Chris Rock Said Asking ‘How Dark’ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Baby Would Be Wasn’t Racist
In his new Netflix comedy special, Selective Outrage, Chris Rock jokes about everything from the Kardashians to Will Smith. And when talking about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s claims that people in the royal family asked “how dark” their baby would be, the comedian suggests that the question wasn’t racist.
Meghan Markle says some royals discussed ‘how dark’ her baby would be
Meghan and Harry have been very open about their relationship with the royal family and their issues with certain family members. Harry spilled some of the tea in his 2023 memoir, Spare. And the couple recently shared some behind-the-scenes details of the family drama on their Netflix documentary, Harry and Meghan.
But the couple first let the world in on their grievances in a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. They talked about their reasons for leaving their positions and moving to the United States. And the duo also claimed that some royals had asked disturbing questions about their son Archie’s skin color before he was born.
“They didn’t want him to be a prince . . . which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security,” Meghan told Oprah. “We have in tandem the conversation of, ‘He won’t be given security. He’s not going to be given a title.’ And also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Prince Harry didn’t reveal who made the comment. But he noted hearing similar conversations when he started dating Meghan.” That was right at the beginning,” he recalled. “‘What will the kids look like?'”
Chris Rock says asking ‘how dark’ Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s baby would be wasn’t racist
In his new Netflix special, Rock addresses Meghan and Harry’s concerns and claims about the royal family being racist. And he suggested that anyone asking about Archie’s skin color isn’t racist.
“Oh, ‘they’re so racist, they’re so racist,'” Rock jokes, mocking Meghan. “Some of that s*** she went through was not racism. It was just some in-law s***.”
“‘Oprah, they’re so racist. They wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be…'” he continued. “That’s not racist. Because even black people want to know how brown the baby’s going to be.”
Rock also suggested that Meghan should not have been surprised by the comments, considering the royal family’s history.” That’s the Royal family,” he noted. “You didn’t Google those motherf******? They’re the original racists. They invented colonialism.”
Asking about the darkness of a biracial baby’s skin color is considered colorism
Rock may not believe discussions about Harry and Meghan’s baby were racist. But according to Dr. Deborah Gabriel — author of Layers of Blackness and founder and director of Black British Academics — conversations about skin color are considered colorism, a form of racism found in white, black, and brown communities.
“The allegation there was a preoccupation in the royal household about what color the baby was going to be reaffirms my argument that colorism is not just about a preference for a certain skin tone,” Gabriel told The Guardian.” It’s part and parcel of systemic racism and inequality. And it’s linked to power and imperialism.”
