Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Threatened With New Lawsuit

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could face a second lawsuit over their Netflix show after a YouTuber accused them of "slander" and "mischaracterization."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex soared to the top of the Netflix charts with Harry & Meghan in December, but also drew criticism from a range of sources.

Passages from the show have been included in a re-filed defamation lawsuit brought by her sister Samantha Markle, which Meghan is attempting to get thrown out.

Now YouTuber Shallon Lester says she too believes she was misrepresented after a clip from her channel briefly flashed up during a section about online trolls.

In a recent YouTube video, she said: "Believe me when I say I'm pursuing every opportunity—my lawyer's gonna be mad—to nail their ass to the wall for this. It's defamation, it's slander, it's mischaracterization."

What Harry and Meghan's Netflix Show Said About Shallon Lester

Lester, who has 350,000 subscribers, says very little in the show and is never mentioned by name. However, her name is briefly flashed up on screen during a section about online trolls.

In a snippet from her YouTube channel she says "...because she's separated him from his core..." before the montage cuts away. It is not clear from the clip what point Lester was making.

It was shown during an interview with Christopher Bouzy of data analysis firm Bot Sentinel in which he gave background about a more general online campaign against Meghan. He did not name Lester during the broadcast.

Bouzy said: "It was done by people who are not the typical quote-unquote trolls.

"These are housewives. These are middle-aged, Caucasian women creating attacks from 'go back to America' to 'why don't you die.' Samantha Markle was part of the group that was putting out a lot of this misinformation."

How Shallon Lester Responded on YouTube

Lester said on YouTube: "Guess who popped up in their Netflix documentary in an episode all about a shadowy cabal of housewives, no influencers, but also housewives, who are nobodies, and yet wait, no, but they have this huge army of online people, but maybe bots, but also people because they're influencers, but maybe housewives, making all of these evil tweets and orchestrating this grand campaign against Meghan and Harry online.

"And it's me. My picture came up in this. My picture, my video flashed on the screen."

"Meghan and Harry can't seem to accept the plain truth people don't like them," she continued. "They don't like them on the micro level. People like me where I'm like 'I can see what a s***-ass person you are Megan. I can see how manipulative you are'."

She refuted suggestions her opposition to Meghan was racially motivated: "From day one I have been judging Meghan Markle not by the color of her skin but by the content of her character.

"Who was it that said that? Martin somebody? I can't remember but today I'm judging her by the content of her actual content. I don't know if MLK saw that one coming."

She then took a swipe at Meghan and Harry over the collapse of their Spotify podcast deal, which produced one 12-part show, Archetypes.

In a follow up YouTube video, Lester added: "Meghan Markle is the archetype—ironically—of everything that I find wrong and frightening and irritating in the world. She is a professional victim.

"She has entrenched so hard into an undeserved, mostly self-created, victim narrative that it's become her entire identity."

Bouzy told Newsweek: "Until recently, the name Shallon Lester was unfamiliar to me. There had been no reference to her in any of our reports, and I did not comment on her in the Meghan and Harry docuseries.

"Given this, it is somewhat perplexing why she has chosen to step into the public eye at this juncture, unless it is with the objective of enhancing her visibility in the media and thereby, potentially boosting traffic to her YouTube channel.

"Regrettably, Ms. Lester's decision to threaten a lawsuit does not come as a surprise. We are currently witnessing a growing trend among certain YouTube content creators who profit from being mean to others, whereby they employ meritless SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) as a tool to intimidate and silence criticism through expensive, baseless legal proceedings."

How it Compares to Samantha Markle's Existing Lawsuit

Lester's clapback against the documentary effectively takes the same form as elements of Samantha Markle's lawsuit by arguing that she was wrongly described as being part of an online campaign which included, for example, racist messages.

There is nothing to suggest Lester has ever posted the kind of messages Bouzy was describing in his interview and Bouzy does not appear to have been talking specifically about her.

The quote relating to Caucasian women that played immediately after the clip of Lester is among the evidence in Samantha's lawsuit.

A filing seen by Newsweek reads: "The description certainly fits Samantha. Also, she said 'then [also] there would be derogatory terms where they would use the N-word on Tweets.'

"Samantha never used the N-word on any Tweets. It is completely false and, in fact,
antithetically foreign to her and her belief system. Samantha is not racist and would never use that word or any other epithet."

In May, Bouzy told Newsweek: "Every statement documented in our reports and included in the Netflix docuseries was corroborated by Twitter and independently verified by reputable news agencies.

"I recommend that Samantha Markle's legal team direct their creative energies to more constructive outlets rather than drafting plots more fitting for a tabloid or daytime soap opera."

If Lester does intend to pursue legal action, Samantha's case may serve as a barometer for how likely she is to succeed.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Update 07/06/23, 1:16 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Christopher Bouzy.