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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should have named baby after George Floyd, says 'racist' UK journalist

Journalist Julie Burchill said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could have called their daughter 'Georgina Floydina', naming her after George Floyd

A British journalist deleted his Twitter account after causing an uproar by saying that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should have named their daughter after George Floyd. Over the weekend, Harry and Meghan revealed that they had named their daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, after Queen Elizabeth and the late Princess Diana. 

The comment, which many on social media pointed out to be racially discriminating, came from Julie Burchill, who has contributed to newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times and The Guardian. "What a missed opportunity. They could have called it Georgina Floydina!” Burchill wrote on Sunday, June 6, before commenting “Oprah Beyonce!” and “I was hoping for Doria Oprah, the racist rotters” on her own tweet. The tweet, along with her account, was nowhere to be found at the time of writing this article. However, screenshots of her controversial tweet were already circulating on the internet. 

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She walked out on her 5-year-old son

One of the users reminded people of the fact that Burchill walked out on her son when he was five. In a 2015 Independent article, her then-teenage son spoke out against his mother. According to the piece titled, "To mum, I was just an inconvenience", Burchill's son says she walked out on him when he was five, leaving the boy to be brought up by his father — writer and broadcaster Tony Parsons. She did not see her son Robert again for more than 10 years. "She said she couldn't afford to have me there," Robert Parsons said at the time. "But a week or two after I left she moved her unemployed boyfriend in. So the logistics of that don't seem too reasonable."

Another user likened the tweet to a similar post by comedian Danny Baker, who posted an image of Harry and Meghan holding an ape after the birth of their first child, Archie. "It was about a special brand of British racism then with Danny Baker, and it is now with Julie Burchill. And it’s never surprising that their ugly AF outside matches their ugly racist insides. I hope there’s a special place in hell for people like this," the user said. One more compared her with Joanna Toch, a British judge who was accused of using racist language to commemorate the birth of Harry ad Meghan's second child. "Julie Burchill works for the Telegraph and Spectator and Joanna Toch is a family judge in the UK. Today, they both decided to welcome Lili Diana to racism. The Brits also welcomed Archie with racism when he was born. I truly can’t stand that racist country," the user commented.

'She racially abused a 2 day old baby girl'

More criticisms followed. "The next time Julie Burchill and her mates tell you they are the ~real feminists~ cos they’re fighting the good fight to protect cis women — remember she racially abused a 2 day old baby girl," one of them said. Another noted, "Julie Burchill mocked a murdered black man to get one over a newborn baby. Yet people like her think they're on the right of side history. The British media is a swamp of embittered, cruel, ignorant, bigots." The next commented, "I mean... let's just call it as it is: Julie Burchill tweets like a racist who is proud of how racist she is."

"I'm not sure there's a better example of the British media's cloistered nature and systemic racism than their continued upholding of Julie Burchill as some sort of lauded journalistic provocateur when she's merely a bigoted hack copying from the 4Chan handbook," a commenter tweeted. Another said, "Julie Burchill wakes up every morning looking like a witch and has the audacity to come for Lilibet Diana. This Julie Burchill."

Burchill quits Twitter after backlash

After facing considerable backlash regarding her tweet, Burchill decided to quit Twitter instead of apologizing. In her farewell tweet, she said that she had expected Twitter to ban her from the platform after she started getting the angry comments but no such action was taken. So she voluntarily decided to quit social media. "I'm finally going to do it and leave Twitter now - it's become impossible to poke fun even at monstrously over-privileged people without being called Hitler," she wrote. "When the moaning started this morning, I hoped I might be banned, but I won't be so I'm off. Thanks for the laughs, bye!"