Prince Harry is doing a lot of apologizing today after a video of the young prince on duty in Afghanistan surfaced yesterday that showed the prince saying some very racially insensitive things. News of the World managed to score a home video, apparently recorded by Prince Harry on his own video camera, of the prince narrating a short clip and is heard referring to a fellow soldier named Ahmed as his “little Paki friend” — which I now understand that in the UK is as offensive as using the “N” word here in the US. Later on in the tape he also uses the term “raghead” when he sees a Caucasian soldier friend wearing a head covering on his head. The video goes on to show other shenanigans on the prince’s part but it’s the Paki and raghead remarks that have him scrambling to undue some of the damage done by the remarks:
ROYAL rebel Prince Harry today stands accused of racism in a bombshell home video as he swaggers in front of his army comrades. The soldier prince pours shame on the Royal Family as he calls an Asian squaddie “our little Paki friend” and tells another officer cadet jokingly wearing a camouflage veil off duty: “Fuck me, you look like a raghead”—an offensive term for an Arab. Harry, 24, third in line to the throne, also mocks the Queen—who is Commander-in-Chief of the British Army—while acting out a mobile phone call to her in front of other cadets at a field camp in Cyprus. They laugh out loud as the disrespectful Prince pretends to get bored talking to his grandmother and dismissively hangs up on her saying: “Send my love to the corgis. I’ve got to go, got to go, bye. God Save You . . . yeah, that’s great.” He even jokes about the colour of his pubic hair with one soldier in the middle of giving orders. Last night Clarence House issued an APOLOGY for his behaviour in the shocking video diary—in which Harry is often behind the camera giving a foul-mouthed commentary. Extracts from the shock video can be seen on only our website notw.co.uk And the Ministry of Defence said last night: “This sort of language is not acceptable in a modern army.” His sick remarks will not only have infuriated the Queen but could also increase tensions with Islamic groups in the UK who were outraged that he went to fight and kill Muslims in Afghanistan. And they will mortify Army chiefs trying to recruit soldiers from Britian’s ethnic minorities. The film was made in 2006, just a year after Harry was shamed for wearing a Nazi swastika at a fancy dress party and forced to make a grovelling apology.
I am not even going to begin to try rationalize Harry‘s remarks, they’re pretty deplorably insensitive. I can only imagine that while on military duty, soldiers tend to cut up with one another in order to defray the cautious stress that comes from being in danger. I suspect, too, that Harry was prolly trying to joke around and “be cool” with his friends (something dumb guys do all the time) … again, not an excuse. I did find the part of the video funny when he pretends to talk to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the phone saying, “God save you”. That bit was funny, I thought. It was also nice of Harry to confirm to the world that his pubes are also ginger, just like the hair on his head. Nice chap. After the jump, watch the video in full for yourselves so you can see and hear just what has gotten Harry in so much hot water today …
If the above clip does not work for you, you can watch the video HERE as well. I don’t necessarily think that Prince Harry is a bad guy … tho this, coupled with that Nazi costume scandal that he was involved in previously doesn’t really paint him in the best light. The kid is young and, altho that is no excuse for this kind of behavior, I suspect he’ll eventually grow up and realize that this sort of behavior is no way for an adult to act — Royalty or not. Learn your lesson, Harry.
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Yeah, I can see the whole need to blow off stress when serving in the military. Obviously, being politically correct isnt the most important thing at the time. BUT this prince keeps doing the same shit over and over. Remember when he dressed up as a Nazi? I don’t believe his apologies for one second. And Princess Di may not have been the smartest but she was definitely known for her compassion and good works. Her son is becoming known as an insensitive prick.
“whatever, but I think Paki is nowhere near as offensive as N*****.”
It’s exactly that kind of ideology that just perpetuates the use of such terms. Whether you think it’s not as offensive in comparison to another derogatory isn’t the issue at hand here…simply the use of such a term (along with whatever other deviations may exist in reference to other racial groups) should be eliminated all together.
And I certainly think the term “raghead” cannot in any way be construed as not intending to offend anyone.
I don’t see any justification for Prince Harry’s behaviour, it shows nothing but ignorance and disrespect.
Unfortunately, if you hang around any young military persons, you will hear some very “offensive” language. It is common to hear the words raghead, n***er, and other racist slang terms among other things. Recording such antics helps relieve the stress and boredom that occur during deployment.
While Harry is a Royal and should be someone others look up to, he is also human and a young man in the military.
The sad thing is that if he did use the n-word, I think people would be more upset. Any racism or prejudice is ridiculous, no matter which ethnic group it is against. I agree that it was a while ago, and I’m sure he regrets it, but you can’t just say “give him a break.” Why tolerate any ignorance?
His mother is turning in her grave right now. Shame on him.
! it’s only because he’s a prince that this is getting headlines. I know some pakistanians refer to themselves as pakis, just like some black people I know refer to themselves as the N-word all full fledged and not the slang terminology. if the young man in the video comes out and says he’s offended then harry makes amends to him. not to the public. he’s young, naive and is going to say even more dumb crap over the years because he can and nothing bad is going to happen to him. it’s not like he’s going to lose his position for the CROWN or anything over this. so it’ll happen again.
but the army drill and grandmother bit was funny ” yeah yeah God Save You, gotta go”.she probably got in an uproar over that against her.
Remember, Harry also got in trouble for dressing up as a Nazi for Halloween. This isn’t exactly his first round in the “Things you shouldn’t do or say” category.
Soliders say things to deal with stress, and his friend didn’t out and punch him in the face for saying it, so it’s assumed he didn’t care.
Should he have video taped it? No, that was really stupid, but hopefully he learned from it.
I’m Indian and I’m not remotely bothered by any of this. I don’t equate “Paki” to the N-word at all. Plus, it depends on the tone it was used. Anyone can tell that Harry is messing around here. If he had gone on a rant about Ahmed and then called him a Paki, it would be different. Racism is bad enough without people being this hypersensitive. It’s overreactions like this that build walls between races because it just adds fuel to the fire. Names only have power if we get upset by them.
I agree completely with Dana J. :)
@ PinkIsTheBestBlog & J – There are words that can be racist when used in certain contexts, but then are okay when used by friends. “Paki” is one of them, as is “wog” and the N-word. Supposedly they’re all highly offensive, but then how do you explain the fact that the people they are directed at use them on each other, and that’s okay? This is obviously one of those situations where the word is being used among friends, and Harry’s friend obviously didn’t take any offense to it. I know lots of caucasion guys who have “wog” friends, and they call them that and it doesn’t offend them, because they’re mates, and they’re young guys and it’s what they do. They insult each other and then get insulted back. Not to mention, he was about to be deployed to a hostile country where he could have been shot at. Ask any army guy who’s been in that situation and they will tell you that some of the language that gets thrown around isn’t very nice. They make fun of the enemy using terms like “raghead” because it is one way for them to cope with the stress and fear. And to top it all off, he’s just a young guy, yeah, he’s royal and he should be expected to be PC at all times, but he’s also human, and he gave in to peer pressure from his mates. I bet his mates would have said things just as bad at other times, but we don’t get to hear about that. He was just having a joke with his friends, and he obviously didn’t mean to offend anyone. That’s not excusing the fact that some people have found it offensive, just saying he didn’t intend for it to be taken that way, as it was only ever intended to be a joke with his mates before the media got their hands on it.
My husband has served in Iraq so I understand the use of comedy to let off some stress, but I think there’s sometimes a fine line between being funny & being insensitive, and Prince Harry may have crossed that without even really knowing it. He may not have meant to be disrespectful but a person in his position should really watch what they say & do….especially when there’s a camera around! As we all know, things like this can and will most likely come back & haunt you lol But anyway, I totally laughed at the “God save you” part too, too funny, and I was totally taken back by how sexy his voice is lol
i don’t think this is a big deal at all.
and he said ‘our paki friend’ not ”that god damn paki” or whatever. for all we know that may be what everyone calls him
on a side note thats a weird word thats connected to racial slurrs, it’s just a shorten version of the word. Why isn’t Brit a racial slurr? Or Scot? or Jap? weird.
really sexy voice…
sorry, but definitely making a big fuss cos he is Di’s son, he’s just a young stupid boy in the military. With a sexy voice.. that hits the spot for me.
hahahah does no one else think the pubes answer he gave was hilarious??? he’s so frank about it…funny sh*t
His Grandfather (Prince Philip – the Queens husband) is a known racist.
@Laynie – Dude, “Jap” IS a racial slur in most contexts. You’re right that neither “Brit” nor “Scot” (which are also shortened versions of words) are not considered racial slurs, but in the case of “Jap,” this word has been used to degrade and minimize people of Japanese descent for years, which you can’t say for the terms “Scot” or “Brit” (as far as I know). “Jap” is not used as commonly as it was before. These days, you hear the word “ch!nk” more than anything, though I have no idea why.
In any case, you could argue that terms like “ch!nk,” “fl!p,” or also “sp!c” (and yes, I’m choosing to self-censor because I know these particular words tend to upset people) are also shortened versions of the words Chinese, Filipino, and Hispanic, but they are still really uncool racial epithets.
It’s all about context.
Agreed, Lucky. Please view below link to further understand why Paki is such an offensive term:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm.....y-monarchy
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What an asshole. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Bring on the republic of Canada ASAP.
In high school I was good friends with a Pakistani girl. She called herself a paki all the time. All 3 of her brothers used the word often as well, directed at themselves, each other and their friends too. I even heard her father use it once or twice. I never knew it was so offensive. That family obviously didn’t find it offensive, so why should I?
On a side note, I’ve never heard anyone referred to as “South Asian”. I always thought it was “East Indian”. Or is that different ?
It’s a tough world and hard to be so PC all the time. Too much hypersentivity. Relax & breath, will yas?
@*T – I didn’t say that he leaked it, I was responding to the comment that he “didnt ask to have every freaking word he says be recorded” when he’s the one who did the recording in the first place. I would’ve expected that he’d be smarter than to record himself using such language in the first place.