Accused of having colonial hangover, Simi Garewal backtracks on calling Meghan Markle 'evil'

Talk show host Simi Garewal, who made disparaging remarks against Meghan Markle on Monday, has retracted a part of her statement. Simi had described Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as 'evil'.

Actor and talk show host Simi Garewal has walked back her original description of Meghan Markle as 'evil', and said that a more appropriate word to describe her would be 'calculating'. Simi had commented on Meghan and her husband Prince Harry's much-publicised interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Simi Garewal had made disparaging remarks against Meghan Markle, but not Prince Harry.

In a tweet on Monday, she's written, "I don't believe a word Meghan says. Not a word. She is lying to make herself a victim. She is using the race card to gain sympathy. Evil." Simi, who like Oprah has also conducted several revealing interviews over the years, received significant blow-back for her comments. She later posted a follow-up: "I withdraw the word 'evil'. It was excessive. Calculating would have been more appropriate..."

Between her two comments, she'd tweeted the link to a Daily Mail article written by Piers Morgan, who'd described Harry and Meghan's interview as a 'nauseating two-hour whine-athon'. Simi signed off, "Enough of Oprah/Meghan/Harry!!!. Tomorrow is another day.. we have our own lives to navigate.."

One person's sarcastic response to Simi's original tweet was, "I don't know what will Meghan do now as the whole point of her interview was to convince Simi Garewal." Another wrote, "Simi they’re not gonna invite you to the next royal tea party."

A third person commented, "Are you suffering some sort of post colonial repressive Stockholm syndrome?? Do you know these people personally? How do you purport to make such a statement with so much confidence without personally knowing either party?"

In the interview, Meghan, 39, whose mother is Black and father is white, said she had been naive before she married into royalty in 2018, but that she ended up having suicidal thoughts and considered self-harm after pleading for help but getting none.

Meghan said her son Archie, who turns two in May, had been denied the title of prince because there were concerns within the royal family 'about how dark his skin might be when he's born'.

She declined to say who had voiced such concerns, as did Harry. Oprah later told CBS that Harry had said it was not the queen or her 99-year-old husband Philip, who has been in the hospital for three weeks while the crisis unfolds. Harry said his family had cut them off financially, and his father Prince Charles had let him down and refused to take his calls at one point.

(With agency inputs)