Considering how prevalent royal family fandom has been here in the U.S., it's not so surprising that HBO Max execs thought it a good idea to order a comedic animated series from a Family Guy writer/producer, with Game of Thrones vets Sophie Turner and Iwan Rheon, as well as Lord of the Rings alum Orlando Bloom. But more than a few people on social media are blasting the new series for its insulting portrayal of the younger generation of royals, especially in the aftermath of everything involving Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in the past year.
In The Prince, creator and Family Guy scribe Gary Janetti voices a heightened version of Prince George that makes the eight-year-old a foul-mouthed brat full of ego-driven demands. Meanwhile Sophie Turner portrays the six-year-old Princess Charlotte in similar ways that, while satirical in nature, certainly wouldn't be described as "nice" or "innocent." Orlando Bloom and Billions' Condola Rash?d voice The Prince's versions of the limelight-tethered Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, and the same comedic pattern continues across the board.
While it's as unclear as ever just how much the people speaking out against a particular TV show have actually watched that particular TV show, many complaints about The Prince's F-bomb-laden content look something like the comment below.
At this point, shows like Netflix's super-popular Big Mouth and MTV's cult classic Wonder Showzen have depicted some of the worst behavior possible from live-action and animated children, so The Prince is following in those same spiritual footsteps. Still, while some think that the specific children being satirized on the show presents the real problem, others don't think that shows like this should use children as the main characters at all.
Going a little deeper than just the show's NSFW subject matter, themes, and language, a number of The Prince's critics directed their disgust at Sophie Turner in particular, calling her out for taking part in this child-mocking series while at the same time publicly calling out anyone paparazzi and anyone attempting to spread photos around of her own child with Joe Jonas.
Horrified to see #SophieTurner & #OrlandoBloom publicly discuss issues of privacy for their own children yet ridicule others. Hypocritical. I wouldn't wish this on their own children because it is simply hurtful. While these parents deserve the criticism, the kids DON'T.
Given that Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry had a child together nearly a year ago, with fans also calling him out for his and Perry's public views regarding child privacy issues.
And then there are others who aren't even calling the show out for its depiction of royal family youths, but rather for just not making them laugh. So I guess it's a different kind of slamming, but there are definitely a lot of comparisons out there between Prince George and Family Guy's Stewie Griffin, such as this one:
Honestly, the only bit I found funny was the last scene. Other than that, it was just really tired. It's like took Stewie, removed all stuff that makes Stewie awesome, then moulded him around a REAL LIFE CHILD for comedy?! #ThePrince
To be sure, it's hard to argue that people complaining about The Prince make up the majority of those talking about it on social media. Plenty of messages have been posted speaking in high favor of the show's comedy, and some of them even take into account the understanding why it isn't for everyone, and why it would be offensive. Not everyone was so kind, of course, but such is Twitter.
The Prince debuted on HBO Max on July 29, with all twelve episodes available to stream right this moment. We'll just have to wait and see how well it does on the service before talking about Season 2's chances, but definitely check out everything hitting the small screen soon with our 2021 Fall TV schedule.
