Reporter 'sacked' over tweet about Harry and Meghan's baby

A reporter in the UK claims she has been fired from her job at The Telegraph after posting a tweet about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's newborn daughter that many have deemed racist.

Julie Burchill made the controversial comments after the California-based couple welcomed Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor in the morning of June 4 (US time).

'Georgina Floydina'

Burchill questioned the Sussexes' choice of name for their second child — which honours both the Queen and Princess Diana — which she called a 'missed opportunity'.

"What a missed opportunity. They could have called it Georgina Floydina!" she tweeted.

Burchill's suggestion, 'Georgina Floydina,' is, of course, a less-than-subtle reference to African American man George Floyd who was murdered by US police in May 2020.

She also refers to the newborn as 'it' instead of 'her'.

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A UK lawyer, Joanna Toch, replied to Burchill's tweet asking why the new parents hadn't included a nod to Lili's other grandmother, Doria Ragland, who is Meghan's mother and a Black woman.

"No Doria? Don't black names matter?" she wrote.

Burchill responded by calling Harry and Meghan "racist rotters" for not calling their baby girl 'Doria Oprah' after both Meghan's mum and Oprah Winfrey.

"Doprah?" Toch joked.

The womens' comments sparked outrage online, with many Twitter users condemning the pair for being 'racist' and 'mocking' both a newborn and a murdered man.

"That's foul," wrote one.

"Racism is never funny," added another.

A third remarked: "You don't like the parents, but mocking the arrival of a new baby into a family by calling her 'it' and invoking the name of a murdered man is just not funny.

"[Lili] was named very appropriately after her grandmother and great-grandmother—this tweet does not reflect well on you."

Burchill appeared to defend her comments in subsequent tweets which other users took screenshots of before she ultimately deactivated her account.

She said that she referred to Lili as 'it' in order to be politically correct or, as she explained, "as a nod to non-binary bollocks".

Reporter 'sacked' after racist tweets

In a follow-up tweet, Burchill announced that she was quitting the platform after being 'called Hitler' for 'poking fun' at 'over-privileged people' such as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

"I'm finally going to do it and leave Twitter now - it's become impossible to poke fun even at monstrously over-privileged people without being called Hitler.

"When the moaning started this morning I hoped I might be banned, but I won't be, so I'm off. Thanks for the laughs, bye!"

Then, Burchill posted on her Facebook page revealing that she'd been 'sacked' from her job at The Telegraph, which she claimed had 'always rejected' her 'edgy column ideas'.

"I've been sacked by the Telegraph - it's been a lovely five years, and I'll always be grateful to them for ending my Wilderness Years.

"However, I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't often moaned to my husband recently about them always rejecting my *edgy* column ideas and giving me more pedestrian ones - which I've done splendidly anyway. I hope you can see my archive here. Onwards and upwards!"

Responding to a user who asked why she had been fired, Burchill wrote: "I made a joke about a violent career criminal who once held a gun to a pregnant woman's stomach and a pair of lying hypocrites. It's true - I AM evil!"

The Telegraph — where Burchill is said to have been a contributor, not a staff writer — did not confirm Burchill's firing when asked by the Sun Online.

Lawyer Toch has also been suspended "with immediate effect pending an internal review into her recent comments" by her law firm Family Law Cafe.

Toch later apologised for her comment, which she considered to be a 'joke,' and also called racism 'abhorrent'.

"I am very sorry for the comment and what I saw as a joke.

"I've fought during my professional life against racism which is abhorrent. I'm not a judge and I have children of colour and I apologise unreservedly."

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