Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are going after a photo agency that was involved in their paparazzi car chase!
As we’ve been following, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as the Suits alum’s mother, Doria Ragland, were followed by several paps in NYC after leaving the 2023 Women of Vision Awards at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan on Tuesday night. While being pursued by “highly aggressive” photographers, they ended up on a two-hour chase around the city and tried to make a break for it by switching cars and getting into a yellow taxi. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t work and the cameras still found them. Now, they’re demanding one agency to hand over all the footage.
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According to a new letter obtained by TMZ on Thursday, the couple is claiming photo agency Backgrid USA Inc. must give them all photos and videos of the “chase” for their own security purposes, adding via their lawyers:
“We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours.”
Welp. It’s definitely not going to be that easy for them!
The company clapped back HARD with a sassy reply! Backgrid’s lawyers completely rejected the demand, arguing:
“In America, as I’m sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do. Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago. We stand by our founding fathers.”
THE REVOLUTIONARY SHADE!
Backgrid went on to say they had four photographers at the scene, three in cars and one on a bike. They insisted the paps “had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras.”
In a previous statement, the company also denied the chase being as serious as the couple made it out to be. They discussed their freelance photographers’ involvement, explaining:
“According to the accounts given by these freelance contributors, they were covering the couple’s stay in New York City, including the possibility of a dinner after an award ceremony. They had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras. A few of the photos even show Meghan Markle smiling inside a cab.”
They also blamed the chaos on Harry’s team, saying one worker reported that “one of the four SUVs from Prince Harry’s security escort was driving in a manner that could be perceived as reckless” — but that ultimately there were “no near-collisions or near-crashes” during the incident, as Harry and Meghan’s statement claimed.
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Now, obviously, this is coming from the photo agency being blamed — which isn’t going to want to admit any wrongdoing here, so take it all with a grain of salt. But if you’d like to see a bit of the chase for yourself, take a look (below). You can see more images HERE.
Hmm…
This particular clip doesn’t seem too dangerous, but we can understand why Harry, Meghan, and Doria would be so scared. For one, it’s gotta be overwhelming to have that many people following you around the city! But it’s also an eerie situation when you recall how the 38-year-old’s mother Princess Diana died amid a paparazzi car chase in Paris in 1997. It must’ve been a very traumatic situation for the Spare author.
Also, the Archewell founders have been outspoken about not wanting the footage to spread online. In their initial statement about the incident, they said:
“Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”
That said, there’s no legal reason so far as we can see for the company to hand over the contents. No lawsuit has been filed that would require them to do so. So if Harry and Meghan really want the footage, they may need to fork up some cash — but we have a feeling they’d rather sue first than willingly pay for the pics! That, too, would maybe encourage more chases — especially if they paid top dollar! Thoughts? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via Netflix/YouTube & MEGA/WENN]
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