Meghan Markle's best friend, Jessica Mulroney, whose three children all had a role to play in the royal wedding, has had her wedding show, I Do, Redo, taken off air following a race row with Sasha Exeter, a Black Canadian influencer. Mulroney has since issued two apologies and pledged to hand her platform over to Black voices, after being accused of "privileged" behaviour.
Exeter uploaded an 11 minute-long video explaining that Mulroney – who she says "used to be an acquaintance of mine" – took offence to being tagged in a generic post, calling multiple people to action and asking them to get behind the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I was very vocal about wanting my peers and folks with an online presence, to speak up, stand up, to use their voice for good, to help combat what's going on with this race war and what's going on with the Black community," Exeter says, adding that she has always been "mindful" in the way she approached others, "not calling anyone out directly".
The video then continues with Exeter saying unfortunately what happened next was a "series of problematic antics", culminating with Mulroney sending her a "threat in writing".
"I'm by no means calling Jess a racist, but what I will say is this: she is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin – and that gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing," said Exeter. "Textbook white privilege in my opinion."
She also added she found it strange that Mulroney, who regularly speaks up about causes close to her heart, stayed silent on racism. Exeter commented on Mulroney's friendship with Markle too, saying, "Also, her best friend is arguably one of the most famous Black women in the world... I just didn't get it." As well as stating Mulroney tried to jeopardise future brand deals for her.
"In the space of a week, she ticked every box of what a white woman should not do during the biggest racial uproar in history... citing it really wasn't a problem she wanted to share on her social channels, that she would be bullied by the public... claimed her show was more important to promote."
Exeter captioned the video 'My Amy Cooper experience', referring to the now infamous video of a white woman calling the police on a Black man, falsely claiming that he was threatening her and stressing that he was African-American in an attempt to urge the authorities to act faster.
Mulroney has since posted two public apologies to her Instagram account, one on her Stories and another on her main grid, writing:
"As some of you may have seen Sasha Exeter and I had a disagreement. She rightfully called me out for not doing enough when it came to engaging in the important and difficult conversation around race and injustice in our society.
"I took it personally and that was wrong. I need to do better. Those of us with a platform must use it to speak out. I want to say from my heart that every word of my apologies to Sasha over the course of the last two weeks, privately and publicly, is true. I did not intend in any way to jeopardise her livelihood. We had a disagreement and it got out of hand."
The stylist then added that she will be stepping away from social media and giving her "microphone to Black voices", offering Sasha the opportunity to take over her account and share her story.
Markle herself has been outspoken about the movement toward racial equality, something she wouldn't have been able to do if she were still a senior, working member of the royal family.
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Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
