‘Scoop’ is a film based mostly on Prince Andrew’s interview he gave to BBC in 2019 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct. (Image: AP Photo)
Prince Andrew was accused of not displaying sympathy for individuals who had been convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and in addition defended his friendship with him.
BBC Newsnight booker Sam McAlister who booked the notorious interview the place Prince Andrew opened up about his relationship with Prince Andrew mentioned she felt the interview was a ‘masterclass’ in giving dangerous solutions.
The disastrous interview Prince Andrew gave in 2019 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct and what occurred behind the scenes is now topic of Netflix drama Scoop starring Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince for the BBC’s “Newsnight” program.
The interview, McAlister told All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly, took more than a year to set up.
The interview was termed as a public relations disaster.
His choice to participate in an interview discussing his connections to a sex offender was risky, as royals typically avoid such scrutiny in the UK.
He categorically denied having sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre. But newspapers and social media commentators in the UK and across the world criticised him for defending his friendship with Epstein and for failing to show empathy for the convicted sex-offender’s victims.
“It was a double opportunity: a human opportunity to return to the life he had, and a royal opportunity to basically restore his reputation in some ways. So I feel it was those two things that made this really a dream opportunity, at least on paper, for him,” McAlister informed Kelly.
The BBC’s Emily Maitlis grilled Andrew on the main points of an alleged encounter with Virginia Roberts Giuffre in March 2019, when Giuffre mentioned she dined with the prince in London, danced with him on the Tramp nightclub, then had intercourse with him at a home within the tony London neighbourhood of Belgravia.
“I can completely categorically inform you it by no means occurred,” Andrew said during the interview recorded and broadcasted on 2019 by BBC Newsnight.
“It really was a masterclass in how to give terrible answers and, from my tiny perspective, a small, personal masterclass in showing no emotion whatsoever on your face for an hour — one of the longest hours in television history, I would say,” McAlister additional added.
During the interview, Prince Andrew defended his friendship with Epstein previous to the Florida case however mentioned he regretted staying on the financier’s dwelling in Manhattan after Epstein’s conviction.
“That’s the bit, that … I kick myself for, every day, as a result of it was not one thing that was changing into of a member of the royal household. And we attempt to uphold the very best requirements and practices and I let the aspect down, easy as that,” he mentioned.
McAlister said it was the ‘scoop of scoops’. “It was really journalistically, obviously, the highlight of my career and quite an extraordinary experience. I knew it was a scoop, but I just did not know it was the scoop of scoops,” she mentioned.
Andrew, following the controversy, had stepped again from royal duties and was additionally stripped of his honorary army titles and roles and management of assorted charities referred to as royal patronages. He can also not use the title “his royal highness” in official settings.
