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Harry pleads for people to stop saying ‘Megxit’

Harry says phrase is ‘mysogynistic’ and started by online trolls

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Tuesday 09 November 2021 18:22 EST
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Harry pleads for people to stop saying ‘Megxit’

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Prince Harry has pleaded with people to stop using the phrase “Megxit”, which he says is “misogynistic.”

Harry told the “Re:Wired” panel on the danger of the Internet “lie machine” that the term was started by an online troll and should be avoided.

The phrase has been used by the media around the world to describe Harry and Meghan’s decision to step away from royal life and move to the US.

“70 per cent of the hate speech about my wife on Twitter can be traced to fewer than 50 accounts,” said Harry.

“Perhaps the most troubling part of this is the number of British journalists interacting and amplifying the hate and the lies, they regurgitate these lies as truth.

He added: “In fact, the term - maybe people know this or don’t - the term “Megxit” was or is a misogynistic term and it was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents and it grew and grew and grew onto mainstream media, but it began with a troll.”

Harry used the panel to take a shot at the media coverage he has endured during his life and the dangers that he sees caused by widespread misinformation.

“I know the story all too well. I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness and obviously I am determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing,” he added.

“And when I said in the mental health series many months ago that they won’t stop until she is dead, that was I guess more of a warning and not a challenge.

“The scale of misinformation now is terrifying, no-one is safe from it, no one is protected from harm that comes from it and we continue to see lives ruined, and families destroyed.”

Harry said that his family would never go back onto social media until things changed.

“I am not on social media, we are not on social media, and until things change that will remain the same.

“We have been led to believe that this challenge is too big too fix and I have learned over the last six months that is simply not true.”

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