The Royal Family Forced ‘Suits’ Writers to Remove 1 Word From Meghan Markle’s Lines, Show’s Creator Says
When Meghan Markle met her now-husband Prince Harry, the duchess wasn’t a duchess at all. She was an actor starring on the USA Network show Suits, where she played paralegal Rachel Zane. Once the couple announced their engagement, Suits also announced that Meghan would be leaving the show.
For the seventh season’s filming, Meghan was already dating Harry. And the show’s creator recently revealed that he had to remove a word from Meghan’s lines after the royal family reviewed the script and didn’t think the word was appropriate for someone so closely tied to them to say.
The royal family made ‘Suits’ writers omit Meghan’s line about ‘poppycock’
As one of the most famous families in the world, the royals have always had to be extremely careful about the way they present themselves. This means taking extra precautions that not all celebrities would think to take — right down the lines of a script.
Suits creator Aaron Korsh recently said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the royal family read Meghan’s lines for her upcoming season of Suits and asked the writers to omit the line where she was supposed to say the word “poppycock.” Why? Because they were worried that Internet trolls would splice the phrase, leaving Meghan just using the latter half of the word.
“We were going to have her say, ‘My family would say poppycock.’ And the royal family did not want her saying the word,” Korsh said. “They didn’t want to put the word ‘poppycock’ in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘c**k.’”
However, Korsh did say that he had “sympathy” for the situation and ultimately changed the word. “When they explained it that way, and I’m pretty sure it got explained to me that it was about that [splicing potential], I had some sympathy because I wouldn’t want somebody doing that to her either,” he said. “And the thing is, I didn’t think anybody really would, but also I don’t know. People are crazy.”
‘Suits’ creator Adam Korsh said he doesn’t know how the royals got the script
Somehow, the royals were given access to the script and read it thoroughly enough to notice the word. However, Korsh said he wasn’t sure how that happened. “I don’t know how they got them,” he said. “I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I don’t remember the process by which they got them.” Evidently, someone gave the royals permission. But Korsh said he didn’t receive a call from anyone within the royal family about removing the word.
“It might have been the directing producer at the time, or [Meghan’s] agent. Whoever it was, they didn’t like having to tell me any more than I liked having to hear it.”
Suits recently had a resurgence on Netflix in summer 2023, becoming one of the most-streamed shows during the summer months. Korsh said the “Meghan Markle effect” is likely a huge reason for that. Though Meghan is now a duchess married to the son of the king, she’ll always be known to some as Rachel Zane.
