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Josh Pieters and Archie Manners posed as ‘George’, a
Kensington Palace employee, in interview with former Fox News host
Richard
Luscombe
Sat 16 Mar
2024 16.58 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/16/pranksters-dupe-tucker-carlson-kate-middleton
Pranksters
claiming to be a Kensington Palace employee fired over the Kate Middleton
edited photograph fiasco say they duped former Fox News host Tucker Carlson
into interviewing them for his streaming show.
In a video
posted on X that has already received more than a million views, Josh Pieters
and Archie Manners explained how they concocted a story about being released by
the Prince and Princess of Wales for “not doing a good enough job” in
manipulating a photograph of Middleton and her children that has stoked an
international furore and endless conspiracy theories.
The
“disgruntled former employee” act was apparently convincing enough to fool
production staff at the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN), who invited Manners,
posing as the royal couple’s former digital content creator, to a London studio
and an interview with the rightwing personality.
“That was
great, and really interesting too. I didn’t expect to be as interested in it as
I was because you told a really great story,” Carlson tells Manners after
listening to a made-up tale about how the infamous photograph was actually
taken by Middleton’s uncle in December, and that a Christmas tree in the
background had to be edited out.
The
pranksters, whose YouTube channel Josh & Archie showcases a series of
celebrity hoaxes, told Deadline they “stroked Carlson’s ego” by offering their
story as an exclusive because “mainstream media in the UK wouldn’t touch it”.
They
convinced TCN researchers of their authenticity by creating a fake contract of
employment that featured the words Every Little Helps, the motto of the British
supermarket chain Tesco, in Latin on a Kensington Palace crest, and a clause in
which the royals reserved the right to “amputate one limb of their choosing” if
Manners failed a probationary period.
“If Tucker
Carlson’s people read this, why on earth would they let you on the show?”
Pieters says in the video.
Manners
told Deadline that following the interview, TCN told him it would be aired
early the next week, but that he and Pieters decided to break cover now to
avoid misinformation being broadcast to the network’s 530,000 followers on X.
“We didn’t
want to cause any more rumors, that are not true, to go out to lots and lots of
people,” he said. “We just didn’t want to be too worthy about that in our
video.”
In the
interview, Carlson questions Manners about the photograph, which was recalled
by several photo agencies when numerous anomalies were discovered. A subsequent
palace statement explaining Middleton was experimenting with editing “like many
amateur photographers do” failed to offer reassurance, and set in motion a
chain of headline-dominating events that even prompted questions at the White
House.
“When
William and Kate put that photo out, they knew that photo was taken at
Christmas, and they put it out alongside a statement wishing everyone a happy
Mother’s Day, and told the world that William took it,” Manners tells Carlson.
“He didn’t
take it. Gary Goldsmith [Middleton’s uncle] took it.”
In their
initial emailed approach to TCN, the pair posed as a palace employee named
George, who said he was “about to be scapegoated” for the furore and “in the
process of being let go”.
“I am all
too aware of the Royal Family’s ability to throw people like me under the bus
in order to protect their reputation,” the email states.
The
Guardian has contacted TCN for comment.
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