We need your help! Join our growing army and click here to subscribe to ad-free Revolver. Or give a one-time or recurring donation during this critical time.

Harry and Meghan are getting bombarded with more bad press, this time from two continents: North America and Africa.

Prince Harry recently returned from a rather embarrassing jaunt to Jamaica, where he and Meghan attended a film screening for “Bob Marley: One Love.” The couple were overdressed as if it were the Oscars. Meghan, clad in a full-skirted black ball gown, seemed out of place, sitting awkwardly in what appeared to be the middle row of an AMC movie theater with popcorn-littered floors. The video of the couple has gone viral yet again, for all the wrong reasons.

Yahoo Entertainment:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently made a surprise appearance at the Jamaican premiere of the “Bob Marley: One Love” biopic. Amid the glitz and glam of the night, a video surfaced showing the couple seemingly hesitating to sit in their assigned seats, which were NOT in the front row.

@royalnewschannel

Embarrassing!!!😱 Former working members of the British Royal Family don’t even sit in the front row of the cinema👑 royaltea royalnews royalexpert royals britishroyals kingcharles royalgossip royaldrama

♬ som original – Royal News Channel – Royal News Channel

Yet, as cringe-worthy as that film screening fiasco was, Harry’s real troubles are brewing in Africa. One of his charities is facing serious accusations of rape, torture of local tribespeople, and forcibly removing them from their land. The situation has escalated to the point where groups are demanding Harry resign as director and for the ‘charity’ to be completely defunded.

Here’s a closeup of the image Survival International shared in the X post:

The details of this scandal are deeply disturbing, and you can bet Harry and Meghan are in a frenzy—probably not over the abuse of these poor people, but because they’re facing yet another PR nightmare.

Newsweek:

African Parks—which counts Prince Harry as a director—has launched an investigation into allegations its guards raped and tortured tribespeople in a Congolese jungle.

Survival International, which represents Indigenous people around the world, contacted African Parks and Harry and Meghan Markle directly to warn them of the accusations from Baka people in Odzala-Kokoua National Park.

A journalist from The Mail on Sunday also interviewed a number of Baka people who have alleged abuse by the guards, including a woman who says she was raped while she clutched her newborn baby.

Ella Ene is quoted by the newspaper describing how a guard came to her house in the night and ordered her into the forest, warning “I’ll shoot you.”

“I was holding my baby while being raped and trying to protect him,” she said. “My first reaction had been to protect my baby. It was very violent.”

Another man said he was cuffed, whipped on the back with a belt and his head forced under water.

He told the newspaper: “Some guards are bad people and their activities should be stopped. What they are doing is cruel and inhumane.”

Harry and Meghan were forced to respond, according to Newsweek:

Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation said in a statement: “When the Duke became aware of these serious allegations, he immediately escalated them to the CEO and chairman of the board of African Parks, the appropriate people to handle next steps.”

These are not just isolated incidents, but acts of widespread systematic oppression, allegedly.

The alleged attacks appear to have taken place against the backdrop of efforts to prevent tribespeople from entering certain areas of forest.

The MoS quoted a Baka activist who said: “When they found people in the forest, they’d kick them out. They would beat people. After this happened one, two, three times, people do not go back into the forest.”

African Parks has said in an annual report that part of its role in the park is “to support
communities in developing income-generating activities, to improve living conditions and
reduce their dependence on the unsustainable exploitation of Odzala’s natural resources.”

Supposedly, tribespeople got kicked off their lands to make way for Harry’s little park. The Newsweek piece goes on:

Survival International said on X, formerly Twitter: “We’re calling on Prince Harry to step down from the board of @AfricanParks, and its funders to withdraw their support – until the Baka are allowed to return to Odzala park > their home < with land ownership rights recognised.”

And that appeared to be echoed by Moyambi Fulbert, a villager in Sembe, interviewed by the MoS: “I’d tell him to stop supporting African Parks. He is a powerful man. He eats well and lives well—but we don’t have anything now and it’s all because of African Parks.

“Maybe he doesn’t know what they are doing to our people. But if he was a good person, he’d stop the pain and suffering caused to our community.”

This whole mess is Harry’s responsibility. He’s steering this ship while these reported atrocities are happening. Harry needs to have a come-to-Jesus moment: either he’s a royal who is dedicated to helping people, or he’s just another phony celebrity, trying to stay in the headlines—the very headlines he claims to despise, by the way.

SUPPORT REVOLVER — DONATE — SUBSCRIBE — NEWSFEED — GAB — GETTR — TRUTH SOCIAL — TWITTER