Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, slapped Queen Elizabeth II in the face with their commitment to living a life of service despite no longer being working members of the Royal Family.
For the past five years, the power couple has found ways — some more controversial than others — to be public servants. They gave back to various communities in need via their Archewell Foundation.
They take part in a mini tour around the globe, helping important causes. Moreover, Prince Harry has been pushing his shining glory, The Invictus Games.
The Duke of Sussex is often told to be proud of the sporting event he launched in honor of injured military members.
The games took place in London, Germany, Holland, and will soon be in Canada. Prince Harry’s efforts to put the spotlight on his wounded brothers and sisters in arms have not gone unnoticed.
It has been announced that he will be receiving the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the The 2024 ESPYS. The Pat Tillman Award honors the late NFL legend who enlisted after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
Pat Tillman, an American hero, was killed during a tour in Afghanistan. ESPN noted: “After serving for ten years in the British Armed Forces, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a forward air controller and Apache helicopter pilot, Prince Harry founded The Invictus Games Foundation, continuing his service by creating an international platform to support wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women – both active-duty and veterans – who are navigating both physical and invisible injuries. Since inception, the Games have transcended borders and impacted lives across every continent, bringing together competitors from 23 nations, with continued support and programming 365 days of the year.”
Kate Jackson, VP, Production, ESPN shared the following statement: “It’s our privilege to recognize three incredible individuals – Steve Gleason, Dawn Staley and Prince Harry. These honorees have used their platforms to change the world and make it more inclusive for marginalized and suffering communities, demonstrating incredible resilience, positivity, and perseverance, and we’re thrilled to celebrate them at The 2024 ESPYS.”
Pat Tillman’s mother slams ESPN and calls Prince Harry divisive
However, there is a significant problem: Pat Tillman’s mother finds it insulting to give Prince Harry such recognition.
Mary Tillman slammed the sports network for not consulting her and revealed that Prince Harry is not deserving or worthy of merit.
She told The Daily Mail: “I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award. There are recipients that are far more fitting. There are individuals working in the veteran community that are doing tremendous things to assist veterans.”
The grieving mother is not alone in her fight to prevent ESPN from honoring the British prince.
Pat McAfee says Prince Harry is not American or heroic
Many famous people and faceless internet users have expressed their disgust that King Charles III‘s privileged son will be given such a prestigious award.
Sports analyst Pat McAfee claimed that Prince Harry is selfish and has no ties to sports. The former football punter boldly declared Prince Harry an imposter and added: “A lot of conversation about Pat Tillman’s name. American hero. Now there’s an award named after him, as there should be in the sports world because that is somebody who is the definition of selfless,’ McAfee said at first. ‘It’s going to Prince Harry, who I don’t even think is a prince anymore… He said don’t call me that; see, why does the ESPYS do this sh*t?”
McAfee, who admitted that he was not aware that Prince Harry founded The Invictus Games and served in the British Army, went on to claim: “When you do something like this, you know the immediate reaction from humans and sports fans and like people with common sense and brains is going to be like” Hey, don’t be putting our f–ing guy with that guy. I don’t know anything about him except for the South Park episode and what I’ve learned from the Crown. But, did his people know, like,” You publicly put me up for this award. You’re just asking basically every person that considers themselves American and saying,” This is bulls***”‘. Especially at a sports award type of thing… I assume he knew that. They didn’t expect that?”
He continued: “We should celebrate sports. Worldwide leaders should celebrate sports, but doing something like this is obviously trying to piss people off. And it’s like there’s been numerous decisions of this type of thing over the last what? Decade? And I think it’s just one person being put in charge of this entire thing. It’s like, c’mon bro…”
Prince Harry will have to ride this humiliating and controversial wave alone. Many have predicted that Markle will say that she is powerless and step back and leave Prince Harry to take one for the team.
