9:59 PM PDT 3/15/2021
in
Katie Kilkenny
The host of ‘Last Week Tonight’ spoke to Jimmy Fallon after his 2018 comments about Markle’s wedding to the royal family went viral following the couple’s CBS interview.
Not long after her 2018 comments on Meghan Markle went viral for appearing to predict problems she would face with the royal family, John Oliver weighed in on her and Prince Harry’s CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey detailing some of the obstacles they faced in the beginning of his married.
Calling the CBS interview “incredible”, the Last week tonight host added during an appearance in The Tonight Show on Monday, “I didn’t find anything surprising. That’s what I felt, unfortunately, her experience was going on.” He said he drew that conclusion simply by watching the royal family from a distance while he was growing up and “they look like imperfect people. This is literally the nicest way I could put it.”
During the March 7 interview, Markle talked about fighting suicidal thoughts while dealing with a demanding role in the royal family, as well as aggressive tabloid coverage. She says she asked for professional help from the royal family, but was denied. Markle also claimed that she heard from Harry while she was pregnant with their first child, Archie, that there were “concerns and conversations about how his skin might turn dark when he is born”.
When The Tonight Show Host Fallon asked if something “shocked” him about the interview, Oliver replied, “The only thing that shocked me afterwards was that Oprah, the next day, saying ‘Harry wants to make it clear that it was not Prince Philip being racist.’ What got me thinking, really? Okay, this is really surprising. “
On whether the family will evolve as a result of the interview and its public response, Oliver argued that the family’s “selling point” is “that it doesn’t change.” He added that this pitch became a risk because “over the years, you realize that not changing is not entirely a good thing, because it means that times may be changing around you and you refuse to evolve” , although he added that the family “obviously should” change over time.
He concluded his comments with a joke about Prince Andrew, who was criticized for his personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. “The only person I think was very happy with all of this was Prince Andrew,” Oliver joked. “I suppose he nudged the royal family: ‘Can you believe what Meghan did, huh? Can you believe it? Dragging that family’s name into disrepute, embarrassing us … she ruined our reputation, she has, certain people ? ‘”
In 2018, Oliver said The Late Showof Stephen Colbert, of Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry, “I don’t think you need to have just seen the pilot episode of The crown to get a basic sense that she could be getting married in a family that could cause her some emotional complications. “He added of the royal family in general:” They are an emotionally stunted group of fundamentally imperfect people doing fake and very silly work. “
See Oliver’s full appearance on The Tonight Show below.