Meghan Markle’s Netflix Cooking and Gardening Series Being Re-Edited to Show Her Volunteering During Wildfires After ‘Disaster Tourists’ Backlash
When the devastating wildfires burned through parts of Los Angeles County, many did what they could to help from afar like sending donations. But Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. decided to actually visit some of the areas affected and were seen touring neighborhoods reduced to rubble where some of the town’s residents couldn’t even get back to at that time.
The backlash was fierce and not a good look for the Sussexes, so leave it to Netflix to clean that up.
The duchess’s show With Love, Meghan was supposed to debut on the streaming platform in January but was pushed back as the wildfires continued. The new date for the show’s debut is March 4 and now it’s being reported that the series has been re-edited and footage was added to push Meghan’s philanthropic efforts and try to erase the “disaster tourists” label she and Harry were given for not staying out of LA while the fires were raging.
Report that Meghan’s show will highlight her volunteer work during the wildfires
The first celebrity to call Meghan and Harry out was Justine Bateman who in a post on X wrote: “Meghan Markle and Harry are no better than ambulance chasers. What a repulsive “photo op” they achieved. They are “touring the damage”? Are they politicians now? They don’t live here; they are tourists. Disaster Tourists.”
TV hosts and commentators then began to run with the “disaster tourists” label. So now it’s up to Netflix to turn the tide in Meghan’s favor and show she was there because she really wanted to help.
A source told the Daily Mail that the former Suits star‘s cooking and gardening show is being edited “to include Meghan’s philanthropic work around the fires” such as visiting victims in Altadena, California.
According to the Express: “A groundbreaking shift in content is on the horizon for [the] upcoming series, as a new report reveals plans to spotlight the humanitarian efforts aiding displaced communities–a stark pivot from the show’s initial vision of transforming the mundane into the magnificent.”
Story from one volunteer at center where Sussexes were backed up ‘photo op’ claims
As Netflix reportedly tries to change the narrative around Meghan’s visit to LA it will likely show her at locations being generous and looking genuine. But someone who volunteered at a site where the Sussexes visited saw something different. They claimed when the non-working royals arrived, everyone volunteering there was asked to leave while the duke and duchess got camera time.
With so many accusations that the 17 minutes Harry and Meghan spent volunteering at the evacuation center in Pasadena was staged, producer and co-host of the Never Not Funny podcast Matt Belknap shared what his daughter, Zoe, who volunteered there told him.
According to Belknap, “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had showed up to that place and there’s like hundreds of people there volunteering. They cleared it all out. Everybody [was told] ‘take 15.’ These people are coming in to pretend that they’re helping and get a photo op.”
Host Jimmy Pardo jumped in and opined that if the prince and his wife really wanted to help and volunteer they would not have asked anyone to leave.
