YouTube star accuses Harry and Meghan of 'defamation'

2023-06-28

Another blow for Harry and Meghan: YouTube star accuses the Sussexes of ‘DEFAMING’ her in Netflix docuseries and vows to ‘pursue every opportunity to nail them to the wall’

Shallon Lester posted a video on Tuesday in which she accused Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of ‘defamation, slander [and] mischaracterization’
A clip from Lester’s YouTube account was shown in the fifth episode of the Sussexes’ Netflix doc, which claimed they were victims of a trolling conspiracy
It was alleged in the docuseries that there was a targeted hate campaign against them on social media being perpetrated by a handful of users

A YouTube star has accused Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of ‘defaming’ and ‘slandering’ her in their bombshell Netflix documentary – while vowing to ‘pursue every opportunity to nail [them] to the wall’.

Shallon Lester, from California, came out guns blazing against the Sussexes in a new video posted to her account on Tuesday, in which she railed against Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, for allegedly ‘mischaracterizing’ her in the six-part Netflix series.

Back in December, Lester branded Harry & Megan ‘a festival of bulls**t’ after a clip from her YouTube account was shown in their documentary, implying that she was part of a coordinated trolling campaign against the couple.

The outspoken influencer has now hinted that she may pursue legal action against them – noting in her video that her ‘lawyer is going to be mad’ at her for mentioning it – and is vowing to ‘nail their a** to the wall’ over the allegations.

‘Believe me when I say I’m pursuing every opportunity to nail their a** to the wall for this,’ she raged in the video. ‘It’s defamation, it’s slander, it’s mischaracterization. And you know what else it is? Misinformation.’

YouTube star Shallon Lester (pictured) has come out against Megan Markle and Prince Harry, claiming that the royal couple ‘defamed’ her in their self-titled Netflix series last year

‘Believe me when I say I’m pursuing every opportunity to nail their a** to the wall for this,’ Lester raged on YouTube this week. Harry and Meghan are pictured in the Netflix series

The clip of Lester – in which she discussed Harry and Meghan’s relationship – was shown as one of three YouTube videos flashed up during the Netflix series, which was released in December last year.

Lester’s video was shown as internet experts were discussing what they viewed as a ‘coordinated’ online hate campaign against the Sussexes, which they alleged was focused on spreading ‘hate propaganda’ about the couple.

‘My main issue with Meghan and Harry is their issue with me,’ Lester explained in her latest YouTube video. ‘Guess who popped up in their Netflix documentary? In an episode all about a shadowy cabal… making all of these evil tweets and orchestrating a grand campaign against Meghan and Harry online.

‘And it’s me. My picture came up in this. My picture, my video flashed on the screen along with two other people. All women… It’s not cool for me.’

Lester went on to ridicule the royals for losing their $20million Spotify deal, accusing Markle of having ‘a terrible work ethic’.

‘The Duchess or reality TV show game show briefcase girl, whatever the f**k she thinks she’s supposed to be, has had her deal with Spotify, the $20million 12-episode podcast deal, cut,’ Lester said.

‘And it seems that now Spotify has cut ties with her, everybody is coming out of the woodwork to denounce this couple’s terrible work ethic, [their] entitled, bizarre, self-aggrandizing attitude, and general unlikability.

‘You’ve got a Spotify exec calling them “f***ing grifters”. That’s a direct quote,’ she said, referring to Bill Simmons recent comments about Markle.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=uXQZz1e6kYI%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

Lester went on to mock the royals for losing their $20million Spotify deal, accusing Markle of having ‘a terrible work ethic’

‘And even the UTA, the United Talent Agency, a huge talent agency in Hollywood, the head of that saying, “I don’t think they’re that talented.”

‘The word talent is literally in the title of the company he runs and he’s like, “No, they don’t have it,”‘ Lester laughed.

The social media star also mocked Meghan and Harry over a recent report claiming Netflix had knocked back several of their show pitches.

The WSJ said that the pair had suggested shows that were too similar to already popular Netflix programs, such as sitcoms like Emily in Paris but ‘about a man’, and a show about LGBTQ characters similar to those in Heartstopper.

‘Have you heard about some of the horses**t ideas they’ve pitched?’ Lester said.

‘Emily in Paris, but a guy. Emilio in Paris? Emmett in Paris? Nobody needs that show,’ she remarked.

‘It seems that now Spotify has cut ties with her, everybody is coming out of the woodwork to denounce this couple’s terrible work ethic,’ Lester said

The social media star also mocked Meghan and Harry over a recent report claiming that Netflix had knocked back several of their show pitches

Lester has been at odds with the couple since last year after their Netflix series Harry & Megan included footage of one of her videos in a segment about the pair being the victims of a trolling conspiracy.

The segment, which aired in episode five of Harry & Meghan, featured Algorithms of Oppression author Safiya Noble and Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy claiming there was a ‘coordinated’ online campaign to spread ‘hate propaganda’ against the Sussexes.

Bot Sentinel analyzed thousands of negative tweets about Harry and Meghan and determined a large number of the tweets had come from a small group of people, which included Meghan’s estranged half-sister Samantha Markle.

‘They were actively recruiting people. Telling people how to create multiple accounts. It’s insane. And it was done by people who were just not the typical “trolls,”‘ Bouzy said in the series.

‘These are housewives, these are middle-aged Caucasian women creating just constant attacks from, “Go back to America” to basically: “Why don’t you die?”‘

Lester branded the couple’s Netflix documentary ‘a festival of bulls**t’ and ‘pathetic fiction’ after they implied that she was part of a ‘coordinated trolling campaign’ in the series

‘As per usual, nothing these two say make sense. Any “report” in this documentary is pure pathetic fiction, not even clever enough for a Suits rerun,’ Lester fumed in December

During the segment, a compilation of various YouTubers criticising Markle was played, which included Lester and Sky News Australia contributor Daisy Cousens.

Lester fired back at the outrageous claims, telling Daily Mail Australia at the time that it was all ‘pathetic fiction’.

‘Never have I made any shred of content from an account other than my own, or encouraged anyone to make any content targeting them. If I did, where? YouTube? Show me. How did I influence millions to harass Meghan and Harry and no one can find one shred of evidence?’ she said in December.

‘As per usual, nothing these two say makes sense. Any “report” in this documentary is pure pathetic fiction, not even clever enough for a Suits rerun.

‘To show a clip from my video in this segment is clearly meant to pinpoint me as one of these 83 clandestine operators when the reality is much more mundane: Meghan and Harry are simply very unlikeable, and no one needs to be part of a conspiracy to see that.

‘They just suck, and everyone can tell. Meghan can play the race card all she wants – plenty of black people are over her schtick too. Her idea of solving racism is hogging all of it for herself. Some people have actual hardships.’

‘They just suck, and everyone can tell. Meghan can play the race card all she wants – plenty of black people are over her schtick too,’ Lester raged

Lester, who says she was never contacted for comment by Netflix or even informed she would be included in the docuseries, said she was considering legal action.

‘It is defamatory, slanderous and I am discussing legal action with my team against Meghan and Harry, and Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy for his unfounded statements presented as facts,’ she said.

‘I challenge anyone associated with this documentary to prove these claims of a shadow network.

‘The very fact that they assume there’s some sort of global conspiracy against them is exactly why everyone despises them so much.

‘They’re paranoid and self-aggrandizing, and can’t fathom the idea that their boring, entitled victim narratives make them grating, cringey a**holes. Simple as that.’

Bouzy claims in Netflix’s Harry & Meghan that his company looked into 114,000 tweets, which he says came from 82 accounts that had a reach of 17 million people.

Lester, who is the former editor of Star magazine, boasts almost 350,000 subscribers on YouTube and is known for celebrity-based advice videos

Referencing the Bot Sentinel report, a Twitter spokesperson told HuffPost in 2021 in a statement: ‘Of the 50+ accounts referenced in the report, our teams took action on four accounts for violations of our platform manipulation and spam policy, meaning that many of these accounts are in fact run by unique individuals.

‘At this time, there’s no evidence of widespread coordination, the use of multiple accounts by single people, or other platform manipulation tactics.’

They also suggested that the term ‘bot’ is frequently misused, including to refer to accounts that people disagree with.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Netflix and Bot Sentinel for comment at the time.

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