Harry and Meghan’s hotly anticipated Netflix series hasn’t even been released and already it’s causing A LOT of controversy.
The six-part docuseries released the first official trailer for Harry & Meghan on Friday 2 December and forget the content and drama expected to unfurl, just the timing of the trailer release has numerous people up-in-arms.
Unfortunately, the first trailer release coincided with the closing evening ceremony of the Earthshot Prize awards - which sees £1million awarded to projects aimed at saving the planet – attended by both Prince William and Kate Middleton.
And whilst that decision was naturally out of the hands of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, members of Netflix’s scientific advisory group have complained to Netflix about that timing.
Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres – who sits on Netflix’s advisory group and chairs the Earthshot board – admitted that she wasn’t very happy with that decision.
According to The Sunday Times she said, ‘Netflix has been a leader on producing valuable content to educate on environmental issues. It is therefore disappointing that they air negative messages on the very same day as the Earthshot Prize.’
Her colleague, Tom Rovett-Carnac, echoed her sentiments saying, ‘The remarkable finalists and winners of the Earthshot Prize are changing the world. They deserve all attention and recognition so the timing of this release from Netflix, a sustainability content leader, is profoundly disappointing.’
Prince William launched The Earthshot Prize - now the world’s most prestigious environmental prize - in 2020 which rewards individuals who come up with creative solutions to climate change.
Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s iconic Moonshot challenge – which was his challenge to Americans to land a man on the Moon within a decade and bring them safely back to Earth – the five Earthshot categories included ‘Protect and Restore Nature’, ‘Clean our Air’, ‘Revive our Oceans’, ‘Build a Waste-Free World’ and ‘Fix our Climate’.
Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef from Australia - a women-led program that combines 60,000 years of indigenous knowledge with digital technologies to protect land and sea - scooped the prize for ‘Revive our Oceans’ whilst Notpla from the UK - which offers an alternative to plastic packaging from seaweed – won ‘Build a Waste-Free World’.