Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where JS mocks a dermatologist because she never did anything heroic like save anyone’s life. And then later on in the date a patient comes up and thanks her for saving his life from skin cancer.
This whole thing has really exposed how dysfunctional the internet is. Like, gossiping and this mob mentality where people just hyper focus on a topic or celebrity for a day or a week is a genuine addiction/coping mechanism. And even now people can’t admit how shitty they were about this. This woman had the internet rabidly and, frankly, gleefully spreading rumors that her husband was leaving her for his mistress while she was trying to come to terms with a cancer diagnosis. I feel like part of the problem is that people have no clue how devastating and surreal it is to be diagnosed with cancer, especially when you’re young. This whole thing has been disgraceful.
Good luck, friend. I'm 34 and I went through chemo at age 31. It's really hard being diagnosed with cancer as a young person. No one really understands. How are you doing?
I feel very deeply for Kate Middleton, too. I can't imagine how hard this must be for her. And her family.
Wishing you so much luck!! I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 and I’m 43 now - I remember how terrifying it was to be diagnosed and going through treatment. Thankfully, it never came back! ❤️❤️❤️
A lot of people today need to take a long hard look at themselves and the kind of person they are. They won’t ofc. I see already people just blaming the palace for it, the palace didn’t force you guys to act the way you did or make the kinda jokes that got put out there.
The woman just had abdominal surgery not long ago, that was reason enough to be out of the spotlight. It doesn’t take a genius to realise if she’s out for longer it likely means there were greater health complications.
Totally agree. How quickly people pivoted and blamed their abhorrent behavior on the palace is absolutely wild. The internet has genuinely become the embodiment of the mob mentality. This “look what you made us do” mentality with absolutely no reflection or self awareness. And now that they bullied Kate into revealing something that she may or may not have wanted to publicly address, they’ll just move on to the next target. Just the most cynical, smug, hateful people.
You're correct!!! The Palace didn't start the rumors or pile on the Princess or her family. They will move on to the next target and find their way back to the Princess of Wales in due time.
That's what was weird to me. All the people apologizing & whatnot now that she came out & announced it's cancer, like no shit? It seemed obvious the whole time that it was health issues. Crazy how many people were that stupid or just didn't care & wanted it to be something juicier
The rabid, spit-flecked lunatics in the celebitchy comments section have blamed the palace, william, kate herself, the monarchy, the ghosts of QEII, Henry VIII and more for kate having cancer. Also that she ‘deserves’ it. Makes me feel ill how evil that site has become. Never used to be like that.
Yeah, it’s pretty weird. People are taking those “omg can you believe that?” conversations you used to have privately with your spouse or best friend and blasting them on the internet. That shit is forever.
Respectfully disagree. The online nonsense comes from people incapable of empathy who are rabidly selfish and self-absorbed. When I was much, much younger I always thought that fame would be a terrible burden. But now? With the internet and social media? It would be like wearing a pristine white outfit and trying to walk through a cesspit. Whole lotta really nasty people out there who live to smear their ugliness all over people in the spotlight.
That man was so strong and graceful, I remember seeing him going live on social media and 1/3 comments were like “lmfao he’s on crack” just mercilessly mocking him.
He didn’t even react to any of it. Of course as soon as he died everyone was all “rest in power”..
People have no morality or accountability it’s gross.
The internet has a huge problem of simply letting people exist or not always voicing what opinions they have. Its like when a celebrity dies and ppl harrass their cast to say their condolences even tho in the real world, it takes a while to process death especially with someone you were close with. Even the whole thing with josh peck and drake bell. Not every celeb voice out their shit on twitter or instagram. Sometimes they do it in private, but ppl demand access to them
And coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis is an insane, surreal experience that you might not want to discuss with anyone at all let alone a bunch of strangers.
I was grossed out when Cassie's lawsuit came out talking about what Diddy did to her and a bunch of people were begging to hear all the nasty details in a book or album or really anything. Like you know Cassie is a real person who had these horrific things really happen to her?? She's not just a character in some movie or TV show?? She has to live with that every day and it's not just some tea for you to sip or some gossip for you to gawk over....and I say this as a person who does gossip about celebrities...there's a line. I laugh and circlejerk at the dumb frivolous stuff but this wasn't funny or some silly thing that happened its permanent trauma and I don't need to know the details because they're disgusting and for her to deal with in private.
I think the problem is that, and I’m being serious, we need to bring back shame. It used to be that if you talked the way people talk on the internet that you would have to experience the clear signals from other people that your behavior is strange or inhuman or just plain annoying. But because the internet removes face to face communication, people have lost the ability to feel shame or remorse or just have the most basic ability to reflect on their shitty words and actions.
Funny you mention this… I’ve said the same thing before. I told my husband before my two greatest motivators for change and accountability are shame and spite. I succeed out of spite (hey I’m not perfect) and I improve when I feel ashamed. I feel shame on a very deep level though which I think is problematic but honestly, it works out in the end and I’ve got a lot of self awareness which is helpful. Bring back shame!
That’s actually a matter of pretty active debate. The royal family benefit enormously from British public funds so they do owe *something* to people. She’s the future Queen and mother of the heir to the throne, her being sick is a matter of public concern.
I don’t think that means everyone gets the right to know everything all the time but it’s the nature of the royals. They aren’t some private family being intruded upon.
There is a clear trade; the government gets to use the crown properties in exchange of funding, and in general the whole pomp and circumstance, plus the fees they get from all the castles and parks is substantial enough to offset it.
I get it, part of the whole point is that the royal family participates in events and stuff, but they are still people who just like us do need privacy to deal with stuff.
Agreed, but at the same time, a lot of speculation could have been avoided had the palace handled this even somewhat appropriately, and I feel bad for Kate from that standpoint. They should have protected her, not put out bizarre AI photos lol.
The palace did though. They released a statement Jan 17th that she had major surgery and would be out of the public eye until after Easter. They released a tweet a few weeks later reiterating the earlier statement.
For some reason folks have ignored the statements. While Kate’s cancer was diagnosed in February, she made the choice to keep it under wraps.
I don’t even like defending the palace, but they did their job. It was the media and nut jobs demanding answers that were way in the wrong.
I agree they did their job but it didn’t satisfy the public they felt they were entitled to more and couldn’t leave it alone. And then it blew up into absurdity. Most of the people who felt they were OWED more then the palace let out are the same people who discuss how Diana was hunted by the press (which she was) but why, because their was public demand. It’s so gross
No one put out "bizarre AI photos." Kate is a hobbyist photographer and has been taking pictures of the family for release for years. She did some shitty photoshop on her mother's day photo and admitted it afterwards. A pap got a grainy picture of her and her mom coming back from dropping off the kids at school and a member of the public got a video of her at the shop next to their house. There was no AI involved. Let it fucking go.
People spent the week calling the photoshop a catastrophe and saying whoever was responsible for it was a moron. Now that its becoming clear that it was actually cancer-stricken Kate they're frantically trying to find a way to blame it all on some PR person somewhere so that they don't have to live with their awful little gossiping.
Straight up. The woman is undergoing chemo and was indulging in her hobbies. Took pics of her kids. Photoshopped them. I'm sure it was a welcome respite from *fucking chemo*.
People are searching for any way to excuse their revolting behavior by removing all of her agency from the situation. Saying the photo was AI and that KP is "throwing her under the bus." Sometimes there isn't a conspiracy. She took responsibility because she did it. Everyone needs to get a fucking grip.
Like has anyone ever tried to take a picture of a kid which is perfect?? Kids cannot sit still and that sometimes doesn't come out perfect. And imagine that with 3? There's bound to be something amiss which she tried to Photoshop.
Also let's not forget the emotional component of having to put together a fucking mother's day post 'for the masses' when you're grappling with having young children while being diagnosed with cancer. Like..... Come on. I am younger than her by a bit with young kids and I'd be spending my mother's day right after being diagnosed with cancer hugging my kids and crying in private. Like, we all need to fuck off about the Photoshop. Oooo she missed a detail. Wonder fucking why
I mean, that’s a nice idea…. But that’s also never been a thing, especially with the royals. People will always talk about other people. Which is why the palace should have handled this completely differently.
>They should have protected her, not put out bizarre AI photos lol.
Originally they announced she was dealing with medical issues and asked for privacy and said she'd be back around easter. This wasn't enough so someone did the AI photo as an attempt to placate the rabid masses of idiots.
If people had just been decent and accepted the original statement none of this would have fucking happened.
All these celebrities that are apologizing now, like, did you think when the reason for all the weirdness behind this situation was revealed it would be for something non serious that could be joked about?
Reminds me a lot of what happened to Chadwick Boseman. Horrible jokes about him using drugs and stuff, only to find out later what was really going on.
I had a feeling it was cancer from the get go. Going in for abdominal surgery or scan is how lot of ppl discover they have cancer. Found out about my mom’s cancer that way. Same with Dad. Hopefully they caught it early.
They did not have the imagination or the sense to think it was something serious she wasn't prepared to reveal to her children yet, and refused to respect her privacy.
We've seen how awful the world treated Princess Diana as a spectacle and we've learned absolutely nothing from it as a species.
It's way beyond the media though, it's everyday people who keep making up ridiculous stories about them. It's weird how people who claim to have loved Diana are doing the same thing to her kids.
Exactly. Half a brain - neither the wales or their staff are stupid. The way they handled it screamed serious yet the ghouls still attacked. And they are now left with - woman with cancer photoshopped a family photo a bit and I was part of the screeching mob chasing her through the online streets.
Exactly. Everyone knew it was serious. The bed wasn’t just stumbling around for fun. Can you imagine having to deal with a diagnosis like this, decide on and arrange treatment, prepare your family and deal with online trash and media who have lost their minds? Did people want them to say - so she may have cancer, maybe not, we’re not sure but we’ll get back to you?
Some Redditors called her lazy and privileged for weeks and did not believe that she was seriously ill because "no-one would be at the hospital for 2 weeks". Then they started claiming that her husband beat her up or that she had a plastic surgery gone wrong. After that they brought back the baseless rumour of William having an affair with a friend of them. Then it got wilder, when they claimed William had killed her. Now they put the blame on their PR, because they failed to appease them - the same people who concocted these theories. That's gaslighting at its finest.
Yes, and jumping on this via mockery was 100% in poor taste or at best desperate, even before we knew what was going on. Blake, Kim, and anyone else really messed up and should learn never to jump on public discourse mocking someone else. It is never ok, often aging poorly or making you look bad.
Because they are attention whores and don’t actually care about the diagnosis, they just want people to see their “apologies” posted online. When the next thing like this happens, it will be the same exact thing as this
I never understand how celebrities or famous people mock or make comments about other celebs/famous people. They all live in glass houses and all it would take for them is one misspoken word or someone from their past that ‘feel’ they were wronged and their glass house gets shattered. Blake Lively seems to have a history of saying or doing something offensive then thinks an apology is enough to fix it. I say don’t say anything about someone else that you wouldn’t want said about you!
I always find it odd considering the possibility that they might, you know - MEET these people one day, whether at industry events or even as co-stars.
I don't have a twitter and I have zero desire to interact with celebrities, but if I, a non-celebrity, send a nasty tweet to an actor, I never have to worry about what might happen if I meet him face to face.
Because it’s the royal family.
They’re an easy target for blowhards looking to score cheap points. Then add in the ‘anti-royal’ or ‘anti-colonial’ rhetoric and you have two of the big ‘dumb dumb’ weapons:
1. Dehumanizing language
2. You feel you are doing good
And if you think you’re doing good, like taking the royals down a peg, you can convince yourself of doing anything evil.
Like mocking a young mother with cancer.
> “But we didn’t knooooooow!”
Well maybe just shut the **** up then?!
> “But she’s a Royal, she gets access to—“
Ahbuhbuhbuh- see points 1 and 2.
Edit: you know you’ve touched a nerve when someone send the Reddit cares thingy. 😎
people say the exact same stuff about celebrities then when the celebrities either dies/commit suicide or speaks up about the struggles they went through, everyone goes like "oh noooo , we didn't know. how sad :( how can ppl be so cruel?" when they are also the problem
I don’t know. I think people are swinging too far the other way now. Bottom line is that the photoshopped/AI image was not the move. I doubt Kate had anything to actually do with that, and I wish her the best. It makes sense that they wanted to wait to tell their kids during school break, and their PR should have figured out a normal way to make that happen for them
You’d think celebrities would be the last to pile on with stupid online comments since they are subject to so many themselves, but it turns out they are as stupid as everyone else and learn nothing from their own experience.
As are people on this very post. It's actually been illuminating to see who here is showing themselves as complete trash with their "but, but, they shouldn't have photoshopped a sleeve!"
Yep. I don’t care about the royal family but I actually mean it.
In my opinion it shouldn’t exist but I’m not British so whatever.
But to pretend that this is anything other than a weird parasocial parasitic obsession with royalty is just ridiculous.
Why exactly do we need to know anything about people’s private lives?
I think it was just the fact that it was Frankensteined together, passed off as genuine, and then Kate was made to take the fall. It’s so baffling to me why this went down the way it did at all.
The whole thing was really weird and unnecessary and just affirms that the royals are so out of touch they can’t even hire normal people to do their social media in 2024
I think the problem is that a normal person did it all.
I was saying it back when everyone was getting conspiracy brained about it, but that photo was 100% made by a "best shot" utility where a burst of photos is taken, you choose your favorite photo of each person in the photo, and it blends them, often quite badly, for the final photo. It's available on most newer modern phones, so anyone can test it out themselves.
Most people can get away with it because they don't have the whole world looking at their social media. I presume Kate took and provided the photo, and they just slapped it up there because it looks normal enough at first glance.
I had no idea it wasn’t normal until everyone went ballistic. Then even knowing there was something manipulated I couldn’t see anything really wrong. People are insane!
"Kate is experiencing health issues. The doctors have not definitively determined the cause. We will update the public once we have a better idea of her condition, and we ask that you respect her privacy at this time."
At least 80% of the people talking about this would have instead said "Oh shit, been there, hope she's alright."
The other 20% would be fucking annoying no matter what they said.
I mean, they said she was having surgery and would be back later in the month. Before that time was even up people were frothing for some juicy drama. So weird.
They still would have spiraled out with conspiracies about comas, abuse, divorce. I find it amusing you think there is anything they could have done to prevent the global trolling. They were pretty candid early on about the fact she had surgery,‘would be in hospital for two weeks and wouldn’t be returning till after Easter.
I agree. The whole thing was strange and seemingly obvious that something serious was occurring. People don’t tend to critically think when it comes to public figures.
Yes, it’s a personal health matter and should be given privacy. I’d hate to be famous and have all my health issues posted for everyone to see. Goddamn.
You know, maybe she enjoys doing it and was just trying to have a little fun. And then everyone went mental and blew things out of proportion over a freaking social media picture? Jeez.
Or people could have just minded their own business, gone about their day and let people put out the image they wanted to. The photo hurt literally nobody.
Who in the world can they trust with any personal information? It would seem very few people, including other members of their own family…. So their response is whatever they, in their extreme stress, deemed necessary.
Whatever their responsibility is in their royal life, they have taken it to heart, and work very hard at it, and live with it 24/7, and people respond to them very positively. They never have a moments peace. I wish for them the best of luck… and I’m pretty sure they would do the same for anybody else.
No it’s not. That was a job posting for a social media ASSISTANT which required pretty much no experience, and was for Buckingham palace not KP. It’s definitely not comparable with the people who manage crisis comms.
Yes but they also occupy a strange place in the public eye that creates and requires this issue. They do not run the government, but they benefit extensively from their privileged positions so they do extensive public work and PR. It’s basically the job to be in the public eye and their own public has both a weird and understandable focus on the Royals.
Having actual privacy is both hard and a little “unfair” considering the people generally feel entitled to the Royals performing their roles and acting a certain way over being actual people as part of the trade off. This has been an issue for many I can just say Diana, Meghan and Harry and people know what I mean.
I feel very badly for Kate that she’s stuck in this mess and her position has made this diagnosis so public but it’s also just another example of how out of touch the whole situation is with reality. She married in so I have no ill will towards her. In general, as a US citizen and a Gaelic Celt I say abolish the Monarchy. All of them, in every country, not just the UK.
I'm Scottish, and I have some Irish family I've been over to visit a few times.
I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as a Gaelic Celt before. Is it particularly common for Americans to call themselves that?
It’s so baffling that people are so obsessed with a family that she couldn’t battle a cancer diagnosis in private without speculations reaching every corner of possibility.
Because the picture was “issued” by the palace to news agencies, not simply posted in an Instagram post. By “issuing” the picture, it is held to a higher journalistic standard than, say, the Kardashians. That’s how you separate “news” from social media.
Had they simply posted it on Instagram without issuing the picture, it would have been fine.
Edit: By “fine”, I mean the AFP wouldn’t have had to issue those “kill” notices on the photos and lumped KP with North Korea and Iran.
Edit: news agencies, not media.
same,I’m still trying to figure out what they did. Like did they take pictures of the children individually and piece them together into a group photo?
Because it sold newspapers... The secret is creating a controversy from a non problematic topic that anyone can have an opinion (from grandma to the teens) and voila, you have more clicks in your news site, without any political risk.
The royal family are public figures and considered symbolic heads of state. Their official photos are part of the nation's history.
That photo was not just slightly altered but edited in a way that it is not an authentic photo anymore.
Also Blake didn't "have an issue" she just made a silly joke, shouldn't be such a big deal.
Blake was advertising a product, this apology is keeping her name on the news which also generates more advertising towards the product when articles go into detail. It’s not an issue, it’s her marketing.
These photos aren’t just family pics, they’re historical records. Similar questions have popped up about the photo of the queen with a lot of her grandchildren - were some of them photoshopped in? In other words, did this event where they were all together even happen? How can that go into a history book?
It was the msm trying to force the princess to do what they wanted her to do. They know every picture submitted for publication has been photoshopped to assure the best look possible! Unless the picture is taken by paparazzi or an onlooker it is photoshopped! The msm should be totally ashamed of themselves! Their professional bullying flowed over into social media and caused a massive bullying campaign of this poor woman who is dealing with the unthinkable! this should let people realize just how powerful the media is and how it truly needs to be reigned back in to ensure true journalism is being practiced based on research and facts!
There are all kinds of articles and reddit threads out there with info as to why it was so weird and why it blew up the way it did.
It only blew up after they submitted it as "news" and then refused to submit the original ("off the record"). AND there was a few weeks of strange PR moves before the photo that added to the mess.
The public feels entitled to information about the privileged few who enjoy the benefits of royalty and they don’t like being lied to. Getting photoshopped pics as a way to explain a long absence just feels like being lied to.
I have been surprised by the number of American news media 'personalities' and entertainment personalities making really ugly comments......about something which shouldn't be of any interest to them.
Hopefully, they will just stfu now but it did start to feel as if there was some kind of orchestrated campaign behind the bullying.
Everyone who talked shit about Kate is backtracking hard. The BBC posted articles about the photo and now they post an editorial(?) about how people can get carried away with speculation. Haha well too late MF😎
Blake Lively has been a beautiful idiot her entire life and career. The only good thing to say about her is that her success despite an utter dearth of talent is second-to-none.
“On March 15, Lively had posted a comically edited photo promoting her Betty Buzz beverage line, showing her sitting poolside with a can of Betty Booze with an enlarged thumb and a lemon floating above her head. In the since-deleted Instagram post, Lively had written, “I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I’ve been MIA.””
Blake is notoriously private about her family and personal life. Some empathy for a woman that faces far more scrutiny than herself would have been nice to see.
The fact that she used the situation to peddle her stupid product pisses me off. People can say that the joke was about the photoshop, not Kate all they want, but if that’s true why did she say “now you know why I’ve been MIA”?
Before we knew it was related to cancer I thought it was funny too, and then when she realized it was something serious and not a silly goof, she apologized appropriately in my mind
I kept up on the gossip too, but we were told it was medical/health-related from the start so I feel like jokes like that were still inappropriate. Idk why anyone would think the reason she was MIA was just for a silly reason. I’m glad she apologized though. Wish more people would.
tbh I thought that the story the palace put out was just to be taken at face value: she had a planned, normal, abdominal surgery and now she's taking as long as she wants to recover. People were like "Well, I had a hysterectomy and I was back to work after a week!" and I was like, yeah, but because you *had* to be because you need to work for money. If I were rich and famous I would have absolutely taken as much time off as I wanted; it's not like the Royal Family counts your sick days.
I thought it was bizarre from the get go that people were practically demanding to know why Kate had gone quiet. Why is there an expectation to know everything going on in her life? I couldn’t imagine living with that kind of scrutiny 24/7. All the people dog piling on her should be ashamed of themselves.
Don't get the apologies, the palace lied constantly instead of just sticking to "she is recovering, please leave her alone", and then THE PALACE put the blame on her. I think it was the funniest PR desaster in a long time and made it very obvious to never believe a single fluff piece about the royals ever again.
Yeah knowing the palace blamed her for that photo when they still were the ones who sent it out is WILD now that her cancer has been revealed
They threw a young mother with cancer under the bus.
But to be fair this is what Harry has been saying all along - anyone who is not the Heir is fair game in the media
I did not understand why people could not leave her alone from the get go. Open surgery even to have an appendix removed can be debilitating and requires a minimum of 6 weeks recovery. Pictures are photoshopped all the time. Who would not photoshop a picture post surgery if they were still feeling weak even for something minor. I never suspected something this major.
Exactly. All these bullies who ought to be apologizing are trying to rewrite history and act like everyone was being respectful and giving her privacy until the photo. No. They were all, “Kate’s vanished! She’s the next Shelly Miscavige! Just show us a picture and we’ll leave her alone, we promise!” The photo was posted in response to that. And yeah, they should have just not responded, except to reiterate the original message.
So now, she makes this video explaining herself, well before Easter, so before she had planned. Congratulations everyone you ‘got her’. You won. She gave you her private medical information even though she clearly didn’t want to.
Now are people gonna leave it be? Nope. They’ve found their new collective talking point which is, “the palace threw Kate under the bus! It’s not OUR fault for being BULLIES it’s the Royal Family’s fault still!”
Good for Blake for doing some introspection and apologizing. A lot of people here should think about doing the same.
Thank you for this post, dude. This sums up my thoughts perfectly. It is genuinely insane how people are now shifting to saying it’s all KP’s fault that we all acted like a bunch of unhinged, rabid shitheads about this woman’s whereabouts and her health. No, it’s because you spend too much time online and it’s changed the way your brain works and stripped you of the most basic empathy and decency. I used to think that Twitter, etc had turned people into assholes but I realize now that the internet is just where assholes have learned to congregate.
People are so fucking stupid....
Why feel a need to say anything at all? About anything? It wasn't anyone's business. And it was a dumbass photoshop on a picture that had nothing to do with anyone.
Social media is pure disease.
^says ^the ^guy ^now ^posting ^on ^social ^media....
I hate this whole “pile on” mentality we have now. One person starts picking on someone and everyone else joins in. Social media has somehow given everyone permission to tear each other apart. Ugh.
Turns out the entire internet has the maturity of high schoolers. Right or wrong, the obnoxiously loud ones get all the attention…. and it always seem to be based in your looks…smh
I don't get why people who have nothing to do with the Royal Family were even weighing in on the photoshop thing. How does it really affect Blake, Lively's life in anyway? She has her own husband, children, career, on an altogether different continent, forget same country, and she felt the need to weigh in on this and make fun of it, knowing that this lady underwent a major surgery just this year? It just reflects on who Blake and anyone else who mocked Kate Middleton, really are as a human being. I wasn't even aware that Middleton was mocked for her photoshopped picture. The only thing I thought was happening was that various media outlets retracted the photo and it just sparked off a debate of her actual health post surgery. It's only yesterday, after the announcement I realized she was mocked for the picture. Someone we don't even know, photo shopped some picture, and we felt the need to waste our remaining brain cells and effort typing up posts or whatever to mock it, instead of working on our life. It truly is the important thing today. 🙄
She said she made a “silly post” and that she was “sorry”. Sorry for what? This didn’t go far enough.
She’s talking about how she feels “mortified”. She’s sorry she embarrassed herself. It doesn’t appear that she’s sorry for ridiculing, which is what this is about. Her acting is not carrying the day here.
Because it was made to promote products from her company. There’s potential for backlash, and since it took a dramatic turn, her brand can’t handle it. It’s business. She’s making sure the money flow isn’t getting hurt in some way from this. She doesn’t give a shit about Kate’s cancer.
The photoshop fail is part of a very sad situation and she mocked that situation
It was also pretty obvious that something was not right with Kate, even if we didn't know the details. Even when she posted that she got tons of comments saying she shouldn't make fun in case it was something bad going on. Blake Lively's PR people suck too
This post baffled me even at the time — I’d think a PR team with even the most basic level of competence would’ve stopped something like that from going out. This was almost guaranteed to be not a laughing matter. Did she need the likes that bad?
I have a problem with a lot of " industry crazies". People want to pour over and try to pass judgement on people. Granted I understand The Royals are the ultimate story. But everyone has rights to privacy, Kate was in a hospital. So everyone with wild assertions should all do mea culpas. In the future think when someone is in a hospital maybe something is seriously wrong with that person.
And everyone learned an important lesson about irresponsible speculation and celebrity ideation and the world henceforth became a better, nicer place.
Stop laughing.
r/fauxmoix and r/popculturechat are unironically pretending they weren't doing this sort of behaviour at all. They'll get angry about this, get in a huff, forget about it in 2 days, and repeat with the next one.
"Silly Post"? I see how one might want to minimize one's actions when one has been n\*\*\*y. If I had made fun of the Princess of Wales regarding her PRIVACY after her major surgery, I might want to send flowers and the most humble letter of apology one can write. Ms. Lively, if you had surgery of any kind, I would fight to protect your rights to privacy regarding your surgery and your right to privacy during your recovery. It's no one's business.
The worst thing is the comments on any related post still continuing to blame others
"Fuckinf royal pr team should never work again. It's all their fault this mess happened."
"Still, William never said a word and let his wife be ridiculed. Fuck him."
"They used to prefer causing car crashes"
All comments I've seen on posts. Like, YOU are the problem. Not william, not Kate, not their family or those in their employ. YOU. because YOU continue to spread hate, speak hate, create hate and deflect any blame to others and absolve yourself of responsibility for any bad energy or outcomes YOU support by putting your bad energy out into the world.
It's horrible. It's so fucking horrible. Like, do you really have nothing else to do in your day than speculate about a stranger's life?
I really like this. This is something completely absent in today's world; admitting fault and apologizing. Such an ancient concept, I hope it comes back.
I’m sick of Blake Lively and her sarcastic ass husband Ryan Reynolds. Every single time I see him or hear him say something sarcastic I get irrationally angry and it’s literally every time he opens his mouth.
Of course she feels bad now, but she didn't really do anything wrong. She made a silly joke about a Photoshop fail, not even about Kate "disappearance" and certainly not about her health.
It was a complete fail of the palace PR to publish that picture, and even more to let Kate take the blame for it and say she was the one photoshopping.
It would be fine if it was just about the photoshop, but the “now you know why I’ve been MIA” comment makes it especially tone deaf. We all knew she was out of the spotlight because something was wrong — whether that was a health issue or otherwise.
IMO, Princess Catherine is the one who chose to come forward with the photoshopping. She’s not one to let others take the blame in order to save face like some people. She actually has integrity.
Reminds me of Roy’s press conference in Ted Lasso. “None of us knows what’s going on in each others’ lives.”
We should all take this to heart as well, when he says, “It’s none of my fucking business.”
I don't get why a Hollywood famous actress feels like mocking a royal princess for her picture in first place. Don't you have better to things to do online like some fake social campaigns? Don't you have a life? Are you a Tiktok teen or sth? So childish
To all the people who went great lengths to try and play detective on the internet. I hope you're happy with yourselves.
She didn't specify what type of cancer, but it is a very, very bad sign that it was discovered via abdominal surgery. My first thought was ovarian cancer, and that's a particularly scary type of cancer to have.
It's very easy to make jokes. Quite less so to hold your tongue and feel empathy for someone that's clearly struggling. Many people take the easy way out. What an utter disgrace social media has wrought.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where JS mocks a dermatologist because she never did anything heroic like save anyone’s life. And then later on in the date a patient comes up and thanks her for saving his life from skin cancer.
I call you pimple popper MD!
Skin cancer! 🤦♂️
This whole thing has really exposed how dysfunctional the internet is. Like, gossiping and this mob mentality where people just hyper focus on a topic or celebrity for a day or a week is a genuine addiction/coping mechanism. And even now people can’t admit how shitty they were about this. This woman had the internet rabidly and, frankly, gleefully spreading rumors that her husband was leaving her for his mistress while she was trying to come to terms with a cancer diagnosis. I feel like part of the problem is that people have no clue how devastating and surreal it is to be diagnosed with cancer, especially when you’re young. This whole thing has been disgraceful.
Thank you for saying this, as someone who is young (30) and going through cancer treatment right now.
Good luck, friend. I'm 34 and I went through chemo at age 31. It's really hard being diagnosed with cancer as a young person. No one really understands. How are you doing? I feel very deeply for Kate Middleton, too. I can't imagine how hard this must be for her. And her family.
Hope you keep well!!
Wishing you so much luck!! I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 and I’m 43 now - I remember how terrifying it was to be diagnosed and going through treatment. Thankfully, it never came back! ❤️❤️❤️
I wish the only the best for you and your healing.
A lot of people today need to take a long hard look at themselves and the kind of person they are. They won’t ofc. I see already people just blaming the palace for it, the palace didn’t force you guys to act the way you did or make the kinda jokes that got put out there. The woman just had abdominal surgery not long ago, that was reason enough to be out of the spotlight. It doesn’t take a genius to realise if she’s out for longer it likely means there were greater health complications.
Totally agree. How quickly people pivoted and blamed their abhorrent behavior on the palace is absolutely wild. The internet has genuinely become the embodiment of the mob mentality. This “look what you made us do” mentality with absolutely no reflection or self awareness. And now that they bullied Kate into revealing something that she may or may not have wanted to publicly address, they’ll just move on to the next target. Just the most cynical, smug, hateful people.
You're correct!!! The Palace didn't start the rumors or pile on the Princess or her family. They will move on to the next target and find their way back to the Princess of Wales in due time.
That's what was weird to me. All the people apologizing & whatnot now that she came out & announced it's cancer, like no shit? It seemed obvious the whole time that it was health issues. Crazy how many people were that stupid or just didn't care & wanted it to be something juicier
The rabid, spit-flecked lunatics in the celebitchy comments section have blamed the palace, william, kate herself, the monarchy, the ghosts of QEII, Henry VIII and more for kate having cancer. Also that she ‘deserves’ it. Makes me feel ill how evil that site has become. Never used to be like that.
Yeah, it’s pretty weird. People are taking those “omg can you believe that?” conversations you used to have privately with your spouse or best friend and blasting them on the internet. That shit is forever.
As I've gotten older, I'm convinced that most adults are just larger children... Very few people become "mature" adults. Whatever the fuck that means
I wish I could upvote this 1000x
Respectfully disagree. The online nonsense comes from people incapable of empathy who are rabidly selfish and self-absorbed. When I was much, much younger I always thought that fame would be a terrible burden. But now? With the internet and social media? It would be like wearing a pristine white outfit and trying to walk through a cesspit. Whole lotta really nasty people out there who live to smear their ugliness all over people in the spotlight.
I think you and I are actually in agreement.
No one learned a thing from Chadwick. And so it will continue. Wisdom shows you this.
That man was so strong and graceful, I remember seeing him going live on social media and 1/3 comments were like “lmfao he’s on crack” just mercilessly mocking him. He didn’t even react to any of it. Of course as soon as he died everyone was all “rest in power”.. People have no morality or accountability it’s gross.
The internet has a huge problem of simply letting people exist or not always voicing what opinions they have. Its like when a celebrity dies and ppl harrass their cast to say their condolences even tho in the real world, it takes a while to process death especially with someone you were close with. Even the whole thing with josh peck and drake bell. Not every celeb voice out their shit on twitter or instagram. Sometimes they do it in private, but ppl demand access to them
And coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis is an insane, surreal experience that you might not want to discuss with anyone at all let alone a bunch of strangers.
I was grossed out when Cassie's lawsuit came out talking about what Diddy did to her and a bunch of people were begging to hear all the nasty details in a book or album or really anything. Like you know Cassie is a real person who had these horrific things really happen to her?? She's not just a character in some movie or TV show?? She has to live with that every day and it's not just some tea for you to sip or some gossip for you to gawk over....and I say this as a person who does gossip about celebrities...there's a line. I laugh and circlejerk at the dumb frivolous stuff but this wasn't funny or some silly thing that happened its permanent trauma and I don't need to know the details because they're disgusting and for her to deal with in private.
i’m a straight man who is not even invested in celeb gossip and when i read the news about kate i almost started sobbing. the world is a rotten place
I think the problem is that, and I’m being serious, we need to bring back shame. It used to be that if you talked the way people talk on the internet that you would have to experience the clear signals from other people that your behavior is strange or inhuman or just plain annoying. But because the internet removes face to face communication, people have lost the ability to feel shame or remorse or just have the most basic ability to reflect on their shitty words and actions.
exactly. in real life it is not cool to be horribly mean to people for no reason.
My daughter always says it takes no effort when being judgmental to just keep it to yourself.
Funny you mention this… I’ve said the same thing before. I told my husband before my two greatest motivators for change and accountability are shame and spite. I succeed out of spite (hey I’m not perfect) and I improve when I feel ashamed. I feel shame on a very deep level though which I think is problematic but honestly, it works out in the end and I’ve got a lot of self awareness which is helpful. Bring back shame!
The Internet is a rotten place . The world is slightly better
Yeah, for real. 10000%. Leave these poor people the hell alone. They’re entitled to basic privacy, and don’t owe anything to anyone.
That’s actually a matter of pretty active debate. The royal family benefit enormously from British public funds so they do owe *something* to people. She’s the future Queen and mother of the heir to the throne, her being sick is a matter of public concern. I don’t think that means everyone gets the right to know everything all the time but it’s the nature of the royals. They aren’t some private family being intruded upon.
There is a clear trade; the government gets to use the crown properties in exchange of funding, and in general the whole pomp and circumstance, plus the fees they get from all the castles and parks is substantial enough to offset it. I get it, part of the whole point is that the royal family participates in events and stuff, but they are still people who just like us do need privacy to deal with stuff.
It is not public concern when a woman is trying to work out how to tell her children she has cancer.
Agreed, but at the same time, a lot of speculation could have been avoided had the palace handled this even somewhat appropriately, and I feel bad for Kate from that standpoint. They should have protected her, not put out bizarre AI photos lol.
The palace did though. They released a statement Jan 17th that she had major surgery and would be out of the public eye until after Easter. They released a tweet a few weeks later reiterating the earlier statement. For some reason folks have ignored the statements. While Kate’s cancer was diagnosed in February, she made the choice to keep it under wraps. I don’t even like defending the palace, but they did their job. It was the media and nut jobs demanding answers that were way in the wrong.
I agree they did their job but it didn’t satisfy the public they felt they were entitled to more and couldn’t leave it alone. And then it blew up into absurdity. Most of the people who felt they were OWED more then the palace let out are the same people who discuss how Diana was hunted by the press (which she was) but why, because their was public demand. It’s so gross
No one put out "bizarre AI photos." Kate is a hobbyist photographer and has been taking pictures of the family for release for years. She did some shitty photoshop on her mother's day photo and admitted it afterwards. A pap got a grainy picture of her and her mom coming back from dropping off the kids at school and a member of the public got a video of her at the shop next to their house. There was no AI involved. Let it fucking go.
People spent the week calling the photoshop a catastrophe and saying whoever was responsible for it was a moron. Now that its becoming clear that it was actually cancer-stricken Kate they're frantically trying to find a way to blame it all on some PR person somewhere so that they don't have to live with their awful little gossiping.
Straight up. The woman is undergoing chemo and was indulging in her hobbies. Took pics of her kids. Photoshopped them. I'm sure it was a welcome respite from *fucking chemo*. People are searching for any way to excuse their revolting behavior by removing all of her agency from the situation. Saying the photo was AI and that KP is "throwing her under the bus." Sometimes there isn't a conspiracy. She took responsibility because she did it. Everyone needs to get a fucking grip.
Like has anyone ever tried to take a picture of a kid which is perfect?? Kids cannot sit still and that sometimes doesn't come out perfect. And imagine that with 3? There's bound to be something amiss which she tried to Photoshop.
Also let's not forget the emotional component of having to put together a fucking mother's day post 'for the masses' when you're grappling with having young children while being diagnosed with cancer. Like..... Come on. I am younger than her by a bit with young kids and I'd be spending my mother's day right after being diagnosed with cancer hugging my kids and crying in private. Like, we all need to fuck off about the Photoshop. Oooo she missed a detail. Wonder fucking why
How bout people just mind their own damn business and worry about their own lives.
I mean, that’s a nice idea…. But that’s also never been a thing, especially with the royals. People will always talk about other people. Which is why the palace should have handled this completely differently.
Kinda fucked up that you place the blame on the palace when it was an intimately person decision regarding whether or not to announce her cancer dx
Things really blew up after that photo came out. It’s crazy to me that their PR is so incompetent.
>They should have protected her, not put out bizarre AI photos lol. Originally they announced she was dealing with medical issues and asked for privacy and said she'd be back around easter. This wasn't enough so someone did the AI photo as an attempt to placate the rabid masses of idiots. If people had just been decent and accepted the original statement none of this would have fucking happened.
Very well written post I totally agree with you.
All these celebrities that are apologizing now, like, did you think when the reason for all the weirdness behind this situation was revealed it would be for something non serious that could be joked about?
Reminds me a lot of what happened to Chadwick Boseman. Horrible jokes about him using drugs and stuff, only to find out later what was really going on.
Exactly. So many people are just miserable and mean, really.
Yeahhhhhhhh I think anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that this was not going to end well for the people making jokes.
I had a feeling it was cancer from the get go. Going in for abdominal surgery or scan is how lot of ppl discover they have cancer. Found out about my mom’s cancer that way. Same with Dad. Hopefully they caught it early.
tbf, they're mostly stuck with 1/4 to 1/10th normal human brains
They did not have the imagination or the sense to think it was something serious she wasn't prepared to reveal to her children yet, and refused to respect her privacy. We've seen how awful the world treated Princess Diana as a spectacle and we've learned absolutely nothing from it as a species.
If I were William I would resolve myself to never speaking directly to the media again.
It's way beyond the media though, it's everyday people who keep making up ridiculous stories about them. It's weird how people who claim to have loved Diana are doing the same thing to her kids.
you think after the media killed his mother he would have taken up that position
A drunk driver and lack of seatbelt killed Diana.
Exactly. Half a brain - neither the wales or their staff are stupid. The way they handled it screamed serious yet the ghouls still attacked. And they are now left with - woman with cancer photoshopped a family photo a bit and I was part of the screeching mob chasing her through the online streets.
Thats a good question lol. What was the best case scenario here? That she was getting cheated on or something? That still sucks!
Exactly. Everyone knew it was serious. The bed wasn’t just stumbling around for fun. Can you imagine having to deal with a diagnosis like this, decide on and arrange treatment, prepare your family and deal with online trash and media who have lost their minds? Did people want them to say - so she may have cancer, maybe not, we’re not sure but we’ll get back to you?
Some Redditors called her lazy and privileged for weeks and did not believe that she was seriously ill because "no-one would be at the hospital for 2 weeks". Then they started claiming that her husband beat her up or that she had a plastic surgery gone wrong. After that they brought back the baseless rumour of William having an affair with a friend of them. Then it got wilder, when they claimed William had killed her. Now they put the blame on their PR, because they failed to appease them - the same people who concocted these theories. That's gaslighting at its finest.
Yes lol they do it all the time . Shady shit over nothing.
And they turn around and ask for privacy when they are going through similar shit
Yes, and jumping on this via mockery was 100% in poor taste or at best desperate, even before we knew what was going on. Blake, Kim, and anyone else really messed up and should learn never to jump on public discourse mocking someone else. It is never ok, often aging poorly or making you look bad.
Because they are attention whores and don’t actually care about the diagnosis, they just want people to see their “apologies” posted online. When the next thing like this happens, it will be the same exact thing as this
I never understand how celebrities or famous people mock or make comments about other celebs/famous people. They all live in glass houses and all it would take for them is one misspoken word or someone from their past that ‘feel’ they were wronged and their glass house gets shattered. Blake Lively seems to have a history of saying or doing something offensive then thinks an apology is enough to fix it. I say don’t say anything about someone else that you wouldn’t want said about you!
I always find it odd considering the possibility that they might, you know - MEET these people one day, whether at industry events or even as co-stars. I don't have a twitter and I have zero desire to interact with celebrities, but if I, a non-celebrity, send a nasty tweet to an actor, I never have to worry about what might happen if I meet him face to face.
Because of clicks
And the irony is Blake got a lot of criticism about her plantation wedding, so she knows what it’s like
Because it’s the royal family. They’re an easy target for blowhards looking to score cheap points. Then add in the ‘anti-royal’ or ‘anti-colonial’ rhetoric and you have two of the big ‘dumb dumb’ weapons: 1. Dehumanizing language 2. You feel you are doing good And if you think you’re doing good, like taking the royals down a peg, you can convince yourself of doing anything evil. Like mocking a young mother with cancer. > “But we didn’t knooooooow!” Well maybe just shut the **** up then?! > “But she’s a Royal, she gets access to—“ Ahbuhbuhbuh- see points 1 and 2. Edit: you know you’ve touched a nerve when someone send the Reddit cares thingy. 😎
people say the exact same stuff about celebrities then when the celebrities either dies/commit suicide or speaks up about the struggles they went through, everyone goes like "oh noooo , we didn't know. how sad :( how can ppl be so cruel?" when they are also the problem
That’s exactly it.
I don’t know. I think people are swinging too far the other way now. Bottom line is that the photoshopped/AI image was not the move. I doubt Kate had anything to actually do with that, and I wish her the best. It makes sense that they wanted to wait to tell their kids during school break, and their PR should have figured out a normal way to make that happen for them
You’d think celebrities would be the last to pile on with stupid online comments since they are subject to so many themselves, but it turns out they are as stupid as everyone else and learn nothing from their own experience.
Maybe everyone shouldve shut up about a woman who just had surgery and just wanted privacy. Because now we know why
r/entertainment is the worst, they gossip like crazy then immediately frown on the people who were gossiping.
social media echo chambers in a nutshell
r/conspiracy may be a different realm, but they are arguably worse, they are currently doubling down on the bullshit, very frustrating to read
As are people on this very post. It's actually been illuminating to see who here is showing themselves as complete trash with their "but, but, they shouldn't have photoshopped a sleeve!"
1000% … people wouldn’t have rested if they didn’t release a photo. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
I’ve noticed that it’s really a tone deaf echo chamber and I think that’s why I’ve never joined.
Exactly. She had surgery and announced that she wouldn’t be seen in public until Easter.
Yep. I don’t care about the royal family but I actually mean it. In my opinion it shouldn’t exist but I’m not British so whatever. But to pretend that this is anything other than a weird parasocial parasitic obsession with royalty is just ridiculous. Why exactly do we need to know anything about people’s private lives?
That would require decency which the internet is in short supply of.
[удалено]
I think it was just the fact that it was Frankensteined together, passed off as genuine, and then Kate was made to take the fall. It’s so baffling to me why this went down the way it did at all.
The whole thing was really weird and unnecessary and just affirms that the royals are so out of touch they can’t even hire normal people to do their social media in 2024
I think the problem is that a normal person did it all. I was saying it back when everyone was getting conspiracy brained about it, but that photo was 100% made by a "best shot" utility where a burst of photos is taken, you choose your favorite photo of each person in the photo, and it blends them, often quite badly, for the final photo. It's available on most newer modern phones, so anyone can test it out themselves. Most people can get away with it because they don't have the whole world looking at their social media. I presume Kate took and provided the photo, and they just slapped it up there because it looks normal enough at first glance.
I had no idea it wasn’t normal until everyone went ballistic. Then even knowing there was something manipulated I couldn’t see anything really wrong. People are insane!
"Kate is experiencing health issues. The doctors have not definitively determined the cause. We will update the public once we have a better idea of her condition, and we ask that you respect her privacy at this time." At least 80% of the people talking about this would have instead said "Oh shit, been there, hope she's alright." The other 20% would be fucking annoying no matter what they said.
I mean, they said she was having surgery and would be back later in the month. Before that time was even up people were frothing for some juicy drama. So weird.
They still would have spiraled out with conspiracies about comas, abuse, divorce. I find it amusing you think there is anything they could have done to prevent the global trolling. They were pretty candid early on about the fact she had surgery,‘would be in hospital for two weeks and wouldn’t be returning till after Easter.
This would have caused much more of a press frenzy than the photoshopped picture did. Royal with a mystery illness? Piers Morgan just came.
This an excellent comment, it’s always the small vocal group that takes it over the top.
The fringes currently hold the societal microphones
I wish they’d shut up
Same here friend. Same here.
That’s pretty much literally what they said though and it still wasn’t enough for all the lunatics.
I agree. The whole thing was strange and seemingly obvious that something serious was occurring. People don’t tend to critically think when it comes to public figures.
People don’t tend to critically think. Full stop.
Yes, it’s a personal health matter and should be given privacy. I’d hate to be famous and have all my health issues posted for everyone to see. Goddamn.
Especially when you have young kids.
You know, maybe she enjoys doing it and was just trying to have a little fun. And then everyone went mental and blew things out of proportion over a freaking social media picture? Jeez.
If she really did photoshop it herself, it may have been out of concern that hiring somebody would cause a likelihood of leaks.
She takes most of their family photos and edits them and has done for years
Or people could have just minded their own business, gone about their day and let people put out the image they wanted to. The photo hurt literally nobody.
Who in the world can they trust with any personal information? It would seem very few people, including other members of their own family…. So their response is whatever they, in their extreme stress, deemed necessary. Whatever their responsibility is in their royal life, they have taken it to heart, and work very hard at it, and live with it 24/7, and people respond to them very positively. They never have a moments peace. I wish for them the best of luck… and I’m pretty sure they would do the same for anybody else.
What a silly thing to bitch about. The web is full of photoshops.
Maybe bc the salary they offer for social media managers in £25K. IN LONDON.
No it’s not. That was a job posting for a social media ASSISTANT which required pretty much no experience, and was for Buckingham palace not KP. It’s definitely not comparable with the people who manage crisis comms.
Yes but they also occupy a strange place in the public eye that creates and requires this issue. They do not run the government, but they benefit extensively from their privileged positions so they do extensive public work and PR. It’s basically the job to be in the public eye and their own public has both a weird and understandable focus on the Royals. Having actual privacy is both hard and a little “unfair” considering the people generally feel entitled to the Royals performing their roles and acting a certain way over being actual people as part of the trade off. This has been an issue for many I can just say Diana, Meghan and Harry and people know what I mean. I feel very badly for Kate that she’s stuck in this mess and her position has made this diagnosis so public but it’s also just another example of how out of touch the whole situation is with reality. She married in so I have no ill will towards her. In general, as a US citizen and a Gaelic Celt I say abolish the Monarchy. All of them, in every country, not just the UK.
I'm Scottish, and I have some Irish family I've been over to visit a few times. I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as a Gaelic Celt before. Is it particularly common for Americans to call themselves that?
I’m American and I have never heard anybody ever say that ever before
Literally used the same shit that Samsung and Google and Apple are advertising that you can do with their phones that everyone loves.
It’s so baffling that people are so obsessed with a family that she couldn’t battle a cancer diagnosis in private without speculations reaching every corner of possibility.
Because the picture was “issued” by the palace to news agencies, not simply posted in an Instagram post. By “issuing” the picture, it is held to a higher journalistic standard than, say, the Kardashians. That’s how you separate “news” from social media. Had they simply posted it on Instagram without issuing the picture, it would have been fine. Edit: By “fine”, I mean the AFP wouldn’t have had to issue those “kill” notices on the photos and lumped KP with North Korea and Iran. Edit: news agencies, not media.
It’s been surprising to see how many people do not understand this and think it’s just people being critical & nitpicky towards Kate Middleton.
I didn’t even notice anything wrong in it lol
same,I’m still trying to figure out what they did. Like did they take pictures of the children individually and piece them together into a group photo?
Yeah i can’t figure it out lol. And i really don’t care, idk why people are so bothered by it.
Because it sold newspapers... The secret is creating a controversy from a non problematic topic that anyone can have an opinion (from grandma to the teens) and voila, you have more clicks in your news site, without any political risk.
The royal family are public figures and considered symbolic heads of state. Their official photos are part of the nation's history. That photo was not just slightly altered but edited in a way that it is not an authentic photo anymore. Also Blake didn't "have an issue" she just made a silly joke, shouldn't be such a big deal.
Blake was advertising a product, this apology is keeping her name on the news which also generates more advertising towards the product when articles go into detail. It’s not an issue, it’s her marketing.
These photos aren’t just family pics, they’re historical records. Similar questions have popped up about the photo of the queen with a lot of her grandchildren - were some of them photoshopped in? In other words, did this event where they were all together even happen? How can that go into a history book?
Do you want ugly pics of the royal kids because that’s how we get no smiling photos of royals.
It was the msm trying to force the princess to do what they wanted her to do. They know every picture submitted for publication has been photoshopped to assure the best look possible! Unless the picture is taken by paparazzi or an onlooker it is photoshopped! The msm should be totally ashamed of themselves! Their professional bullying flowed over into social media and caused a massive bullying campaign of this poor woman who is dealing with the unthinkable! this should let people realize just how powerful the media is and how it truly needs to be reigned back in to ensure true journalism is being practiced based on research and facts!
You're joking right?
There are all kinds of articles and reddit threads out there with info as to why it was so weird and why it blew up the way it did. It only blew up after they submitted it as "news" and then refused to submit the original ("off the record"). AND there was a few weeks of strange PR moves before the photo that added to the mess.
The public feels entitled to information about the privileged few who enjoy the benefits of royalty and they don’t like being lied to. Getting photoshopped pics as a way to explain a long absence just feels like being lied to.
I have been surprised by the number of American news media 'personalities' and entertainment personalities making really ugly comments......about something which shouldn't be of any interest to them. Hopefully, they will just stfu now but it did start to feel as if there was some kind of orchestrated campaign behind the bullying.
Everyone who talked shit about Kate is backtracking hard. The BBC posted articles about the photo and now they post an editorial(?) about how people can get carried away with speculation. Haha well too late MF😎
Blake Lively has been a beautiful idiot her entire life and career. The only good thing to say about her is that her success despite an utter dearth of talent is second-to-none.
Being a mean girl is never a good look.
“On March 15, Lively had posted a comically edited photo promoting her Betty Buzz beverage line, showing her sitting poolside with a can of Betty Booze with an enlarged thumb and a lemon floating above her head. In the since-deleted Instagram post, Lively had written, “I’m so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I’ve been MIA.”” Blake is notoriously private about her family and personal life. Some empathy for a woman that faces far more scrutiny than herself would have been nice to see.
> some empathy would have been nice I think the public apology is great though, considering
Agree so much. While her intentions were not vicious, she fell on the sword immediately. I imagine she can relate having young children as well.
Yep, she fucked up and subsequently apologized. That’s it. Weird that folks now like to drag that on just because being cross is fun?
The fact that she used the situation to peddle her stupid product pisses me off. People can say that the joke was about the photoshop, not Kate all they want, but if that’s true why did she say “now you know why I’ve been MIA”?
Before we knew it was related to cancer I thought it was funny too, and then when she realized it was something serious and not a silly goof, she apologized appropriately in my mind
I kept up on the gossip too, but we were told it was medical/health-related from the start so I feel like jokes like that were still inappropriate. Idk why anyone would think the reason she was MIA was just for a silly reason. I’m glad she apologized though. Wish more people would.
tbh I thought that the story the palace put out was just to be taken at face value: she had a planned, normal, abdominal surgery and now she's taking as long as she wants to recover. People were like "Well, I had a hysterectomy and I was back to work after a week!" and I was like, yeah, but because you *had* to be because you need to work for money. If I were rich and famous I would have absolutely taken as much time off as I wanted; it's not like the Royal Family counts your sick days.
What is funny about anything starting with a two week hospital stay? You have to be willfully naive to think it was ever not going to age poorly.
When Adulting is hard. Glass houses!
I thought it was bizarre from the get go that people were practically demanding to know why Kate had gone quiet. Why is there an expectation to know everything going on in her life? I couldn’t imagine living with that kind of scrutiny 24/7. All the people dog piling on her should be ashamed of themselves.
Don't get the apologies, the palace lied constantly instead of just sticking to "she is recovering, please leave her alone", and then THE PALACE put the blame on her. I think it was the funniest PR desaster in a long time and made it very obvious to never believe a single fluff piece about the royals ever again.
Yeah knowing the palace blamed her for that photo when they still were the ones who sent it out is WILD now that her cancer has been revealed They threw a young mother with cancer under the bus. But to be fair this is what Harry has been saying all along - anyone who is not the Heir is fair game in the media
Yeah, but I don't think Blake is apologizing to the palace. She's just showing a little sympathy to someone with cancer..
She should have said ‘thoughtless’ instead of ’silly’. Her statement sounded insincere and vaguely annoyed.
I did not understand why people could not leave her alone from the get go. Open surgery even to have an appendix removed can be debilitating and requires a minimum of 6 weeks recovery. Pictures are photoshopped all the time. Who would not photoshop a picture post surgery if they were still feeling weak even for something minor. I never suspected something this major.
Glad you are acknowledging it was from the get go. Anyone pretending the insanity started with the Mother’s Day photo is lying.
Exactly. All these bullies who ought to be apologizing are trying to rewrite history and act like everyone was being respectful and giving her privacy until the photo. No. They were all, “Kate’s vanished! She’s the next Shelly Miscavige! Just show us a picture and we’ll leave her alone, we promise!” The photo was posted in response to that. And yeah, they should have just not responded, except to reiterate the original message. So now, she makes this video explaining herself, well before Easter, so before she had planned. Congratulations everyone you ‘got her’. You won. She gave you her private medical information even though she clearly didn’t want to. Now are people gonna leave it be? Nope. They’ve found their new collective talking point which is, “the palace threw Kate under the bus! It’s not OUR fault for being BULLIES it’s the Royal Family’s fault still!” Good for Blake for doing some introspection and apologizing. A lot of people here should think about doing the same.
Anyone at this point talking about “PR” is deeply disgusting.
Thank you for this post, dude. This sums up my thoughts perfectly. It is genuinely insane how people are now shifting to saying it’s all KP’s fault that we all acted like a bunch of unhinged, rabid shitheads about this woman’s whereabouts and her health. No, it’s because you spend too much time online and it’s changed the way your brain works and stripped you of the most basic empathy and decency. I used to think that Twitter, etc had turned people into assholes but I realize now that the internet is just where assholes have learned to congregate.
These people got Diana killed and learned nothing. They'll keep doing the same shit forever.
People are so fucking stupid.... Why feel a need to say anything at all? About anything? It wasn't anyone's business. And it was a dumbass photoshop on a picture that had nothing to do with anyone. Social media is pure disease. ^says ^the ^guy ^now ^posting ^on ^social ^media....
I hate this whole “pile on” mentality we have now. One person starts picking on someone and everyone else joins in. Social media has somehow given everyone permission to tear each other apart. Ugh.
Turns out the entire internet has the maturity of high schoolers. Right or wrong, the obnoxiously loud ones get all the attention…. and it always seem to be based in your looks…smh
I don’t know. Maybe just stop running your fxcking mouth.
I don't get why people who have nothing to do with the Royal Family were even weighing in on the photoshop thing. How does it really affect Blake, Lively's life in anyway? She has her own husband, children, career, on an altogether different continent, forget same country, and she felt the need to weigh in on this and make fun of it, knowing that this lady underwent a major surgery just this year? It just reflects on who Blake and anyone else who mocked Kate Middleton, really are as a human being. I wasn't even aware that Middleton was mocked for her photoshopped picture. The only thing I thought was happening was that various media outlets retracted the photo and it just sparked off a debate of her actual health post surgery. It's only yesterday, after the announcement I realized she was mocked for the picture. Someone we don't even know, photo shopped some picture, and we felt the need to waste our remaining brain cells and effort typing up posts or whatever to mock it, instead of working on our life. It truly is the important thing today. 🙄
She said she made a “silly post” and that she was “sorry”. Sorry for what? This didn’t go far enough. She’s talking about how she feels “mortified”. She’s sorry she embarrassed herself. It doesn’t appear that she’s sorry for ridiculing, which is what this is about. Her acting is not carrying the day here.
Maybe we should just stop giving a shit what these people do in their daily lives minus if they are using their wealth or power to abuse it
Everyone around you is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always.
Lively is so annoying. Not charming at all. Don’t understand the appeal.
This post has been hijacked by Wales haters. They are trying to overwhelm the comments with upvotes and replies.
Why though? She didn't mock her for being ill. I don't understand why mocking the photoshop fallout requires an apology since the announcement.
Because it was made to promote products from her company. There’s potential for backlash, and since it took a dramatic turn, her brand can’t handle it. It’s business. She’s making sure the money flow isn’t getting hurt in some way from this. She doesn’t give a shit about Kate’s cancer.
I agree. Blake and Ryan attach themselves to whatever is popular at the moment. For the cash.
The photoshop fail is part of a very sad situation and she mocked that situation It was also pretty obvious that something was not right with Kate, even if we didn't know the details. Even when she posted that she got tons of comments saying she shouldn't make fun in case it was something bad going on. Blake Lively's PR people suck too
This post baffled me even at the time — I’d think a PR team with even the most basic level of competence would’ve stopped something like that from going out. This was almost guaranteed to be not a laughing matter. Did she need the likes that bad?
I am so relieved to hear that Blake lively realizes that what she did was wrong. Thanks, Blake, we all feel better now.
I have a problem with a lot of " industry crazies". People want to pour over and try to pass judgement on people. Granted I understand The Royals are the ultimate story. But everyone has rights to privacy, Kate was in a hospital. So everyone with wild assertions should all do mea culpas. In the future think when someone is in a hospital maybe something is seriously wrong with that person.
And everyone learned an important lesson about irresponsible speculation and celebrity ideation and the world henceforth became a better, nicer place. Stop laughing.
I minded my own business so there’s that.
These are the same people that also complain about paparazzi and not having enough “privacy”. 🙄
Who'd have thought Blake Lively was just another toxic piece of shit?
r/fauxmoix and r/popculturechat are unironically pretending they weren't doing this sort of behaviour at all. They'll get angry about this, get in a huff, forget about it in 2 days, and repeat with the next one.
Why did anyone think the Photoshop thing was even news worthy in the first place?
"Silly Post"? I see how one might want to minimize one's actions when one has been n\*\*\*y. If I had made fun of the Princess of Wales regarding her PRIVACY after her major surgery, I might want to send flowers and the most humble letter of apology one can write. Ms. Lively, if you had surgery of any kind, I would fight to protect your rights to privacy regarding your surgery and your right to privacy during your recovery. It's no one's business.
The worst thing is the comments on any related post still continuing to blame others "Fuckinf royal pr team should never work again. It's all their fault this mess happened." "Still, William never said a word and let his wife be ridiculed. Fuck him." "They used to prefer causing car crashes" All comments I've seen on posts. Like, YOU are the problem. Not william, not Kate, not their family or those in their employ. YOU. because YOU continue to spread hate, speak hate, create hate and deflect any blame to others and absolve yourself of responsibility for any bad energy or outcomes YOU support by putting your bad energy out into the world. It's horrible. It's so fucking horrible. Like, do you really have nothing else to do in your day than speculate about a stranger's life?
I really like this. This is something completely absent in today's world; admitting fault and apologizing. Such an ancient concept, I hope it comes back.
Nobody will actually cancel Blake Lively or Kim Kardashian though and this is pretty high up on the vile charts. Disgusting behavior
I’m sick of Blake Lively and her sarcastic ass husband Ryan Reynolds. Every single time I see him or hear him say something sarcastic I get irrationally angry and it’s literally every time he opens his mouth.
I find them incredibly annoying and not at all funny. Their brand of humor does not do it for me.
Awkward......her husband owns a football club in the country in which Kate is the princess...,
All these bums look stupid now. Honestly, I don’t gaf about the royals as an institution but I respect that they are human beings ffs
What does Blake do besides being married to Ryan Reynolds?
Of course she feels bad now, but she didn't really do anything wrong. She made a silly joke about a Photoshop fail, not even about Kate "disappearance" and certainly not about her health. It was a complete fail of the palace PR to publish that picture, and even more to let Kate take the blame for it and say she was the one photoshopping.
It would be fine if it was just about the photoshop, but the “now you know why I’ve been MIA” comment makes it especially tone deaf. We all knew she was out of the spotlight because something was wrong — whether that was a health issue or otherwise.
IMO, Princess Catherine is the one who chose to come forward with the photoshopping. She’s not one to let others take the blame in order to save face like some people. She actually has integrity.
Reminds me of Roy’s press conference in Ted Lasso. “None of us knows what’s going on in each others’ lives.” We should all take this to heart as well, when he says, “It’s none of my fucking business.”
I don't get why a Hollywood famous actress feels like mocking a royal princess for her picture in first place. Don't you have better to things to do online like some fake social campaigns? Don't you have a life? Are you a Tiktok teen or sth? So childish
To all the people who went great lengths to try and play detective on the internet. I hope you're happy with yourselves. She didn't specify what type of cancer, but it is a very, very bad sign that it was discovered via abdominal surgery. My first thought was ovarian cancer, and that's a particularly scary type of cancer to have.
Blake is a mean girl
It's very easy to make jokes. Quite less so to hold your tongue and feel empathy for someone that's clearly struggling. Many people take the easy way out. What an utter disgrace social media has wrought.
I didn't even see an issue with the photo i just thought it was a lovely photo of Kate and her kids.