I’m still laughing my ass off about “how dare Prince Harry & Meghan speak to Gayle King!” Like, did they listen to what she said? Harry clearly told Gayle that he’d spoken to his father and brother and the conversations were “not productive.” King also pointed out that no one in the family has spoken to or checked in on Meghan, and that the whole point of the Oprah interview was to get the various royal courts to stop attacking H&M, which all of the royal courts are still doing. Kensington Palace immediately ran to Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair and one royal source cried salty, wrathful tears, saying: “There’s a lack of trust on both sides which makes moving forward very hard. William is now worried that anything he says to his brother will be plastered over American TV.” Willileaks is so mad that someone else is leaking! As it turns out, all of the palace aides are now incredibly worried that Harry and Meghan might – GASP – just turn to the American media to correct the record whenever the palaces are trying to smear them. How dare they! Please allow the palace’s hatchet men to leak against H&M in peace!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have hijacked peace talks with the monarchy by dishing about private chats to CBS’ Gayle King — a move damned by the royal biographer as a “shocking breach of trust,” according to a report. King, 66, on Tuesday openly discussed her weekend call with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, saying they were still upset and frustrated and that Harry’s chats with his dad and brother were “not productive.”
Royal sources told the Mirror that the private conversations being openly discussed and used against them would “cause alarm.”
“This type of behavior could have huge implications for trust between the camps moving forward,” the source said.
Royal biographer Penny Junor also told the paper that King’s unexpected revelations can only be expected to make other royals more guarded in their approaches to mending the royal rift.
“It’s a shocking breach of trust,” Junor said of the Sussexes repeating their private chats to a TV journalist. “The family will worry that anything they say to Harry will end up on American television.”
Buckingham Palace sources insisted to the outlet that the monarchy would not play tit-for-tat and also reveal negative news about the attempts at reconciliation.
“None of the households — the Queen, Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — will be giving a running commentary on private conversations,” a palace source told the Mirror.
Just so we’re clear: Kensington Palace, Clarence House and Buckingham Palace have been engaged in a one-sided smear campaign against Harry and Meghan for years, with three competing royal courts leaking sh-t and making up asinine stories about the Sussexes constantly. Once Harry and Meghan start to reclaim their narrative, sit down with Oprah for an interview and begin to use their legal resources and their own allies in the American media, then suddenly there’s a “breach of trust” and mass hypocrisy from all of the palaces, who sniff that THEY will not give a running commentary. It’s completely bonkers, unprofessional, amateurish and complete clownery.
The Mail also added this note in their coverage: “There have been a handful of stories published in the UK media reporting that Charles and William felt hurt by what Harry had said, but with very little detail on what was taking place behind the scenes.” THE LIES!! Kensington Palace and Clarence House spent the past four weeks throwing everything against the wall.
Omid Scobie isn’t having it either:
Bit confused here, so just want to get this new royal protocol correct. It’s okay when info is leaked to the papers via a palace source but not when Gayle King shares it on TV? Righty-ho then🙃
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 17, 2021
Photos courtesy of CBS, Avalon Red.
Maybe “the palaces” shouldn’t leak things to the press.
Omid Scobie! dying. too good!
I know, lol! Omid is like FOH with that nonsense!
It’s hilarious to me that Omid has just emerged as seemingly the Sussex’s greatest defender by [checks notes] basically just calling out the Palace’s when they’re being hypocritical.
But the palace had already leaked that Harry and William had made contact. It was right on the front page of the Times next to the story about the vigil for Ms. Everard. They are just salty that Harry and Meghan can now correct the record any time via legitimate news outlets.
Im 100% convinced that those stories about harry and william having contact would be followed by stories as: “william is trying really hard” bla bla bla. Harry just put the truth oht there before the spin could even take place. He knows is family and he knows the press.
Cecilia, I believe you are 100% correct.
Someone with sense needs to step in and tell the BRF that they need to stop this mess before they make it even worse.
This
Sid, I agree. I particularly took note of this “None of the households — the Queen, Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — will be giving a running commentary on private conversations,” a palace source told the Mirror. I guess we’ll wait and see if it happens or not. You never know what those palace sources will come up with.
It is actually hilarious that every article bashing Harry for talking to the press involves multiple palace sources talking to the press. DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELVES?
How dare H&M defend themselves. They will tell H&M when to jump and how high. Apart from all H&M’s defenders, can we just acknowledge Doria’s quiet strength behind Meghan? There’s nothing like having the support of a strong mum when people come for you.
Last week William said he and Harry hadn’t spoken yet and that was okay to reveal. This week Harry reveals, through Gayle King, that he has spoken with both William and their father but that no one has spoken with Meghan, and that’s a problem?
So when William gives the status of whether he’s talked to Harry, it’s acceptable, but when Harry and Meghan give the status of whether they’ve talked to William it’s a breach of trust? I’m confused.
And Gayle knew to ask because KP had already leaked that they had spoken. Harry maintained silence until after they started their nonsense again.
I think that’s exactly what it was. William and/or Charles leaked to Roya, the Times ran with it, Harry fired back. He really is sending a message to his family that he is not messing around and they need to stop the leaks.
What’s astonishing is it’s “working” – UK breakfast TV hosts are all like, we haven’t heard anything from Charles, William or Kate, why are the Sussexes sharing private family business?? While the Sunday Times’ leak about Harry and William having spoken is right there (Roya tweeted it again today for good measure, crowing with pride at her own journalism)! While all the other articles from last week are RIGHT THERE. So either, media is lying and those leaks are lies, or palace is lying about not leaking. Why do they want to increase their audience’s chance of putting 2 and 2 together? Fascinating, maddening, and also, well done Sussexes. Force them to fight in the light where we can all see. A named source will always trump an unnamed one, especially when that name has her own morning show. Love to see it.
Those morning show hosts have always been biased so at this point there are talking in their own ego chamber lol. The audience they need to reach to make this type of propaganda work don’t watch them and now that meghan and harry are stateside they have a way of reaching exactly that audience. I mean gayle really could not be more clear on what harry and meghan want and quite literally said the reason they are speaking out. Notice how everybody is focusing on harry speaking to gayle, but not what gayle said? It’s because they don’t want their audience to know that KP has been steadily leaking
@commonwealthy Nobody is complaining that it’s working in the UK. It’s always worked in the UK. Hence, H&M leaving. The palace is mad because it isn’t working here in the US. The American media is bigger and has a far wider reach than anything going on in the UK and that is the problem. I probably sound like a broken record, but it doesn’t even matter what anyone in the uk thinks of H&M anymore and that’s what scares them: the BM and the RF. Nobody else cares what they have to say.
While the Sussexes were”silenced” the palaces could continue to leak and the tabloids could continue to print those leaks supplemented with false descriptive data (like the in-law flat at Frogmore). But now the Sussexes are talking which is now exposing the hypocrisy that has been going on all this time. And everyone is taking notice. @ Sunday had asked if they (palace and media) could hear themselves. The answer was “no” because they didn’t have to. There was no pushback till now.
Those who worship the monarchy have to believe that they are superior or they can’t explain being so eager to bow down maybe. So they have to suspend any logical thinking or disbelief.
@JT, you got it. The BRF are big fishes in a little pond, and that’s about it.
Good. I hope they work themselves up to painful hernias. That one pic of William (not used here) where he looks like he’s straining to take a poo…he seems halfway there already.
Cool double standard.
It is never not funny though how they throw tantrums and completely expose themselves. Their PR is so bad. So so so bad. When they could have the best of the best if they had any sort of self control or awareness of how their BS comes off to everyone else besides the British tabloid feedback loop.
It’s not even just the palace PR- it’s the colossal arrogance of the entire institution- as if anyone outside the commonwealth even gives a sh!t about the monarchy.
It’ll be interesting to see how TQ’s status changes with the exposure of her private money laundering operation on the Isle of Jersey when that shakes out. They are a family of criminals masquerading as a family of nobles.
F*ck those people. What a den of thieves.
Well, as Harry mentioned, they’re trapped. Aside from releasing an official statement, their MO has always been off-the-record and that model is no longer working. H&M can use trustworthy first and second hand accounts; the palace can only express outrage through anonymous palace sources. That’s why when William answered the reporters’ questions the Royal media were actively freaking out — “omg William is taking it so seriously because he’s responding directly!!”
It IS a new era, indeed…
They might as well say that they are just engorged with incandescent rage that Harry has a bigger platform in the American media to correct the record. Just say that nobody is paying attention to their fifty-leventh version of the “truth” in the uk and their mad that it isn’t getting any play abroad.
My only question is ,did H & M give Gayle their blessing to share their convo?
Im pretty sure they did.
Given their relationship and that Harry and Meghan presumably know how to say “off the record” I assume that Gayle had their permission both to reveal it and to reveal that it came directly from them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is part of a well-planned strategy by the Sussexes and their PR people to gain control of the narrative. Last week it was Janina. A few days ago it was Gayle. Just wait—another friend will be making a statement soon if the RF keeps playing games.
Gayle is no dummy. She wouldn’t jeopardize her relationship with Meghan by leaking this tea without permission. Same with Janina.
If you’re talking to a journalist and you don’t want it published you say “off the record.” Every person even nominally connected to celebrity knows that.
(That doesn’t mean the journalist will always honor that. And in cases where they are given information that reveals a crime, for example, they are right not to honor it if it’s in the interest of justice.)
Obviously they did. They asked Oprah to tell Gayle and the CBS morning show that Elizabeth and Philip were NOT the ones who commented on Archie’s skin tone. Similarly, I’m sure they gave Gayle the go-ahead to give the update on Harry’s conversation with his brother and his father.
If buckingham palace has any sense left they will order all RR to stop covering the sussexes a la minute.
You are so right. It’s so simple….so why is it so difficult?
because then the RRs (and the tabloids that employ them) will have no choice other than to write about the Cambridges. And because the Cambridges don’t sell like the Sussexes, that means they have less incentive to keep the Cambridges secrets. Bills have to be paid, and traffic has to be directed to the tabloids. The palaces HAVE to feed the tabloid beast to avoid being in the firing line themselves. How they will do that with no more access has them all in a snit.
Because the palace don’t want the attacks to stop. They have bigger things to hide
@Cecelia-
A big mmmmhmmm to that. Money laundering and tax evasion of the Channel Island of Jersey being the BIGGEST ONE.
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1qwpnk6j1zv70/The-Heiress-the-Queen-and-the-Trillion-Dollar-Tax-Shelter 👀 👀 👀
Thanks for the link – I wonder whether this is related to the legal matter that some reporters have spoken about, a legal matter that doesn’t involve the Sussexes or Andrew.
An excerpt from the article linked above:
“One of the toughest things about addressing the problems of the island is that it’s run by a confoundingly absent queen. “I often look at how we’re governing Jersey and say, ‘This is crazy,’” Higgins says. “There are things going on here that we don’t understand and can’t control. After 12 years in parliament, there are times I still don’t really know who’s running this island.”
Several years ago, Christensen, head of London’s Tax Justice Network, sat down and wrote a letter to the queen, exhorting her to take a stronger role within her sprawling constellation of tax shelters, crown dependencies, overseas territories, and secrecy jurisdictions, which, he noted, are among the most powerful on the planet. He was blunt, if dreadfully polite.
“I urge you,” he wrote, “as head of state of all these territories, to exert all possible influence to address one of the most harmful faultlines in the global economy.”
While his letter acknowledged that the queen, as sovereign, is not supposed to directly intervene in the politics of her realm, Christensen said he hoped she would make her opinion on tax havens known, as “longstanding convention preserves your right to advise, encourage, and warn your prime ministers.”
Extraordinarily, the queen, through a senior correspondence officer, wrote back. “The queen’s position as a constitutional sovereign precludes her from intervening in matters such as this,” the letter stated. “Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write as you did.”
Christensen was not impressed. “These places are undermining the global economy, so she cannot wash her hands of this role as monarch of all these tax shelters and head of state,” he says.
It doesn’t help, he adds, that she’s also directly reaping the benefits of her tax shelters.
“When the head of state is doing nothing and has offshore structures hiding her own money from tax, it does not pass the smell test,” he says. “A fish rots from the head.”
@ArtHistorian–holy cannoli. That’s pretty intense.
@Art Historian-
Oh, I know. I found the whole thing astounding. It’s the vaunted “Jersey Way,” that has also ignored child abuse in institutions on the Island; not so removed from Andrew’s vile behaviors. Concerns of pedophilia continue today. If one speaks out, one is quickly marginalized and forced out of the community. They are a lawless and immoral bunch masquerading as a concerned institution, who in reality are entirely comfortable continuing as decades before- the filthy, vile lot of them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-40485015
Thanks for the link @notsosocialbutterfly and the excerpt @abritguest-I quickly skimmed and whew it was detailed and confusing due to the coding of names? Jersey is England yeah? But it became clearer at the end about the queens involvement in the off shore tax havens. All the details that I couldn’t 100% follow seemed really interesting though. Were there references to Epstein also?
The way that Jersey is governed sounds bonkers – like some leftover remnant of feudalism where all the officials are appointed by the monarch – and not the elected government. From the article about the financial dealings on Jersey:
“A so-called “peculiar possession” of the British Crown, Jersey in many ways acts like an autonomous country, with its own parliament, judiciary, and treasury that prints Jersey money bearing the visage of the queen, pegged to the British pound. Jersey has constitutional rights separate from the U.K. dating back to the year 1204, but does not answer to the U.K. It responds solely to the authority of the queen.
A major challenge for Jersey is that it frequently operates as a closed-circuit system where any issues that arise can be swiftly quashed by a tightknit group of unelected crown officers, appointed by the queen, who effectively control the power levers of the island. Jersey does not have the same separation of powers as most other democracies: The bailiff, appointed by the queen, heads the parliament, judiciary, and appeals court, while the island’s parliament itself is a unicameral chamber where political parties, opposition, and dissidents are neutralized quickly. ”
This is NUTS! This makes it sound like Jersey is akin to the Queen’s little feudal fiefdom – and it is just insane that it exists in the 21st century. Such a system really lends itself to all kinds of abuse.
@Jais
Check out Zev Shalev’s latest Narativ pod that posted on Twitter last night.
@ZevShalev or watch it on Periscope. The Jersey guest’s audio echos a bit but gets resolved quickly.
@ Art Historian-
It is truly a feudal state in the 21st century. The Health as Social Services minister ( Stuart Syvret) who was charged with ensuring the safety of these children was maligned and discredited by the island parliament. TQ is hands off, doesn’t care bc it is a money maker. It’s an English island, closer to France than England, but is not a member of the UK, and runs itself. Gee, I wonder why that set up is as it is? Syvret himself calls it the Jersey Mafia State, makes reference to BoJo’s involvement with autocratic ties he’s invited into Britain’s government. It lends clarity to Rump and BoJo’s affinity for each other. It’s a fascinating interview. Zev, LB and Syvret also discuss the BBC documentary/ exposee recently released… I’m almost afraid to watch it because it will be so disturbing.
Hmmm although all those twisty details and code names got me wary of Q stuff to tell the truth but I havnt had a chance to look at in detail
But they have no sense, sooooooo
@Notsosocialbutterfly thanks for the link…fascinating. Glad HM got out.
Well at least the rules are clear. The royals can leak to the press whenever they want. Harry and Meghan cannot authorize a reporter to share an update. Got it.
This is probably the truth. I’ve only started watching the royals since Meghan, and there doesn’t seem to be a history of Harry leaking stories to the press as we see with William and Charles.
Great!!! Stay mad.
Love Omid! I know he writes for US media now, but it must be hard covering that beat along with those Royal rota racists. I bet he’s been on the receiving end of racism from them too.
Oh I’m sure he has. Many of them hate him and are jealous of his book success, his deal with Harpers in the US, and the fact that he is not on the “do not engage” list for the Sussexes’ team. They would love to have all that. For him to be mixed-race and have all the success those RR think they should have pisses those bigots off even more.
And they can die mad about that too.
The Montecito Tea Party has begun. Are you ready for another American Revolution, oh precious RF?
Love the tweet from Omid.
Where are we supposed to dump our tea? Can I keep what I have left of H&M wedding tea? I save it for special Sussex occasions.
It’s about control. Whilst a review into the handling of bullying allegations can be announced to the world the issues around the interview were to be handled privately. Bill then went on camera to deny the family were racist and state he would call Harry. The firm then leaked to the Sunday Times that the brothers had made contact and various sources stated how pissed Charles was with Harry’s apparent hypocrisy.
Harry via Gayle only confirmed the call with his dad and William had taken place, it wasn’t productive& they wanted false stories to the press to stop. Thus ruining any British press exclusives about the brothers patching things up and cooing over new baby news etc. The firm then leaks to Vanity Fair that it’s hard to trust any conversations won’t be on US TV!
The firm and British press are upset that the Sussexes are pushing back on anonymous sources by going on the record with their own favoured journalist who has a big reach.
I personally don’t love this briefing war with the press being only winners so I hope someone knocks heads together and there is a transparent review of the bullying claims & that the firm stops leaking conversations etc compelling the Sussexes to respond publicly. But can they manage that is the question.
The BRF is mad that its minions have no pull outside the UK and after Oprah they are useless now. US mainstream media do not use them as sources anymore. More UK Black journalists are being called upon.
Thank goodness! If I never see Camilla, Angela or Penny again it will be too soon!
It’s all about control The Royal Reports wanted to control the narrative around the Sussex’s William wants to be able to bullied Meghan and Harry while not looking like a bully but a concerting caring older brother . William and the royal reporters spend years lying slander whipping up such hatred against Meghan that they thought she would never fight back now that the Sussex’s are able to speak out and correctly the narrative William and the palaces are freaking out . It must be the twilight zone over in the U.K. because William and press have spend years on hatefully campaign against the Sussex’s leaking untrue stories all the time the moment Meghan and Harry speak out all suddenly it’s against protocols and ethics and trust is broken . But it wasn’t against protocol when Kensington staff were leaking stories about Meghan to the press that weren’t not true when everyone in the palace knew Meghan was struggling and still used the press against her . It’s like the truth doesn’t matter over there as long as they keep the status quo as William is good even though there evidences of his cheating lying racist bully ways some how the press needs to make Meghan and Harry out to be the bad ones .
If, as we assume, the Cambridge/Windsor PR teams read these pieces, STOP THIS BULLSHIT. Concentrate on the stuff you SAY matters like…hmmm…maybe mental health? Poverty? Job skills and training? Senior care during Covid? And yet here you are like a mob of petulant toddlers throwing your toys and trying to upstage and ruin your own family. Apparently nothing matters other than saving your tarnished reputations. #endthemonarchy!
Call me crazy, but if I were the RF, I’d be more worried about what Harry, especially, knows, not just about what’s gone on behind the scenes since he connected with Meghan, but about all their business going back many years. They may be counting on Harry’s not wanting to reveal things that would hurt TQ during her lifetime, but the clock is ticking for her and Philip, and yet, Charles, William, etc. seem hellbent on making Harry more and more angry.
They’re also counting on Meghan’s loyalty to Harry. But as the Oprah interview shows, she knows plenty herself. And she has no deeper loyalty to that family; they should consider her a potential loose cannon. (Well, I suppose maybe they do, and is another reason for trying to consistently discredit her in the press.) If she were any other kind of person, I could easily see her releasing information to protect her husband, like, perhaps, whatever the big secret is reporters referred to that’s going on but can’t be talked about for legal reasons (would those apply in the US?), that would make people sympathize with Harry and Meghan’s stepping back.
Stupid, dumb, and dumber.
Windy, as I was watching the Oprah interview it reinforced my existing perception that Meghan and Harry were very kind-hearted (and somewhat naive) people and that the BRF was so, so lucky that they were that way. Because under the conditions M&H had been dealing with, a whole lot of other people would have been going tit-for-tat in the press and dropping info. Maybe all those years of Harry accepting that his mess would be put out there while the other guy’s mess would be hidden made the BRF too comfortable.
Watching Diana and Charles go back and forth in the press made me uncomfortable and I was neither an adult at the time nor their child. I suspect Harry wished many times that they’d both stop calling the tabloids with dirt on each other. William is obviously running the exact same playbook, but good for Harry for trying to break the cycle.
I think you make a very good point, Sid.
I guess I never thought about it, but Harry has never been allowed to defend himself in the press, has he? I know that he’s always been the one that gets thrown under the bus, but he has been silenced all of his life. How incredibly liberating it must be for him to now have a voice. Wow, that had to be a complicated concept for him to accept.
@Sid – A couple of sayings come to mind: “Holding on to anger is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die”; and, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” I’m reminded of the first when Meghan speaks kindly of Kate, and Harry talks about his father and brother being trapped. And the lawsuits, the interview itself, comments by Javinka, Omid, and Gayle, tell me, Harry and Meghan have taken the second one to heart.
After 20+ years of being thrown under the bus to protect other members, I think Harry had a handle on what his family was capable of. What he didn’t know, as he said, was how much conscious and unconscious racism permeates the Firm. What I wonder also is, if he really understood, before he saw how Meghan was treated, what his father and family put Diana through. That it wasn’t just about a toxic media; that her popularity was deeply threatening to people in the family jealous of their position and standing.
I can’t imagine how he felt when told his family’s security and financing was being pulled, before they had a chance to plan their next moves, and at the start of a global pandemic.
If I were Charles, I’d start paying attention pretty soon now.
Again, it’s about control. They leak and H&M can pushback and have a much bigger platform to do so. Ball is in BP, CH and & KP’s court on when it stops.
The trust was broken a long time ago when the Palace constantly leaked information about the Sussexes including that they were in Canada and Harry’s plan for to be part time royals.
The palace can run any lie in Murdoch’s many tabloids but when an accomplished, objective journalist cites her sources they get mad? LOL NO, try again. They love to surround themselves with the men setting this world on fire, and to drown the women fighting for justice. Filthy little hobbitses!
I read the heading and was about to comment exactly what Scobie said:. Leaks can only go one way, huh?
The BRF should worry if the Sussexes are compelled to do a sit down with the FBI about Andrew.
It has to be Will, Kate, Charles, or Camilla who made the objectionable comments because any of the rest would have been thrown to the press by now so KP or CH could go with the narrative of “clearing up the issue.” If the comments weren’t objectionable and could be interpreted as just being curious, one of the palaces would have leaked that info also, with the “but we only said this” narrative.
Everyone in London is freaking out because Meghan is no longer being silenced as Oprah so pointedly asked her in the interview and neither is Harry. They have a direct legitimate news source they can use as a mouthpiece (Gayle King who they have a personal relationship with) whenever they want to correct the record. Who is the American public going to believe, an article from a UK tabloid full of unnamed palace sources/friends or Gayle King, a source we trust and who we know can get the Sussex side of the story from the horse’s mouth? That’s the huge difference. Harry and Meghan can now cultivate and use legitimate American journalists and Meghan’s friends to correct the record directly. The BRF has to use unnamed palace sources (aides and courtiers) since the family can’t come out and say anything publicly directly or use legitimate news journalists due to archaic institution rules.
And I think that’s another thing, William is furious that not only the Sussexes can now freely share information however and whenever they want but they are living life on their own terms. And that is probably making him seethe with jealousy that they no longer have to abide by rules that he has to follow for the rest of his life (unless he abdicates I guess).
FAFO. I have never respected Harry more.
Whiny little b!tches in glass palaces shouldn’t throw stones.
I find this outrage at the Sussexes talking to Gayle King laughable. What the press are really upset about is that someone in US media has a direct line to the Sussexes with no Rota or palace filter. They see their US gigs slipping away and other journalists, outside the Rota and U.K., getting scoops and exclusives they’ll never have. It’s partly professional jealousy. They really know what William and Charles are actually like so doubt they act are about those two.
The palaces are upset that real media are covering this mess rather than their pseudo Royal Rota press and that the truth is coming out via actual journalism.
I can only imagine the BS Will/Charles/their courtiers were planning to tell the RRs regarding the call. Good on the Sussexes for shutting down that scenario before it could get off the ground.
To paraphrase from a line by Walter Bagehot that is used frequently about the royal family: You mustn’t let daylight in on the bigotry, right, William? Charles?
Those unnamed sources is the royal family’s own doing-If what you are saying is the truth put your John Hancock to it-Stop hiding behind unnamed people leaking stories about the Sussexes-The demographics are different in the US than the UK-The Us have over 100 million people of color-The reason the UK tabs get away with lying and leaking because their demographics are 90-95 percent white-I hope they can work out their problems privately but if one side is running to the press with bullshit the other side has every right to defend themselves by any means necessary.