One Word On Suits Was Forbidden Because Of The Royal Family

Move over, "The Crown" — you're not the only major television series subject to occasional interference from the royal family. In one of the more bizarre intersections between entertainment and politics that you'll ever see, the recently-revitalized phenomenon known as "Suits" once counted a future member of the British monarchy among its core cast members: Meghan Markle. Back when she was merely a high-profile actor on an extremely popular show, the performer portrayed the paralegal, eventual lawyer, and Mike Ross' (Patrick Adams) love interest Rachel Zane. But as the years went on and she graduated from a relatively unknown actor to one of the most famous public figures on the planet through her real-life romance with Prince Harry, the influence of the royal family soon made itself felt on the actual production of the series ... even in the smallest and most mundane way possible.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter published in August of 2023, "Suits" creator Aaron Korsh opened up about how Markle's real-life associations seeped into the scripting process. Naturally, everyone involved in the series was simply thrilled about it. As Korsh explained:

"I will say, and I think Harry put this in the book, because I heard people talking about it — [the royal family] weighed in on some stuff. Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn't do, and it was a little irritating."

As it turns out, the notoriously PR-obsessed monarchy felt compelled to step in and prevent one of their own from uttering a certain line of dialogue that, in our current internet age, probably would've become the subject of crass memes (or worse). What could such an offensive word be, you ask? Well, frankly, it's just poppycock. Literally. 

One might naturally wonder how the royal family even got their hands on scripts for the latter seasons of a show like "Suits" in the first place. Aaron Korsh wonders the same thing. While the specific process of how such information got out remains a mystery ("I don't know how they got 'em," he admitted, "I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback"), one thing remains abundantly clear: they had no intention of letting Meghan Markle say the word "poppycock" in front of millions of viewers. Korsh explained that the line was meant as a shout-out to his in-laws, who would use the term to refer to sensitive subjects. But maybe the royals had a good reason to be overprotective of their image, after all. According to Korsh:

"So, in the episode, Mike and Rachel were going to have a thing, and as a nod to my in-laws, we were going to have her say, 'My family would say poppycock.' And the royal family did not want her saying the word. They didn't want to put the word 'poppycock' in her mouth. I presume because they didn't want people cutting things together of her saying 'cock.' So, we had to change it to 'bulls***' instead of 'poppycock.'"

There you have it, folks. The internet, in all its unique and depraved perversity, singlehandedly forced the royal family to alter a single line of dialogue out of fear of crassly-edited video clips. Don't ever let anyone tell y'all that you don't have a voice! Korsh ultimately agrees with the Brits, saying, "I had some sympathy because I wouldn't want somebody doing that to her either. And the thing is, I didn't think anybody really would, but also I don't know. People are crazy."

Indeed.