I read that their circuitous route was in an effort to lose the paparazzi tailing them. Like...the only reason it would escalate to a "high speed chase" is because they were driving at high speed themselves... I actually really sympathize with Harry after reading Spare. I believe that he believed that they were in danger. This kind of hypervigilance seems typical of someone with his experiences, including PTSD. But I'm not sure there's any way for celebs to prevent people from knowing where they're staying/living in NYC? It sucks! But I don't know that that's a realistic expectation??
If they had their kids with them, which they likely did, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting paps to know where they're staying either. This whole situation really sucks.
If they did have the kids with them I imagine that would be an added reason the paparazzi wanted to know where they were staying and why they didn’t want people know where they were staying. Given we’ve not officially seen pictures of them for awhile, unlike their cousins, there’s most likely a premium on pics of them. And I don’t even want to get into all the racist conspiracies theories as to why that is...
In addition to that, people reporting on the incident are missing bits and pieces that contribute to exactly what they claimed happened, this is either being done on purpose to continue the "theyre exaggerating" narrative or too many cooks in the kitchen giving their version is muddling things up.
Their SUV was speeding down the FDR trying to shake paps, almost up to 80mph. When that didn't work, they then switched to a cab and circled for about 10ish mins (conveniently, this is the cab driver whose statement is being spread widely, the one who didn't even know what was going one beforehand). Much more seemingly small missing details like that contribute to a much scarier situation than probably any of us can imagine.
As a NY dweller this story immediately sounded so fake... the chase they describe wouldn't have gone unnoticed, so as I see it there are two options -- 1. they're grossly exaggerating or 2. they're simply describing typical NY traffic/fast taxi driving, which is frankly, embarrassing for them. Their 'have your cake and eat it too' act is getting old and honestly, everything the couple has done since moving to quaint Montecito (LOLOL) is attention-grabbing and puts their whole narrative into question
Well they’re celebrities and want to remain celebrities, which in itself is annoying just like it is with all famous people... that said, from what I see they want to remain celebrities on their own terms, which are kind of reasonable -- they don’t want to be absolutely relentlessly hunted like they were in the UK, with random family members of Meghan being stalked and harassed for the crime of being related to someone who married a prince, racist coverage whipping weird British people into calling in death threats, and honestly even without them seeking publicity, every UK tabloid has 10million stories on them without them even doing anything. I realize there’s a social contract we participate in with celebrities, that we support their projects and they give up privacy, but the treatment of H&M really does go outside of the social contract. Maybe not this particular incident, but in general. Tl;dr no one has to feel sorry for them, but the way that they’re treated is really out of pocket and dangerous and needs to change
A blacked out SUV speeding down the FDR are a dime a dozen, it makes sense it went unnoticed. They weren't gunning it through Midtown. This is another example of their words getting dissected and tabs putting out a story with fragments of information, people make up their minds and when the fuller story comes out, nobody wants to analyze it. Like the fact that they were with that cabbie for maybe 15 minutes of circling; the chase happened an hour before in a different car. So of course he'll say "it didn't seem like a big deal", and of course that's the statement being spread far and wide.
The chase story was all over the place but I’m not a person who faults them for that... they ( particularly Meghan) breathe and there are 100 stories in the British press. I’m not making it up, some one counted the number of stories written about her one day and there were well over 100 stories on the Daily express and at that point the woman hadn’t publicly been seen in months... you can pretend that this type of excessive coverage doesn’t have affect on the person being talked about or is the consumers of this information ( explicitly or not) you’re not being serious... maybe they should play the celebrity game a bit better and generally chill out but I can understand wanting some sort of control of your own story when so many other people have told your story and profited from it... also we can all have a bit more empathy for each other...
"They want publicity (for their Netflix projects and memoirs and awards), but they want it entirely on their own terms." Like every other public person? You should be able to publicly promote your work, but keep where you're staying private, especially if you've had serious security threats against you and your family (former head of counter-terrorism in UK confirmed this). I find this publicity vs privacy argument very disingenuous. I think we all understand the difference and for some reason we've decided certain public figures deserve it and others don't. I've never seen the press collectively turn on people and spread so much misinformation so quick. It sounds much different if these are the quotes you pull out instead:
From CNN: "Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple’s security team, told CNN on Wednesday that he “had never” come close to the chaos he experienced on Tuesday night. “What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles,” Mr Sanchez said. “The public [was] in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine and started taking pictures until we were able to get out.” And he added: “[I] was concerned about [Prince Harry and his wife] but more about the public because they [the paparazzi] were being so erratic. People were on sidewalks and crossing streets and the [paparazzi] were crossing red lights. We did everything by the letter of law.”"
From WaPo: "Singh, who goes by “Sunny,” said he drove the group a block and a half west to Park Avenue before heading south. The driver said they were pursued by two vehicles: a black Honda Accord and an older gray Honda CR-V. “They kept following us and were coming next to the car,” Singh said. “They took pictures as we stopped and were filming us.” Taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh said he picked the couple up in New York on May 16 and drove them for a brief time during which other cars appeared to pursue them. Singh, 37, who moved to the United States from India as a child, said he got the impression from the group that they had been already pursued by paparazzi before entering his car. After a few minutes, Singh said, the security guard grew concerned about the photographers and asked him to return to the police station. The guard thought they were too exposed and didn’t want their location shared more widely, Singh said."
I read that their circuitous route was in an effort to lose the paparazzi tailing them. Like...the only reason it would escalate to a "high speed chase" is because they were driving at high speed themselves... I actually really sympathize with Harry after reading Spare. I believe that he believed that they were in danger. This kind of hypervigilance seems typical of someone with his experiences, including PTSD. But I'm not sure there's any way for celebs to prevent people from knowing where they're staying/living in NYC? It sucks! But I don't know that that's a realistic expectation??
If they had their kids with them, which they likely did, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting paps to know where they're staying either. This whole situation really sucks.
If they did have the kids with them I imagine that would be an added reason the paparazzi wanted to know where they were staying and why they didn’t want people know where they were staying. Given we’ve not officially seen pictures of them for awhile, unlike their cousins, there’s most likely a premium on pics of them. And I don’t even want to get into all the racist conspiracies theories as to why that is...
In addition to that, people reporting on the incident are missing bits and pieces that contribute to exactly what they claimed happened, this is either being done on purpose to continue the "theyre exaggerating" narrative or too many cooks in the kitchen giving their version is muddling things up.
Their SUV was speeding down the FDR trying to shake paps, almost up to 80mph. When that didn't work, they then switched to a cab and circled for about 10ish mins (conveniently, this is the cab driver whose statement is being spread widely, the one who didn't even know what was going one beforehand). Much more seemingly small missing details like that contribute to a much scarier situation than probably any of us can imagine.
As a NY dweller this story immediately sounded so fake... the chase they describe wouldn't have gone unnoticed, so as I see it there are two options -- 1. they're grossly exaggerating or 2. they're simply describing typical NY traffic/fast taxi driving, which is frankly, embarrassing for them. Their 'have your cake and eat it too' act is getting old and honestly, everything the couple has done since moving to quaint Montecito (LOLOL) is attention-grabbing and puts their whole narrative into question
Well they’re celebrities and want to remain celebrities, which in itself is annoying just like it is with all famous people... that said, from what I see they want to remain celebrities on their own terms, which are kind of reasonable -- they don’t want to be absolutely relentlessly hunted like they were in the UK, with random family members of Meghan being stalked and harassed for the crime of being related to someone who married a prince, racist coverage whipping weird British people into calling in death threats, and honestly even without them seeking publicity, every UK tabloid has 10million stories on them without them even doing anything. I realize there’s a social contract we participate in with celebrities, that we support their projects and they give up privacy, but the treatment of H&M really does go outside of the social contract. Maybe not this particular incident, but in general. Tl;dr no one has to feel sorry for them, but the way that they’re treated is really out of pocket and dangerous and needs to change
A blacked out SUV speeding down the FDR are a dime a dozen, it makes sense it went unnoticed. They weren't gunning it through Midtown. This is another example of their words getting dissected and tabs putting out a story with fragments of information, people make up their minds and when the fuller story comes out, nobody wants to analyze it. Like the fact that they were with that cabbie for maybe 15 minutes of circling; the chase happened an hour before in a different car. So of course he'll say "it didn't seem like a big deal", and of course that's the statement being spread far and wide.
He has ptsd and they’re constantly being stalked. I am sure they truly did feel in danger. The paps turning on them feels like Diana 2.0.
The chase story was all over the place but I’m not a person who faults them for that... they ( particularly Meghan) breathe and there are 100 stories in the British press. I’m not making it up, some one counted the number of stories written about her one day and there were well over 100 stories on the Daily express and at that point the woman hadn’t publicly been seen in months... you can pretend that this type of excessive coverage doesn’t have affect on the person being talked about or is the consumers of this information ( explicitly or not) you’re not being serious... maybe they should play the celebrity game a bit better and generally chill out but I can understand wanting some sort of control of your own story when so many other people have told your story and profited from it... also we can all have a bit more empathy for each other...
"They want publicity (for their Netflix projects and memoirs and awards), but they want it entirely on their own terms." Like every other public person? You should be able to publicly promote your work, but keep where you're staying private, especially if you've had serious security threats against you and your family (former head of counter-terrorism in UK confirmed this). I find this publicity vs privacy argument very disingenuous. I think we all understand the difference and for some reason we've decided certain public figures deserve it and others don't. I've never seen the press collectively turn on people and spread so much misinformation so quick. It sounds much different if these are the quotes you pull out instead:
From CNN: "Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple’s security team, told CNN on Wednesday that he “had never” come close to the chaos he experienced on Tuesday night. “What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles,” Mr Sanchez said. “The public [was] in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine and started taking pictures until we were able to get out.” And he added: “[I] was concerned about [Prince Harry and his wife] but more about the public because they [the paparazzi] were being so erratic. People were on sidewalks and crossing streets and the [paparazzi] were crossing red lights. We did everything by the letter of law.”"
From WaPo: "Singh, who goes by “Sunny,” said he drove the group a block and a half west to Park Avenue before heading south. The driver said they were pursued by two vehicles: a black Honda Accord and an older gray Honda CR-V. “They kept following us and were coming next to the car,” Singh said. “They took pictures as we stopped and were filming us.” Taxi driver Sukhcharn Singh said he picked the couple up in New York on May 16 and drove them for a brief time during which other cars appeared to pursue them. Singh, 37, who moved to the United States from India as a child, said he got the impression from the group that they had been already pursued by paparazzi before entering his car. After a few minutes, Singh said, the security guard grew concerned about the photographers and asked him to return to the police station. The guard thought they were too exposed and didn’t want their location shared more widely, Singh said."