Cedric the Entertainer couldn’t resist poking fun at the Royal family while hosting the Emmy Awards, as he brought up Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s controversial TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The comedian, 57, had been running through the TV highlights of the past year, including The Crown, when he brought up the bombshell interview in which Meghan claimed concerns were raised over son Archie’s skin colour when she was pregnant.
Joking Meghan and Harry’s no-holds barred chat with Oprah was the ‘real tea’, Cedric claimed the Royal family ‘need’ baby Archie, two, so he can t’each the Queen how to use TikTok’.
The stand-up star hosted the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards that took place in Sunday in Los Angeles.
Taking to the stage in front of a reduced crowd, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cedric was seen making digs at the Royals, as he referenced hit Netflix show The Crown.
He told the star-studded audience: ‘As great as The Crown is, it pales in comparison to the real monarchy…
‘Oooo I mean that Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Megan. That was the real tea right there, wasn’t it!?’
Poking fun: Cedric the Entertainer, 57, was seen mocking the Royal family over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview during his monologue at the Emmy Awards on Sunday
Bombshell: The comedian teased the controversial interview was ‘the real tea’ as he addressed Meghan’s claims a member of the Royal family had questioned the colour of son Archie’s skin
Cedric teased: ‘Meghan must put it on that boy because he renounced his throne quicker than Eddie Murphy in Coming to America.’
Moving on to Meghan’s claims that members of the Royal family questioned her about how dark Archie’s skin would be when she was pregnant with her first child, Cedric said: ‘I can’t believe they were talking about that little baby like that, little Archie. How dark that little baby gonna be.’
He joked: ‘They need little Archie! Charles can’t dance, who else going to teach them how to TikTok. I can just see it now, baby Archie with the Queen like, “Come on Gammy.”‘
Sharing his vision, Cedric then started dancing on stage and laughed: ‘The whole crown behind them like, “Ok your majesty, I see you.”‘
Sitting in the audience had been stars of The Crown, including Josh O’Connor, best known for playing Prince Charles in season three and season four, who looked a little sheepish as Cedric made his jokes.
‘They need little Archie’: Cedric teased that the Royals need Archie around to teach them how to dance and make TikTok videos
Funnyman: Cedric then started dancing on stage, pretending to be the Queen, and laughed: ‘The whole crown behind them like, “Ok your majesty, I see you.”‘
Awkward: Stars of The Crown, including Josh O’Connor (above) were sitting in the audience and looked a little sheepish as the Royals became the target of Cedric’s jokes
Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview aired in March on CBS over in the US and on ITV in the UK.
Following its airing, the Palace responded to claims made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with a statement being released on behalf of the Queen.
It read: ‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning.
‘While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members.’
Oprah later claimed that the Royal who had allegedly questioned how dark Archie’s skin tone would be was neither the Queen or her late husband Prince Philip.
Start how you mean to go on: The stand-up star kicked off the Emmys with a musical number where he was joined on stage at LA Live by Dave ‘Lil Dicky’ Burd, Rita Wilson and LL Cool J (pictured above L-R)
Laugh a minute: Cedric was also seen joking about the coronavirus pandemic and the debate surrounding vaccinations for the virus during his opening monologue (pictured above on red carpet ahead of show)
Elsewhere during the Emmys, Cedric was seen joking about the coronavirus pandemic and the debate surrounding vaccinations for the virus.
This year’s awards ceremony was held at LA Live with a reduced audience capacity and it was required guests had to be vaccinated in order to attend
That inspired another of Cedric’s jokes as he was seen targeting Nicki Minaj’s recent claims
He was seen targeting Nicki Minaj’s recent claims that the vaccine had caused her cousin’s friend to become ‘impotent’.
The rapper was seen telling fans to think twice about getting vaccinated, after she revealed she couldn’t attend the Met Gala in New York because she hadn’t been jabbed.
Sharing her concerns about the vaccine, Nicki tweeted: ‘My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding.’
Using her tweet as material for his monologue, Cedric joked: ‘We had to get vaxxed to come here. I did not have a reaction like Nicki Minaj’s cousin…I got Pfizer, that’s the Neiman Marcus of vaccines. Moderna is Macy’s. And Johnson & Johnson is TJ Maxx.’
Nicki’s tweet was condemned by health authorities in both the US and in Trinidad and Tobago, as ministers insisted her claims were false.
According to the BBC, Trinidad and Tobago’s health minister Terrence Deyalsingh said in response: ‘One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Miss Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false.
‘Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim.’
He stressed his department couldn’t find evidence of Nicki’s claims happening.
US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci urged Nicki to ‘think twice’ before making claims about the vaccine.
Fauci said: ‘I’m not blaming her for anything – but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis as except a one-off anecdote, and that’s not what science is all about.’
Cedric, meanwhile, kicked off the Emmys with a musical number on stage, where he was joined by a whole host of stars including LL Cool J, Dave ‘Lil Dicky’ Burd and Rita Wilson.
Big win: The Crown took home 11 awards on the night, including Best Drama Series and Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Josh O’Connor’s portrayal of Prince Charles (pictured above)
Stars in the audience, such as Billy Porter and Tracee Ellis-Ross, also got involved as Cedric performed Biz Markie’s Just A Friend – changing the lyrics to focus on TV shows in the spirit of the awards.
Big winners on the night included series Ted Lasso, The Queen’s Gambit, Saturday Night Live and The Crown, which scooped Best Drama Series and became the first Netflix show to do so.
The Crown also picked up four acting wins for its stars Gillian Anderson, who plays Margaret Thatcher in series four, Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip), actor O’Connor (Prince Charles) and Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth II).
Colman took home the award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series and became emotional as she dedicated the win to her late father, who died amid the pandemic.
Sweet: Olivia Colman took home the award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series and became emotional as she dedicated the win to her late father during the ceremony