What Are Harry and Meghan Thinking?

Tom & Lorenzo’s Pop Style Opinionfest - Tom Lorenzo

Tom and Lorenzo discuss the recent announcement that Harry and Meghan are returning to live in London, analyzing their motivations and publi

Key takeaways

• Harry and Meghan's return to England is seen as a strategic move likely tied to Prince Charles' declining health rather than genuine reconciliation.

Main topics

• Harry and Meghan's decision to return to the UK
• J.K. Rowling's anti-trans activism and funding of anti-trans legislation

Notable quotes

"You're not going to be able to have it both ways. You can't say you support trans people and then take money from someone who says they don't deserve rights."

Conclusion

The hosts conclude that Harry and Meghan's return is likely driven by personal, possibly

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:23) We're Tom and Lorenzo. And this is the PopStyle Opinion Fest. Hello, kittens. Welcome back to another edition of the PSO. I'm the T in your T-Lo, Tom Fitzgerald. And I'm here with the L-O in your T-Lo, Lorenzo Monk, as my lovely husband. Hello. And we did not think we were doing a podcast this week. In fact, we announced that we weren't doing a podcast this week because Lorenzo had hand surgery. Speaker 1 (0:42) Yeah, I mean, nothing. No, Speaker 2 (0:44) you're fine. Speaker 1 (0:45) Yeah, it's, well, apparently. But you Speaker 2 (0:47) were perked up for a couple of days, got his Percocets, and I was like, you know what, let's just take the week off. Speaker 1 (0:52) It's a trigger finger, pretty much. And so it's a quick surgery, same-day surgery. I had Speaker 2 (0:59) the same issue about five or six years ago. I'm sorry, go ahead. Speaker 1 (1:02) No, I postponed it for a long time because, you know, you can start by just doing exercises, and then if that doesn't work, then you move on to injections. And then finally surgery. So I was like, I don't need this finger. So pinky finger. Yeah, Speaker 2 (1:18) we people don't know that blogging is hell on your body sometimes. And I had the same issue about six years ago. I had multiple trigger fingers after I and by that, I mean, your hands, your fingers curl up, you can't unclench them. And that was after writing Legendary Children. And it's, you know, you spend all day clicking on a mouse and typing, and at a certain point, your hands say, that's enough. So, but in my case, I never needed surgery. First, I got the injections, and then they gave me exercises and splints to wear. Yeah. So it never got, but you ignored Speaker 1 (1:52) it. Well, I ignored everything, and mine got... So bad to the point that if I wash my face, I would like poke my face with my finger and stuff. I couldn't put my, my, yeah, I couldn't put my hand in a pocket anymore without, you know, too much trouble. Uh, and then, and I was like in airports, I was like, how am I going to do the skin? My hand now. I don't want to have to explain to the agent every time, yeah, look at my finger. Anyway, so I had surgery. Everything is fine. I can't go to the gym. But I will wait, you know, and then remove all the stitches next week. Anyway, yes. Yes, I'm fine. Lorenzo's fine. Speaker 2 (2:28) But anyway, he got up this morning. I had already been up for an hour, and I was like, look, honey. Harry and Meghan podcasts always do numbers for us. And Harry and Meghan just announced the bombshell announcement that they are returning to London, returning to England to live. Speaker 2 (2:46) And we are Speaker 1 (2:47) going to talk about that. Speaker 2 (2:48) We have many, many, many thoughts about that. But we also had on the back burner, we were planning, and then we canceled this week's podcast, we were planning to talk about another thing about which we are both a little red hot at the moment, which is, well, it's first the news that Nicholas Holt has taken a role in the Harry Potter TV Speaker 1 (3:10) series. Speaker 2 (3:11) And that's just a disappointment. And also... uh actress belle pally who was already cast in the in the series just gave a answer I'm going to toss to you because you have all the facts. However, let me just in case people don't know, because honestly, I was talking to a family member recently and they just don't know about J.K. Rowling. But, you know, it's it's not permeating past people who really pay attention to or who care about trains. Because Speaker 1 (3:38) that's a lot of denial out there. So Speaker 2 (3:40) J.K. Rowling, who is a billionaire, made a billion dollars as the author of Harry Potter, has spent the last. more than half decade, it's pretty much close to a decade at this point, speaking out against transgender people and in really, really bigoted ways and leading entire social movements against trans people in England, in the UK, and also using her money to fund anti-trans legislation, some of which has already gotten passed. And she is very, very open that about the fact that she will use any money she makes to fight the scourge of trans people. Speaker 1 (4:24) Yeah, she has a fund. There's a website. There's a website. I'm not going to mention the name, but anyway, she has a site and a fund that, you know, if you need any help. you know, suing a trans person, talk to her. Anyway, the thing with this issue is that if you follow the news about this, we've been following the news about this, it started very mild with her just going like, well, trans people have the right to be out there. That's trans Speaker 2 (4:49) rhetoric generally in the last decade. But Speaker 1 (4:51) then, but, you know, women, and it was always this very mild, very gentle conversation about trans people. And then it kept increasing, increasing, getting worse and worse and worse to the point that she's full blown against. trans people and doing everything you can. I think you just get these dopamine Speaker 2 (5:06) hits when you're like on social media and you find, it happens on the right wing all the time. They find out that they can get, it's the same thing. Listen, he was never a good person, but you can watch Elon Musk in the last 10 years. He just went completely Speaker 1 (5:19) insane online. Speaker 2 (5:21) When Speaker 1 (5:22) you find the support, when you see people, you know, gathering and saying, you're right, you know. You Speaker 2 (5:28) go girl. You're so right. We're behind Speaker 1 (5:30) you. And these people are horrible. And then, you know, and you have the money because that's the issue. She has the money and a lot of it, people, a lot of it to expand. And she said it and I quote her. She doesn't care about her legacy. She said that I'm going to be dead anyway. And I'm quoting her here. She doesn't care. She thinks she's fighting the good fight. Right. And that's what people do. I mean, when they put something in their head. They, you know, they think that's what they need to do. That's their mission. And when you have the money, then that's the problem here. And, you know, so she's, so there's, and I understand her books. I never read her books. I was never interested in any of her books. It's not my thing. And. But I understand that her books are very, very popular. The whole franchise is huge. They are very Speaker 2 (6:21) important to an entire generation. Yes. Speaker 1 (6:24) And people love the books. So it's very hard for people to say, you know, no to the books, no to all that. And then, you know, and not support her. And I... I was so disappointed with Nicholas Holt and Belle Pally because I like both. I like both as actors. She Speaker 2 (6:40) had already taken the role, though. She had been cast a while ago. But I was Speaker 1 (6:43) disappointed with the statement. Do you Speaker 2 (6:44) have the statement? I have the Speaker 1 (6:45) statement, and I'll talk about it in a minute. My point is that I understand, and I was very angry on Instagram, and I posted something. I usually don't talk about this woman at all because I don't want to talk about her. J Speaker 2 (6:57) .K. Rowling. Yes, Speaker 1 (6:58) I don't want to talk about her because the more you talk about her... the you know the more champagne bottles she opens and celebrates um so i so i didn't want to talk about it but i was very disappointed with babe hallie because she she came out with the statement i can read Speaker 2 (7:13) it i haven't written all right go ahead no you Speaker 1 (7:14) go ahead and read it i Speaker 2 (7:16) strongly disagree with jk rowling's views on gender i think that the trans community deserves safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance all good but like Speaker 1 (7:28) she follows that up with a butt Speaker 2 (7:29) But I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first... There should not be a but in that statement. I am from that first generation of readers. And again, I love magic and spookiness. Okay, more than trans people, I guess. Speaker 1 (7:41) There shouldn't be a statement at all because... Yeah, take Speaker 2 (7:44) your money and just go home. Speaker 1 (7:45) As I said on Instagram, these people should just take their money and shut their mouths because a statement like that... Doesn't it makes me even angrier because you saying that trans people should have all the acceptance when when you're taking money from someone because she's the executive producer on the show. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:01) You're Speaker 1 (8:02) taking money from someone who's saying that trans people have no rights. So you can't have it. You can't say I love and support trans people and Speaker 2 (8:09) then follow that up with. But yes. Speaker 1 (8:11) And my disappointment was. You know, I mean, you can say John Lithgow did the same thing, but he's an old geezer. You know, he still Speaker 2 (8:18) should know better. He played a trans woman. I get it. Speaker 1 (8:21) I get it. But, you know, I'm more disappointed with this younger generation of, you know, these people Speaker 2 (8:26) are young. Come on. And the thing about Nicholas Holt that is really, really disappointing is. He's not some B-list actor. You're making Superman movies at this point. You are A-list. You are pulling major checks and you're not even gonna be playing... I mean, if, if he was playing like Voldemort or something like that, I'm like, well, I guess an actor can't... But he's playing not a minor character, but definitely a B character. Why? Speaker 1 (8:52) Why are you taking this Speaker 2 (8:53) money? Why are you doing this? Speaker 1 (8:55) I understand, you know, I'm not accepting these people to... to be very aggressive about their views in politics, like Javier Bardem, for example, who says, I don't care about my career anymore. This is my mission. This is my view, which is, you know, do you... Ironically, Speaker 2 (9:10) that's what J.K. Rowling says, but it's working well for her. Speaker 1 (9:13) Right. So I understand. But you can't just say no to one... one thing. I mean, you have you already have a ton of money. I understand if you're young, starting your career, this is your first project or whatever. Kids, those kids Speaker 2 (9:26) should not be blamed for taking those roles. I Speaker 1 (9:28) agree. And but, you know, it's HBO is a major project. You start in your career. I can understand. I don't accept it, but I understand. But and that's my thing. On Instagram, I even said because, you know, you say something on Instagram and then people come back with something completely different. to fight you back. So I said, listen, I understand. I'm not asking you to burn the books or, or, you know, forget that you like these books, whatever you have them, you bought them. That was before she went completely nuts. I get that part, but supporting any new project. That makes her Speaker 2 (10:01) money. Speaker 1 (10:01) That's the point. It makes her money. Right. Knowing what, what, what, what her position is right now. And you still support her because you love the books. That's, you know, you just giving money to, you know. to the wrong people um and so when when actors accept a project like that i think they should just accept it shut up and you know hope that people will forget about it but when you come out with statements like that uh it's just it's you're just calling me stupid that you know it's why and it also Speaker 2 (10:34) i mean it helps um Speaker 2 (10:39) reinforce, I'm not naive about this, but it's sometimes good to be reminded, celebrities are not moral. Right, exactly. You should not look them for moral guidance. They're not moral actors. And many of them are far, far, far more involved with their careers and making money than they are in any social justice sort of ideas. So... And people on the left, actually both sides do this, tend to uphold any celebrity that they feel has their same values. And it's like, you know what? You have no idea if these people even have values. It's Speaker 1 (11:13) very hard. Like, sometimes I post on Instagram, like I say, I adore this actor or whatever. And I'm