But what's really interesting about this news is how some names are noticeably missing. Notably, notable people like Bono, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Stacy Abrams, Amanda Gorman, former President Barack Obama, Tim Cook, Colin Kaepernick, Dolores Huerta, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the late Congressman John Lewis, Robert F. Smith, George Clooney, former President Bill Clinton, and then-Vice President Joe Biden have all won the Ripple of Hope Awards.
It's notable that the 2022 winners of the award for their efforts to prevent racism, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, are not included in this year's roster. It raises the question of whether the award was revoked or if they were purposefully left out.
Ethel Kennedy, who presented Harry and Meghan with the award during the 2022 Ripple of Hope ceremony, praised them for their dedication to combating racism, especially within the royal family. All references to the Sussexes appear to have been taken down from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights' social media pages, nevertheless. On the other hand, there are currently none on the RFK Human Rights Twitter account, compared to at least two posts mentioning Meghan and Harry over the previous year. Not even a name search combined with the word "Sussex" turns up anything on the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Instagram page. Their names are noticeably missing from a post about the awards ceremony from the previous year, which is the only place you can get any information on them.
There are rumors circulating that after Harry told Tom Bradby that the royal family is not racist, Kerry Kennedy canceled Harry and Meghan's Ripple of Hope award. Harry came under fire in 2021 after he first denied reports of racism in the royal family in an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. Later on, though, he recanted this claim in an interview with Tom Bradby of ITV and reiterated it on "Good Morning America." When Bradby questioned Harry about the contentious incident, he inquired if he had accused anyone in his own family of racism. Harry said, "No, I didn't." There were questions and conjecture prompted by this seeming inconsistency.
It appears that Kerry Kennedy may be regretting her choice to present Harry and Meghan with their award, given that it was based on their efforts to tackle systemic racism within the royal family—a narrative that Harry's most recent remarks appear to cast doubt on.Kerry Kennedy has completely stopped discussing Harry and Meghan on Twitter. Even though it was only a picture, her most recent tweet about them on December 22nd drew a ton of criticism.
The Times has reported that Buckingham Palace has firmly barred Harry and Meghan from entering. Although there were hopes for harmony within the royal family, the Sussexes' many contentious undertakings seem to have further fractured their ties with the monarchy. It seems that Buckingham Palace's door is still securely closed for the time being. Being Harry's father, the King may be more understanding than the rest of the family, but the division seems to be worse than before and there is no chance of healing anytime soon.
