After stepping down as working royals in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle signed a $100 million deal with Netflix. The agreement allowed the couple to air their docu-series, Harry & Meghan, as well as Meghan’s latest show, With Love, Meghan.
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The Netflix deal also included an animated series called Pearl. However, in May 2022, they it was axed due to ‘falling subscriber numbers’.
That being said, a British author recently revealed that she had sent Meghan several letters concerning the animation project after she had noticed ‘striking similarities’ she couldn’t ignore.
Meghan accused of copying British author
Mel Elliott recently revealed she had sent several letters to Meghan Markle back in 2021 after the Duchess of Sussex had announced Pearl as an upcoming project.
The author explained that she had noticed ‘striking similarities’ between her children’s books – the first was published in 2014 – and the proposed animation. Per The Daily Mail, the Netflix show Pearl was announced in July 2021 and cited Meghan as the executive producer.
Meghan had announced the project on her Archewell website. The animated series would follow a young girl ‘as she learns to step into her power and finds inspiration from influential women throughout history’.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Mel explained that she and her lawyer had sent Archewell a letter suggesting ‘potential infringement of copyright in relation to her own creation’. She does note that she doesn’t know if ‘anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore.'
The author adds that in October 2021 and February 2022, she sent personal letters to Meghan for updates, but never heard back from either the Duchess or her company. Mel told The Daily Mail that she was ‘sad’ that she never got a response as she would have liked to have ‘collaborated’ with them.
What saddened me most is that, having brought the similarities between my Pearl and Meghan's Pearl to the attention of Netflix and Archewell, my objection was never acknowledged – neither Netflix nor Archewell responded to me when I would have loved to have contributed and collaborated.
This is not the first time Meghan has been accused of copying
Mel Elliott isn’t the first person to have noticed similarities between her work and Meghan’s. Indeed, when Meghan shared her Netflix cooking show, she was accused of copying Pamela Anderson, who had previously aired a cooking show, Cooking with Love.
Moreover, Meghan’s logo for her brand, As Ever, has been criticised by the mayoress of Porres in Majorca, who noted that the brand’s logo looked a lot like the town’s coat of arms, which has two swallows on either side of a palm tree.
The mayoress has asked Meghan to change her logo, despite her team allegedly going through ‘thorough global searches of registered trademarks, conducted during the design process’.
Finally, Meghan’s podcast Confessions of a Female Founder has been criticised, as the title is the same as clothing designer Kady Meite's. That being said, Meite hasn’t criticised the Duchess, but appreciates her fans’ support.
Read more:
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Meghan Markle renames lifestyle brand: Why 'American Riviera Orchard' is now ‘As Ever’
Sources used:
Daily Mail: ‘Meghan Markle is accused of ripping off British author's book series for feminist Netflix show - after writer spots 'striking similarities' between her character and the Duchess' animation’
The Sun: ‘MEGA FAMILIAR Meghan Markle plunged into ANOTHER ‘copycat’ row as writer spots ‘striking similarities’ between her book & Netflix show’
