Karl Stefanovic has come under fire after a preview for his 60 Minutes segment “How Meghan Markle lost her sparkle” was released last week.
Viewers and celebrities criticised the show for pandering to critics who they believe are racist.
The program faced backlash for featuring Katie Hopkins, a conservative British commentator whose racist remarks are infamous.
Throughout the interview, Karl asked Hopkins if her dislike for Meghan was fueled by racism, to which the commentator denied.
WATCH: Katie Hopkins tells Karl Stefanovic why she hates Meghan Markle
“I think that’s where people go with this. If I criticised Meghan, as we can hear I am, people say, ‘Well, you’re racist’. And, honestly, it’s not even a second thought to me,” she responded.
“It only comes up in the minds of those who are truly racist, and that’s never people like me.
“I’m just observing that the dress is better on Kate. So, this racist thing is really old and tired, but I think it’s just people’s way of sort of saying ‘You must not criticise Meghan’.”
Former palace insider, Patrick Jephson – who spent eight years as Princess Diana’s private secretary – argued that the question of race is “entirely misleading.”
“It’s irrelevant and I would warn against anybody taking that line as any sort of explanation as to why Meghan sometimes doesn’t get the press she necessarily wants,” he told Karl.
Jephson also “strongly advised” Prince Harry against what Karl called “playing the racism card.”
“If you take that point of view then you’re going to miss perhaps some more relevant reasons to why Meghan isn’t as popular as she should be,” the royal insider said.
WATCH: Karl Stefanovic’s 60 Minutes report on Meghan Markle is slammed
When the segment aired, 60 Minutes was hit with a flood of angry tweets from viewers criticising the show not only for featuring Hopkins but also for not interviewing people of colour and for focusing on Meghan while Prince Andrew’s ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein were left unaddressed.
Hopkins repeatedly slammed the Duchess of Sussex in the interview, arguing that she was harming Prince Harry’s reputation and that her movies were “cheap.”
“Why do you hate Meghan so much?” Karl asked her. “What has she ever done to you?”
“Oh everything,” she responded. “It’s my royal family. This is my country. Prince Harry is my Prince Harry.”
Hopkins also referred to Meghan as a hypocrite.
“What does Meghan Markle do? Oh, we’ve got to save the planet. Oh, do one good thing every day. Blah blah blah blah blah. Then what does she do? Get on four private flights to wherever land at 400,000 pounds a week hire and then uses up half the CO2 emissions that anyone else might have had. It’s pure hypocrisy.
“And what is she really? She’s a no one. She’s a divorcee. When did we want a divorcee in the Royal family? She wears bad clothes. When did we ask for that? We’ve just got so much better of our own.”
In the lead up to the interview, other commentators and celebrities also criticised 60 Minutes for the segment, including Jameela Jamil and Mia Farrow.
According to news.com.au, the Nine Network is yet to address the backlash.
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