One of Meghan Markle’s oldest friends was seen laughing during Chris Rock’s Netflix special on Saturday night, as the comedian cracked various jokes about the Duchess of Sussex.
Janina Gavankar, 42, was at the live recording of the blockbuster show, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, watching the performance from the VIP Green Room.
One source told Page Six: “Janina looked to be enjoying the show very much, she was standing up by the TV screens and laughing.".
Rock, 58, made various humorous comments about Meghan Markle, mocking her and Prince Harry ’s Oprah Winfrey interview, which aired in March 2021.
He joked about the pair’s outrage over the time an unknown royal questioned 'how dark' the skin of their unborn child might be, with Rock saying Meghan was “acting all dumb”.
Rock said: “Who is this girl Meghan Markle? Seems like a nice lady - just complaining. Like, didn’t she hit the light-skinned lottery?
“I’m like, ‘What the f**k is she talking about? They’re so racist, they wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be,’ I’m like, ‘That’s not racist,’ cause even black people want to know how brown the baby gonna be. S**t. We check behind the ears.
“[She was] going on Oprah [and] saying, ‘I had no idea how racist they were.’ That’s the royal family, you didn’t Google those motherf**kers? They’re the original racists. They invented colonialism. They invested in slavery like it was ‘Shark Tank.’”
The comedian then joked that he knew what she was going through, adding: “I know her dilemma: Black girl trying to be accepted by her white in-laws.”
Despite laughing throughout the special, Gavankar has been friends with Meghan Markle for over 20 years, and has been a staunch defender of the duchess in the past.
She appeared on This Morning following the Sussex’s Oprah interview, stating that “recollections may vary”, following the royal family’s response to the couple’s claims.
She added that the monarchy were not aware of the extent of Meghan’s struggles throughout her time as a working member of the royal family.
Quoting the royal family’s statement they made in response to the claims, Gavankar said: “'Though their ‘recollections may vary,’ ours don’t because we lived through it with them.
"And there are many emails and texts to support that.”
