Harry and Meghan learn the US won’t protect their privacy or them from parody
Tiana Lowe
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After numerous reports that a royal couple was incensed over South Park’s parody of its “Worldwide Privacy Tour,” Meghan Markle and her trophy husband, Prince Harry, have announced that they will not be suing the animated sitcom.
Make no mistake. It’s not as though the couple, which has filed eight lawsuits since 2019, has finally abandoned its pettifogging ways. Rather, Harry and Meghan (who specifically left the United Kingdom for the United States because of the supposedly “dangerous” British press) are now discovering that Uncle Sam, perhaps more than any other nation on the planet, refuses to protect them from parody.
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Of course, the U.S. has the First Amendment and the U.K. does not, but the differences run much deeper. Contrary to the U.S., our friends across the pond have criminalized hate speech (not that Harry and Meghan, despite their best efforts, fit under any protected classes). And whereas fair use broadly allows Americans to use copyrighted materials for comedy, commentary, reporting, and academia without obtaining consent from the copyright holder, the U.K.’s “fair dealing” doctrine only allows copyright exceptions for noncommercial research, criticism, or journalism.
What about parody, such as the South Park episode, that doesn’t use copyrighted material but offends nonetheless? Well, the U.K. now incarcerates virtual nobodies for sending “grossly offensive” comments via a public electronic communications network under the authority granted by the Communications Act 2003. Imprisonable offenses have thus far included sending a meme about George Floyd, tweeting “the only good Brit soldier is a deed one [sic],” and even posting in private WhatsApp tweets.
For all its faults, the First Amendment defends public mockery and relentless reporting to the point of defamation (which, thank the Lord, requires an incredibly high legal bar to pass in court) and direct, credible threats of violence. Just as Harry and Meghan were morons to move to America (and much less Southern California) for better and less invasive tabloid and paparazzi treatment, it makes zero sense that they would come to the country of South Park to escape insulting parody.
Only here can two stoners in a basement earn global plaudits for showing the world’s most privileged victims for what they are with no threat of legal consequences. And for that, God bless America.