Meghan Markle's Best Friend Jessica Mulroney Fired After Threatening Black Influencer Sasha Exeter
She has since been fired from multiple lucrative gigs.
Youtube Jessica Mulroney, who is known as the host of CTV's I Do Redo and as Meghan Markle's best friend (Mulroney's kids were bridesmaids in her wedding to Prince Harry) is under fire for mistreating and threatening a black lifestyle blogger name Sasha Exeter. Exeter, of the site So Sasha made a 12-minute video this week explaining that Mulroney attempted to ruin her professional reputation after Exeter implored her followers to vocally support Black Lives Matter.
Exeter hadn't mentioned Mulroney by name in the post, which made it all the more surprising when Markle's bestie jumped into her DMs and threatened to tell brands she was difficult to work with. Exeter compared Mulroney to Amy Cooper, the woman in New York who called the cops on a Black man who just asked her to put her dog on a leash.
Who is Sasha Exeter — and what happened to cause drama with Jessica Mulroney?
Exeter is a former-athlete who now runs a lifestyle website. She was a tennis player in college, first at Indiana State and then Howard. Kidney disease brought her tennis career to an end and she went into the corporate world after graduation. But the strain of non-stop work made sick again and she decided to make a dramatic change and started her website So Sasha as part of her plan for a less hectic life. The site focuses on fitness and nutrition, as well as posting adorable photos of her daughter. She has major partnerships as well with big brands like Nike and Apple.
The back-and-forth this week all started over a Black Lives Matter call to action.
Exeter didn't start out trying to speak to Jessica Mulroney directly. She sent out a now-expired Instagram story to all of her followers that said asked them to "use their voice for good and help combat the race war and what's happening to the Black community." Mulroney apparently took that as a criticism of her personally — even though Exeter did not call her out by name — and DMd Exeter to talk about it.
In a video on Instagram, which you can view below, Exeter admitted that she had noticed that the normally outspoken Canadian influencer had been silent about Black Lives Matter. In the past she had made statements about other causes she cared about and, while Exeter didn't understand the failure to speak — especially considering her friendship with one the world's most well-known black women, Meghan Markle — she hadn't called Mulroney out directly with her post.
"Maybe this is possibly her showing her guilt for her lack of action and because of that she began to lash out at me," Exeter speculated.
Exeter talked about her "Amy Cooper moment."
Mulroney threatened to scuttle Exeter's brand partnerships.
Mulroney quickly turned the conflict up to 11 and told Exeter via DMs and texts that she was talking to brands in an effort to ruin Exeter's professional reputation. Exeter recalls Mulroney saying, "I have also spoken to companies and people about the way you have treated me unfairly. You think your voice matters. Well, it only matters if you express it with kindness and without shaming people who are simply trying to learn. Good luck."
Exeter says she was "paralyzed with fear" after hearing that because she knew that Mulroney could dramatically damage her livelihood if she convinced brands to stop working with her. She also realized that this was a situation where Mulroney was trying to exercise power over her in a way that was undeniable an assertion of social, white, wealthy privilege.
"I'm by no means calling Jess a racist, but she is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin," Exeter said in the video. "And that my friends, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing. Textbook white privilege, really."
Mulroney in 2020.
Mulroney has a very famous Black best friend.
While "I have a Black friend" is a usually laughable response to accusations of racial insensitivity, Exeter points out that Mulroney really does have a Black friend whose experiences should have taught Mulroney a thing or two: Meghan Markle.
The actress-turned-royal who is married to Prince Harry of Britain is one of the most famous Black women in the world — and even Mulroney admitted that. "I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre," she commented on Exeter's video, in which she attempts to apologize to Exeter for her behavior. "It was deeply educational. I learned a lot from that. I promise to continue to learn and listen on how I can use my privilege to elevate and support black voices."
Markle and Mulroney met when Markle moved to Canada to film her TV show Suits and they have been friends ever since. Mulroney is married to Ben Mulroney, son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and works in television. She is the host of a Canadian show called I Do, Redo, and does segments on Good Morning America.
Mulroney is trying to walk it all back.
Mulroney realized quickly that trying to get another black person fired from her brand partnerships was inexcusable and she took to Instagram to clear matters up. She posted an apology where she said, "I want to say from my heart that every word of my apologies to Sasha over the course of the last two weeks privately, and again both publicly and privately again today is true. I did not intend in any way to jeopardize her livelihood. We had a disagreement and it got out of hand. For that I am sorry." She went on to say that she will be taking time to consider her behavior and learn how to do better. Based on the comments on the post, it does not appear that her post was well-recieved.
And that might be because after apologizing publicly, she privately DMed Exeter, threatening her with a libel lawsuit.
Mulroney issued an apology on Exeter's post about the events and followed it up with a DM to Exeter. Only the DM wasn't a further apology: it was a threat. She sent a terse message saying only "Liable (sic) suit. Good luck." Exeter posted the message in a now-expired Instagram story, and pointed out that Mulroney said "liable" when it should have been "libel."
Mulroney has since lost her job.
The whole incident has led to Mulroney losing her hosting job on I Do Redo. “Bell Media and CTV encourages our entire team including on-air talent to practice respect, inclusivity and allyship as we pledge to work better and more openly to listen to and amplify black voices, and not minimize them,” the statement from producers said. “Because recent conduct by one of our shows hosts, Jessica Mulroney, conflicts with our commitment to diversity and equality, CTV has removed I Do Redo from all Bell Media channels and platforms effective immediately.”
ABC hasn't commented on whether Mulroney will get to keep her job on Good Morning America.
So far Meghan Markle, who has been very outspoken about Black Lives Matter, has not spoken about her friend's behavior.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.