Celebrity Jokes on Kate Middleton's Mysterious Absence: A Sign of Poor PR Management: Expert Claims

Kim Kardashian stirred controversy by making a "heartless" social media joke about Kate Middleton's absence. Similarly, Blake Lively's "photoshopped" image promoting her boozy brand hinted towards a possible jibe at the Princess of Wales' Mother's Day tribute. According to an expert, Middleton's constant mockery is a sign of poor PR by the Kensington Palace. 

On Saturday, March 16, 2024, the SKIMS mogul posted a series of photographs with the caption, "On my way to go find Kate." Since the 42-year-old is mysteriously absent after her planned abdominal surgery, she's been at the center of media scrutiny. And now, the celebrities have also joined in the sarcasm. 

Another Hollywood A-lister, Lively, was slammed by social media users for posting a photoshopped advert for her mocktail brand, which seemed to be an indirect jibe at Middleton's edited Mother's Day post on X, formerly Twitter. While some people called her out for the "disappointing joke," others unfollowed straightaway. 

However, a PR expert, Mayah Riaz, told The Mirror that celebs' fueling the speculations doesn't help and blamed Kensington Palace for their lack of management, "The conspiracy theories regarding Kate have gone into overdrive. This is mainly due to the poor PR management by Kensington Palace - however, we don't know the delicacy of the situation they are working with." 

Riaz continued, "Due to there being no end to the conspiracy theories and rumors, what doesn't help is celebrities like Blake Lively and Kim Kardashian weighing in on it," condemning, "This is totally irresponsible and only fuels the situation further regarding someone who must be going through a difficult time at the moment." 

The expert said she didn't expect Lively to get involved in the conspiracy drama, "I'm surprised to see Blake had got involved in this on social media." But showed no sign of shock at Kardashian's cruel joke, "However, it doesn't surprise me that Kim Kardashian would do so as she would see using something topical as way of getting attention onto herself." 

"They both know how the media works," the PR guru added. "Meaning that whatever they mention on their social media, will make it into news. There will be thousands who will have seen their Instagram posts and it would result in more followers and in Blake's case, maybe even sales!" 

She also said that although Lively might have done it to bring attention to her beverage brand, "it might just backfire!" However, she insisted that celebrities should do better. "You'd think that celebrities would do better when it comes to delicate situations such as whatever is happening with Kate Middleton." 

"Especially as they would want aspects of their private lives to remain as such and not be speculated about," Riaz criticized. "Or if they truly hate rumors about themselves being given air time, why spread it about others? Whatever happened to women support women?" 

The Princess of Wales was recently spotted shopping at a farm shop in Windsor, England and a royal expert claimed Middleton won't be pressured, "I would expect that to be her instinct and it will be her call. They're not going to be rushed," per Daily Mail.