Comments on: Prince Harry Is Sorry For Making Racial Slurs On Video

By: Layla

Layla — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:30:41 +0000

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?

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:46:39 +0000

What an asshole. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Bring on the republic of Canada ASAP.

By: Gobsmacked

Gobsmacked — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:30:22 +0000

Agreed, Lucky. Please view below link to further understand why Paki is such an offensive term:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm.....y-monarchy

By: Lucky

Lucky — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:48:58 +0000

@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.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:12:55 +0000

His Grandfather (Prince Philip – the Queens husband) is a known racist.

By: F

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:24:38 +0000

hahahah does no one else think the pubes answer he gave was hilarious??? he’s so frank about it…funny sh*t

By: Pam

Pam — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:34:13 +0000

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.

By: Laynie

Laynie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:04:36 +0000

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.

By: Madison

Madison — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:20:27 +0000

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

By: Lara

Lara — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:24:05 +0000

@ 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.

By: Sash

Sash — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:17:20 +0000

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. :)

By: Selina

Selina — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:12:14 +0000

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.

By: Dana J

Dana J — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:37:47 +0000

! 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.

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:28:44 +0000

His mother is turning in her grave right now. Shame on him.

By: Posh

Posh — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:13:00 +0000

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?

By: Tara

Tara — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:07:03 +0000

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.

By: Kay

Kay — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:34:02 +0000

“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.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:15:31 +0000

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.

By: PinkIsTheBestBlog

PinkIsTheBestBlog — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:12:06 +0000

The soldier Harry joked about is actually his close friend Ahmed and he took no offence to what Harry said, so it’s just the press creating drama again and it needs to just be dropped. It’s getting boring discussing this already. Politicians are always name-calling foreigners as words a lot worse than Paki and they never get all this drama, so let it lie. A percentage of the population may get offended, but not everyone does, because like I’ve explained, it’s just a shortended version of a nationality.

By: J

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:48:56 +0000

Last post I promise ever on this blog as I do have a life :P So, I did not lightly give the analogy of the word Paki to the N-word. Yes the etymology of Paki is that it is a shortening of Pakistani. But it has been endowed with a more offensive meaning w/time. Clearly. When racist people use that they are not trying to say Pakistani they are trying to say something else, I’m sure you can deduce what. Ask your Pakistani friends if the word can be offensive to Pakistani people and why. You are not South Asian, you cannot say whether or not a certain term is deemed racist for a people of a certain race. You do not have the insight of being a member of that race while you might have friends of that race. Again, you don’t have the experience of being a member of that race.

I became familiar with the term when I was visiting fam in London when I was 14 yrs old and was called Paki. My Brit cousins got really mad, etc. Being American, I did not know what this word meant and was nonplussed by being called it, until I saw my cousins’ reaction. Afterwards, I asked them about the word and they informed me of how offensive it is regardless if you’re Pakistani or Indian, connotation is the same. Since then, I have talked to many South Asian (BOTH Pakistani and INdian) UK people about this word and they agree. If it is not offensive to South Asian people, then why the hell is there such an uproar from the SOuth Asian (Pakistanis and Indians) community in the UK vs. it? Your friends, lady from Surrey, might use the word b/c they are members of that race and can do so. It is the same way African Americans can use the N-word but people who are not African American cannot. Have you ever called someone who is Pakistani who is not your friend Paki? I think not, if so there would be no discussion.

The Prince of England while he is a soldier is not subject to the same anonymity as other solidiers. Obviously. He can’t be an ordinary solider, he has to be an extraordinary soldier. As such, he shouldn’t have recorded himself using that term. Only someone incerdibily stupid could be oblivious to how him using that term would offend people. He has to conduct himself so that he is a worthy object of emulation. He is a role model. That’s his life, he’s certainly benefited from the privelages of his life. If he wants to continue enjoying the boons of his position, then he has to be subject to its constricitons as well. If he doesn’t want to be a royal and all that entails then he should abdicate his position.

By: gunnarjet

gunnarjet — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:10:52 +0000

hey guys ! …. he’s a young guy. leave him alone. he went to big s…t already in his life losing his mother,and i’m sure he doesn’t asked to be the 3rd in the monarchy. he’s a normal guy playing around like millions and millions of others do.
unforth.everyone watches his moves.

By: PinkIsTheBestBlog

PinkIsTheBestBlog — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:04:54 +0000

In reference to what JJ said about Harry not being “just any soldier” -
while in the army, he is expected to be treated exactly the same as everyone else and to take orders and join in with everyone else, in exactly the same way as any other soldier. He does not expect privileges or special treatment above other soldiers just because of who he is. This video is three years old and obviously the other soldiers filmed would have seen it. If the “Little Paki Friend” ever took the slightest bit of offence to Harry’s comment, the video would’ve been destroyed or edited, so he obviously wasn’t at all bothered,
Seriously, the British tabloid press are always out to make celebrities and our royals look as stupid as possible. Now they’ve declared Leona Lewis as “boring”. Why is she boring…? because there is no scandal on her? because she’s not a drug addict or party animal with lots of gossip surrounding her…? It’s just getting more and more negative and any slight piece of controversy about anyone these days, whether a it’s a royal prince, pop star, famous actor or politician, the papers will print anything they believe may shock and create drama in some form.

By: PinkIsTheBestBlog

PinkIsTheBestBlog — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:48:19 +0000

…whatever, but I think Paki is nowhere near as offensive as N*****. I come from an area in Surrey where there is a big mosque, therefor there is a huge moslem population and I do have friends from that community and there couldn’t give a shit what other people think of them calling themselves Pakis or if other people call them Pakis BECAUSE IT IS JUST A SHORTENED VERSION OF THEIR NATIONALITY They were all brought up in the UK, though, so that could make a difference. The media have created the word Paki to sound negative, just a shorter version of somebody’s nationality, to be this assuming racist term and it’s become ridiculous and overlooked. Just like the media have yet again made another attempt to make a public figure look like the bad guy. Typical of what the world has come to, really. I really don’t think Harry was doing anything wrong and whoever sold the video to that crap newspaper should be named and shamed for this having ever been leaked. Just because it happens to be the second in line to the throne, they have been ridiculed and made to look bad, when Harry wasn’t intending to ever offend anyone in the first place, because he was talking about one of his friends and colleagues who probably didn’t care one bit about any namecalling or anything else, because it’s THE ARMY! They usually call themselves worse things than Paki or Raghead!

By: J

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:31:26 +0000

Um, Paki is a very offensive word when used by people who are NOT Pakistani or Indian. It IS just like the N-word. I am Indian, have been to the UK many many times, have British Indian family and British Indian friends and they all feel that when people call them Paki that it is very offensive. I have been called Paki when in London a few times and it was very clear the intention was entirely racist. If you are in the UK and you call a South Asian person Paki and you are not South Asian, you will gauranteed piss him/her off and start a fight. It IS just like the N word and racist.

By: kaitlin

kaitlin — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:29:52 +0000

Political correctness is the most effed up thing in this country.

Nobod is perfect, and when you are put in the situations that soldiers are put in everyday, you mess around with your friends and try to keep everyones spirits up. I don’t think Prince Harry was being rude or saying those things to hurt anyone he was making a joke and seriously it’s not like everyone hasn’t heard it before.