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March 5, 2023 | 1:26 p.m
Janina Gavankar, one of Meghan Markle’s longtime best friends, was at the live taping of Chris Rock’s blockbuster Netflix show on Saturday night – and watched the comedian impale the Duchess of Sussex, Page Six can reveal.
The ‘Vampire Diaries’ actress, who has been a staunch defender of Prince Harry’s wife and a close friend of hers for over 20 years, was at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore to witness Rock perform at the first global live-streaming event of the streaming service made history.
Sources told Page Six that Gavankar, 42, joined her good friend Dave Chapelle backstage to watch the show in the VIP Green Room.
“Janina seemed to be really enjoying the show, standing by the TV screens and laughing,” an eyewitness told us.
Janina Gavankar, who has been one of Meghan Markle’s biggest supporters, witnessed the jabs at Chris Rock while taping his Netflix show on the “Suits” alum.Instagram
During his set, the 58-year-old rocker mocked the Sussexes’ 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, in which they infamously claimed an unknown royal raised “concerns” about “how dark” their baby might be before their son Archie was born . The comic joked that Markle was just dealing with some “trouble in law.”
The comedian joked that Markle’s grievances against the royal family are just a couple of “troubles in law.”
“Like, who is this girl Meghan Markle? Seems like a nice lady – just complains. Like, didn’t she win the fair-skinned lottery?” Rock said he should get into his diatribe before calling the royal family the “OGs of racism.”
Rock had fine-tuned his routine in recent months with a series of performances across the country, including at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in October, where he made the same comments about Markle and the royals. We were told Gavankar had been on previous shows so she knew what to expect.
Gavankar joined a host of big names at Saturday’s show, including director Spike Lee and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, author Nelson George, comics artist Darnell Rollins , Sam Jay and actor Stephen Hill, and Arsenio Hall. David Spade and former Saturday Night Live stars Leslie Jones and Dana Carvey.
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While discussing Markle, Rock put on a high-pitched voice to mock the Duke and Duchess.
“She complains, I’m like, ‘What the hell is she talking about? They’re so racist, they wanted to know how brown the baby would be,'” he said.
“I say, ‘That’s not racist,’ because ‘even black people want to know how brown the baby will be. S–t. We look behind the ears.”
Gavankar was one of many celebs to attend Markle’s wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018. Getty Images
Rock also joked that Markle was “acting really stupid” like she didn’t know anything.
“[She was] go oprah [and] said, “I had no idea how racist they were.” This is the royal family, didn’t you google those motherfuckers? They are the original racists. They invented colonialism,” he said onstage, adding, “They invested in slavery like it was Shark Tank.”
Rock then claimed to know what Markle was “going through,” explaining, “I know her dilemma: Black girl trying to be accepted by her white in-laws.”
He continued, “Oh, it’s hard. It’s so hard, it’s very hard — but it’s not as hard as a white girl trying to be accepted by her black in-laws. Well, that’s really hard!”
Rock poked fun at Markle during his show, asking why she hadn’t Googled the royal family before getting married into all the drama. AFP via Getty Images
Gavankar was a guest at the Sussex wedding in May 2018. She also went on British television after the royal family responded to the Oprah interview by saying that “the memories may vary,” reflecting the couple’s claims about theirs hellish time behind the palace walls.
In his speech on This Morning, Gavankar hit back at the family’s claims that they were unaware of the full extent of Meghan’s struggles when she was a working member of the royal family.
“Although their ‘memories’ may differ, ours are not because we lived through it with them,” Gavankar said, quoting directly from the palace’s statement. “And there’s a lot of emails and texts to back that up.”
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