Looks like Gayle King is weighing on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “near catastrophic” paparazzi chase. The CBS news host recently spoke with Page Six and explained why she doesn’t like people “downplaying” the incident.
“I think it was a very unfortunate incident,” she said. “It’s troubling to me that anybody would try to downplay what that would mean to them. That’s very troubling to me. I’m just really sorry it happened and very sorry they had to go through it,” she added. “Everybody can have all of their opinions, but I always go back to, ‘How did they feel in that moment?'”
As we previously reported, a spokesperson for the couple broke the news last Wednesday saying “a ring of highly aggressive” photographers followed Harry, Meghan and her mother, Doria Ragland. “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 continued. “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.”
Now Gayle King didn’t say exactly who she was referring to when she said people are downplaying the incident, but we did previously share how the New York City mayor, Eric Adams publicity addressed the situation and said he he finds it “hard to believe.”
“I would find it hard to believe that there was a two hour high speed chase.” Adams said. “That would be hard to believe but we will find out the exact duration of it, but if its 10 minutes, a 10 minute chase is extremely dangerous in New York City. We have a lot of traffic, a lot of movement and a lot of people are using our streets.”
He continued, “Any type of high speed chase that involves something of that nature is inappropriate. Police do it under limited circumstances when they’re going after violent people, but to do it because you want to get the right shot can turn out to be a place where people can be harmed in a real way.”
In a statement, the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed the outline of the Sussexes’ account but described it in less colorful language. The NYPD “assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” on Tuesday evening and “there were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” said Julian Phillips, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for public information.