m rarely shocked by Charlie Hebdo anymore. But to make light of George Floyd’s murder like this is absolutely disgusting and can’t be ignored. I feel sick,” wrote a user on Twitter.
“Charlie Hebdo is a racist rag and has been for a very long time. Saying it does not mean condoning the 2015 attacks or being against free speech. It simply means being against racism. Ignoring it is being complicit and plays right in the hands of all those who seek to divide us,” another Twitter user wrote.
“People shocked that a Charlie Hebdo cover is "offensive." In other news, the sky is still blue,” another user wrote.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, who stepped down for their positions as senior royals in January 2020, cited racism as one of the reasons they left the palace. Other main reasons included unkind coverage of Meghan Markle in the British media and unwarranted scrutiny of their private lives.
Several of Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures have caused outrage in the past. In October 2020, Charlie Hebdo was in the news again after a teacher in Paris was killed for showing a caricature of Prophet Mohammed, published in the paper to his students. The caricatures in question were the same as the ones published in the newspaper in 2011, following which its offices were bombed. In 2015, twelve of the newspaper’s staff were gunned down by Islamic extremists.