Jake Tapper doesn’t suffer fools. He reports the news on CNN straight and he’s obviously more concerned with what’s actually going on in the world as opposed to royal gossip or what some colonialist idiot is doing at any given moment. So it was notable when Jake Tapper was one of the many blue-checkmark journalists criticizing Prince William’s racist snafu. Tapper tweeted out the Press Association pool report remarks and wrote “Read a book about your own family, dude.” Tapper included a photo of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson shaking hands with Adolf Hitler. Meaning, of course, that Europe has a long history of war, displacement, invasion, war crimes and more. And that William’s family has a long history in many of those conflicts.
Well, Tapper ended up deleting that tweet when the “correction” came out. This is what Tapper tweeted:
2/ Here’s video of the quote. It remains ahistorical to say for someone born in the early 80s it’s “very alien” to see war in Europe. The Balkans conflict throughout the 1990s was hideous. https://t.co/tZeY57fesh
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 11, 2022
“It remains ahistorical” yep. Beyond the Balkans – which was a years-long brutal conflict and genocide – William surely remembers the Troubles? William literally has beefed up security TO THIS DAY whenever he visits Northern Ireland. He has rarely, if ever, even spent the night in Northern Ireland, largely because of security concerns which still exist.
It definitely feels like people are waking up to the fact that William is awful, right? When American mainstream media and American journalists are ripping him to shreds openly… well, good luck bringing Keenshot to the US later this year, lmao. And yes, the Keen Caribbean tour is going to be a bloody mess.
Also: if you go to Tapper’s tweet, you can see a swarm of royalists and KP-bots whining about how Tapper is not “apologizing” to William for “making the whole thing up.” It’s like a bonkers alternative reality.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.
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- London, UK, 09th March 2022. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to learn about the extraordinary efforts being made to support Ukrainians in the UK and across Europe.,Image: 668411550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGEPLOTTER / Avalon
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- London, UK, 09th March 2022. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to learn about the extraordinary efforts being made to support Ukrainians in the UK and across Europe.,Image: 668411650, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGEPLOTTER / Avalon
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- London, UK, 09th March 2022. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to learn about the extraordinary efforts being made to support Ukrainians in the UK and across Europe.,Image: 668411839, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGEPLOTTER / Avalon
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- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to learn about the extraordinary efforts being made to support Ukrainians in the UK and across Europe. Meeting with members of the Ukrainian community and volunteers, Their Royal Highnesses will hear about the services offered at the centre, the incredible amount of donations they have received and the challenges they continue to face to get material aid where it’s most needed. As part of this The Duke and Duchess will be invited to help with some of the sorting and packaging of items donated.The Duchess gave homemade cakes to the workers ,The couple where shown around by Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko and his wife Inna Prystaiko.,Image: 668482593, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler / Avalon
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- -New York, NY – 20180726 Guests leaving The Late Show With Stephen Colbert -PICTURED: Jake Tapper -PHOTO by: Jason Mendez/startraksphoto.com This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
I don’t know why they need to do any apologizing. Just dropping the last sentence doesn’t make the first one any better. The remark is still just as awful and tone deaf.
William has more military uniforms and medals than he can count. Yet he has ZERO idea of there purpose.
Also, releasing a minute video of the event really in no way proves that he didn’t say what Palmer originally reported he said. someone like tapper knows that, he’s just not going to go down that line of thought at the moment on twitter.
OMG I just went into Tapper’s tweet and read the comments – it’s a shit show. The Keen followers really are bananas.
Yep, I browsed through the comments and there was a lot of: “to be fair, he was really young then and I don’t remember stuff from back then either.” Like okay? Who cares. He’s the future head of state. It doesn’t matter whether he remembers it or not. I vaguely remember Bosnia too bc I was more into teenage drama, but you know what, I’ve read more about it as I got older and wished I’d paid more attention at the time. Those are a bunch of apologist comments, my god.
Right? this is where people need to stop comparing him to you or me or even to the average celebrity. He’s the future head of state. He gets red boxes. He’s going to meet weekly with prime ministers as well as other leaders. He needs to do better. The expectations are different.
But how old was he in 2014 when there was conflict in Ukraine?
I don’t care how old he was for any of these wars. It doesn’t matter. As a future head of state, at this point, he should have a working knowledge. No excuses. How embarrassing to have a future head of state say something so ignorant and “ahistorical.” To have so many people explaining how you were just too young to remember. William, like Kate, is now being completely patronized by the BM. Aw, let’s give this little boy a pat on the head for just visiting and it’s not his fault he’s such a little baby boy. GTFOH
Thanks for telling me Snazzy! I’m stuck at home with chronic unceasing endometriosis pain, high on painkillers and one of my few bored pastimes is reporting and blocking all the mad cambridge followers and bots on twitter. I could sell my block list it’s soooooooo long. I am the queen of the blockity block. Let me swig some CBD and get to work.
Finally, the whole world’s watching…or at least listening. This will be the defining moment when William put his foot in it SOOOOO badly it will never be forgotten. No amount of sycophantic RR lipstick will cover this pig up.
Going to
Twitter to see tappers tweet LOL)
And the worst possible timing. This will put a really negative focus on the Caribbean “tour,” plus the Queen being ill & Charles paying for Andrew’s crimes. This visit should have been impossible to f*ck up–go visit a charity supporting the country whose resistance to tyranny has united the world. Yet the whole world is now left wondering what’s wrong with this guy.
Getting my popcorn ready….
@ Jaded, yes, you are right. The RR’s will never be able to cover or bury this awful statement of William. William has certainly caused a massive headache for those that are trying to “mold” him. William shows his incompetence on a daily basis, this isn’t shocking.
I agree with you guys and was thinking that earlier — this is never going to go away. William has said lots of other stupid, inaccurate things over the years, but eventually people move on and it pretty much fades away (Covid “joke”).
But I don’t think this one will, I think this could be something that’s mentioned every time Bill says or does anything questionable, the way people STILL reliably bring up the Nazi costume incident with H even though it was decades ago. William isn’t going to be able to live this one down. His racism *and* stupidity were on full display, and the desperate attempts to “correct” it only made it worse. People aren’t going to forget about this anytime soon.
Should make that vaca— “tour” even more interesting!
He said. It’s right there on video ‘we re used to seeing it in Africa and Asia. It’s very alien to see it in Europe”. Of course they want the black women and omid to apologize for telling the truth! Not him for saying it. This makes me so mad.
If these comments don’t ruin William’s reputation among American media, his stans will.
+1
COTD
This was my thought. As soon as I read his comments, I thought – “what?” I am a but younger than William (36 now) and I can distinctly recall the wars in the Balkans, the conflicts many of the former Soviet republics, even the Troubles. It’s especially shocking since William’s own great-great uncle was killed by the IRA. And he named his own son after the man! Is he not aware of the circumstances of how Louis Moutbatten died? It’s sort of galling in it’s stupidity.
I can recall these things despite being younger and not even European. He must be living an intensely privileged lifestyle to be so insulated. Or he’s just generally dumb and didn’t know these things happened. Maybe he ignores anything that happens outside of England?
@Sam the Pink, I am also 36 and I remember the Balkan Wars as well. I know even more about them now, thanks to a case study my Nationalism class did back in undergrad. And I’m just a middle class American. There is absolutely no excuse for a privileged future head of state to be that ignorant.
I think a lot of Americans know about the Balkans because the US took in large numbers of refugees from that conflict. So a lot of us can remember new Eastern Europeans arriving in our towns or cities, etc. I remember an ethnic Albanian family living in our town because of it. You are correct – if your average American can recall these things, a prince of England had to be aware. But maybe not – maybe this speaks more to the isolation he probably grew up in? I would worry about having a King who displays such a lack of knowledge.
@Sam The Pink said:
“… maybe this speaks more to the isolation he probably grew up in?”
No, I think it just has to do with ignorance — willful ignorance, elitism, snobbishness, laziness, incompetence, and ill-preparedness. Not to mention casual prejudice. FFK comes from a fairly non-academic family. They are still operating on the model of just showing up from on high and giving the ‘odd smile,’ and a nod ‘here and there.’
The other part of this is that Will was idolized, adored, and fawned over for most of his life. Once Diana died, the deep regard people had for her was largely transferred to Will. By the age of 18, Will had become the worldwide media’s ‘darling young man.’ I recall when Will made the cover of The New York Times Magazine’s special edition on men’s fashion, circa 2001 or 2002.
Will was treated like a rock star in those days. He never had a clue though, nor an original idea, much less genuine sincerity. Chickens come home to roost, as karma takes its course.
I mean, as someone from the Balkans…. we all know this region isn’t really part of Europe, lol. We’re not perceived as ‘European’ as say French, British, Spanish or German people are. We all know that….
Sadly it’s not just Bill the Idiot, it’s most Western media – everyone’s claiming that this is the biggest conflict in Europe since WWII – errr hello?? The war in former Yugoslavia lasted 5 years and included ethnic cleansing and genocide. But whatever, like I said, we’re not REALLY Europe anywway….
i do wonder what the ramifications are of this whole fiasco, William said something which was reported, and the implications of what he said slipped passed the reporter, due to their own internal bias as well. When it hit the airwaves it went nuclear and then there was a mad panic to retract it. it goes to show that RR should really only attend the puff piece engagements and real reporters should be assigned when ever he goes to the politcal engagements, this was one giant cluster Fcuk! and an embarassment of epic proportions.
“Ahistorical” is a nicely phrased way to say the FFK remains terminally incurious, uninterested, and out of touch. After all, he has the privilege of not “needing” to know about, for example, war in the Balkans, although he certainly lived through it. He could just turn off the TV, right?
Also, right on schedule, the KP bots seem to be amplifying rather than burying the comment. When will they learn?
Let those royalists make a fool of themselves in the comments lol. Maybe now people will understand what Harry and Meghan dealt with.
Also the cart is already out the bag! 15 hrs is a long time on twitter. William has been cemented as a racist.( Doesn’t help that he’s made similar comments before). All the articles that came out of this. Even if they issue a note of correction it doesn’t change the headline and what people read initially.
Jake’s initial post had over 10k likes this one has only 5 % of that. People have moved on/don’t care except the deranged trolls.
The same playbook they use on Harry and Meghan is coming back to bite them in the a**.
Totally agree with this. I’m kinda thrilled if this is the catalyst for people to see Will for what he truly is, though. He’s just as racist and out of touch as the rest of them.
I love Jake Tapper for so many reasons. I’d love to see Jake and William change places for a week. We’d see a great new prince and a truly idiotic reporter. Are we sure the comments aren’t from Russian bots?
Also, it’s not in my lifetime or Will’s, but the Germans killed 40,000 English people with their bombardment of London in WW2. Wouldn’t William know that? Wouldn’t he have learned that in elementary school? But of course, his memory is probably more on intrigues with women than on “ancient” history. Willfully Ignorant. That’s a great name for him (ha ha).
Wouldn’t he at least have gotten some inkling of that in early childhood watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks?
Seriously, William was alive when the Brighton Bombings happened in an attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher.
And when Downing Street was attacked by a mortar in 1991 in an attempted assassination of PM John Major.
This is not alien he should have known this kind of stuff all his life.
His father’s closest confident and de facto father figure Lord Mountbatten was blown up in the 70s, he absolutely heard and had to be aware of that.
During the troubles alone in William’s lifetime from 1982-1998 there were 65, yeas 6-5, SIXTY FIVE major clashes or attacks in England itself or Ireland related to that conflict. You can find a list online by searching. England knows war intimately in his lifetime, the conflict didn’t end until 1998 when he was a 16-year-old young adult!
And of course there were numerous other terror attacks since- the 7/7 London attack and Manchester concert attacks among others.
His comments were absolute stupidity. Unless there’s something actually intellectually wrong with him they were beyond the pale for the so called future leader of the country to be this ignorant. He should be apologizing to the nation and war victims for such offensive comments. He’s insulted every single person affected by the troubles personally.
And apparently he does not know the first thing of his own country’s history and he’s this ill-equipped to be even able to speak with people he meets without completely disgracing himself and the country he represents by putting his foot in his mouth constantly. He needs to quit leaking to papers and having affairs and get go into seclusion to be trained by any experts who’ll help him on how to be a human being, have some intelligence on matters directly related to his country, and be an adequate leader or even mimic one by simply shutting up.
Honestly, he’s going to keep saying stupid stuff like this. At least a few times a year, he will say something that shows his insular racist ignorance and lack of intelligence. The RR better buckle up bc they are facing years of covering up his gaffes and minimizing the damage in the international media. The humiliation they are going to experience each time they have to front for him will be immense. They’re generally shameless within the UK but when it goes viral around the word, they look like utter chumps.
This reminds me of the puff pieces KP used to put out about QEII training William to be king and how he was more popular than his father. Lol. This mess makes Chuck look quite good IMO.
The royalists like to boast that William was in the military but it’s clear that he was just there because he had to as heir to the throne and he paid no attention to what he was being taught at Sandhurst. As I said on an earlier post, he may not have said Africa or Asia but Richard Palmer heard the dog whistle.
From William the Conqueror to William the Awful.
I never really thought it would happen…but I think we are watching the fall of the BRF in real time.
(I also never thought I’d live through a true pandemic or that Trump would be president. But here we are).
William seems pretty ignorant. But I’m more concerned that the previous and potentially future POTUS and ‘Leader of the Free World’ is at least as ignorant. That is a lot more important.
You guys, even if we give him a pass on the Balkans, the war in Crimea and Donbas regions of Ukraine happened in 2014. He was in active military service until end of 2013. Surely he would have known about that war, at the very least. What a clown.
They should be thankful that Jake used such a diplomatic word to describe it.
sexy beast-thats all I got.