Meghan Markle's former 'Suits' costar calls Oprah interview 'insignificant' before walking back comments
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Jacob Sarkisian
Mar 10, 2021, 21:51 IST
Wendell Pierce starred in "Suits" with Meghan Markle.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Wendell Pierce called Meghan and Harry's interview "insignificant" in light of the pandemic.
Pierce then tweeted that he supports Markle fully and that she'd always a friend in him.
Pierce played Markle's on-screen dad in "Suits."
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Meghan Markle's former "Suits" costar Wendell Pierce said that in the light of the pandemic, the Duchess of Sussex's Oprah Winfrey interview was "insignificant." However, he later rowed back on those comments and said Markle will "always have a friend" in him.
Pierce, who played Markle's on-screen dad on the show between 2013 and 2019, spoke to UK radio station LBC and criticized Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah interview for going ahead in the first place when the world is in the "throes of death" due to the pandemic.
"Today 3,000 people are going to die in America from COVID. A couple of hundred people are going to die, even this hour, in the UK," Pierce said. "It was quite insensitive and offensive that we are all complicit in this sort of palace … gossip in the midst of so much death. I think it is insignificant."
However, Pierce has since rowed back on his comments. On Tuesday night, Pierce tweeted: "I just discovered my words are being used as an attack. Well done British Press. Clarity: The British monarchy is archaic in my American eyes. If slavery, colonialism and apartheid didn't educate you that they are racist, you failed history."
Markle also spoke about her treatment in the press, acknowledging that Kate Middleton had had rude press attention, too, but that "rude and racist" are not the same.
The Daily Mail reports that Pierce told LBC that he has not spoken to Markle since 2019, but he tweeted that the last time they did speak, he told her personally that he wishes her the best, and that "she would always have a friend in [him]."
Pierce tweeted: "Because I had no interest in the [Oprah] interview doesn't change that."
Pierce tweeted acknowledging the seriousness of Markle's brave and open comments about suicide, and ensured followers that he is "in no way... insensitive to suicide."
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"Unfortunately my family has suffered the pain of losing someone to suicide. I never was interviewed by the Daily Mail and their story manipulated my words in a radio interview. As I told Meghan, I support her and wish her all the best," Pierce tweeted.
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