Darrell Kelley is a man who stands up for what he believes in. The talented musical artist and producer, whose hits include “The Coronavirus,” “Vote Him Out,” and “Because of You,” is involved with many social causes and feels strongly about justice. This is why when he watched the recent Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and heard the allegations of racism against Queen Elizabeth, he felt compelled to write a new song, “Why Lie on the Queen,” to defend the monarch.
Darrell was skeptical that the Queen had had any concerns over how dark Archie’s skin could be. “I did not think it was appropriate to say this, nor did I think it was true. I believe deeply that if you’re going to say something like this about the queen, or anyone, for that matter, it should be backed up by real proof. If you lie, look at the damage you’re doing to that person. You’re attacking their reputation through sheer gossip. My feelings were so strong that I had to pour them out into my music.”
Darrell’s view of the Royal Family comes from years of watching them. “I know that the Royal Family has a strong public relations department backing them up,” he says, “but I have seen the Queen’s treatment of people of color. It’s been excellent. It’s why I wrote one of the lines of my song: ‘My heart knows you’re not a racist,’” he says. “How could she be? Look at who she has invited to Windsor and Buckingham Palace: Michael Jackson. James Brown. The Obamas. She would never have had dinner with them if she were a racist. Impossible.”
Darrell believes the Queen has demonstrated her excellent character, which does not reflect that of a racist. “Racists do not sit down with those people they are prejudiced against,” he states. “They won’t invite you to be a guest or talk to you. Queen Elizabeth is the opposite of this. She is the epitome of grace and beauty, and I just find it impossible to believe she would have said anything racist about Meghan and Harry’s baby. If there is proof of it, let me see it. I go by what I see, not by what people say.”
Darrell’s song expresses the singer’s dislike of hearing allegations that are not backed up with evidence. “I am always open to hearing things about people that I might not like,” Darrell says. “In this case, though, in order to believe that the Queen made such crass comments about Archie’s skin color, I need more than an alleged conversation. I need proof. Someone needs to show me the hard-core evidence that she said this, and then I will believe it.”
In the song, Darrell also questions the reason the couple came to America, where there is a strong paparazzi presence. “They say that they left England in part because of the paparazzi, but as my song points out, people in America are just as nosy here as they are there,” Darrell says. “If they really wanted their privacy, getting on Oprah in front of millions of people was a strange way to achieve it.”
While Darrell wants his song to help the Royal Family as they work to repair their image, he wants his music to accomplish a bigger goal: to remind people to not automatically believe what they tell you even if they are very important role models. “Instead, you need to do your own due diligence and your own studies so that you can clearly see people and world leaders and have your own views on them. If you do, there will be less gossip, and you’ll be standing up as a good person who has excellent character. You’ll be a person of love, acceptance, unity, and love.”
Darrell is thoughtful as he thinks about the song’s message. “It definitely gets out the idea that abuse should not be allowed, especially when there’s no proof of it. We have to stand up for each other. The world is so divided, and we keep attacking each other for no reason. We go to war every day, but we don’t know why.”
Darrell believes that Meghan and Prince Harry’s allegations against Queen Elizabeth reveal a much larger problem. “We are looking in the wrong direction,” he says. “Why are we paying so much attention to words that are unsubstantiated? What about the hundreds of thousands of people who have died from the coronavirus? The wars? The people who are dying from hunger? When will we stop focusing on rumor and instead focus on helping those who truly need us?”
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