Though charges of racism are nothing new for Britain’s Royal Family, one bigoted old bag just took it to a whole new level. On Thursday night, Trevor Noah shared the latest controversy facing Buckingham Palace, which involves an 83-year old woman and an exchange that likely has Queen Elizabeth II turning over in her grave.
On Tuesday, Lady Susan Hussey — Prince William’s octogenarian godmother, and the late Queen’s onetime lady-in-waiting — was at Buckingham Palace for a reception at which Ngozi Fulani, an advocate for victims of violence and domestic abuse and the founder of the nonprofit Sistah Space, was a VIP guest. But it was Fulani who ended up being victimized when Hussey began questioning her about her nationality and apparently refused to accept the London-born guest’s response that she was British. Fulani later posted a full recap of the exchange to Twitter, which began with the problematic “Where are you from?,” and devolved into more pointed questions like, “No, but what nationality are you?” (eek!) and “No, but where do you really come from? Where do your people come from?” (NO!!!)
Mixed feelings about yesterday’s visit to Buckingham Palace. 10 mins after arriving, a member of staff, Lady SH, approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge. The conversation below took place. The rest of the event is a blur.
Thanks @ManduReid & @SuzanneEJacob for support pic.twitter.com/OUbQKlabyq— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022
Noah offered some belated advice to Hussey, who has since resigned her “position” (whatever that means), when he explained that “there is only one socially acceptable way to find out someone’s heritage: you swab their DNA while they’re asleep.”
Clearly, Hussey must have skipped the first day of “Avoidable Racism 101,” because Noah said that the first thing they teach you is:
“Never say the word ‘from.’ That’s it. A lot of racism includes the word ‘from,’ so just avoid it altogether. ‘Where are you really from?’ ‘Go back to where you came from.’ ‘You see this clip from Tucker Carlson?’
You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 6:15 mark.