Meghan Markle faces backlash as Perez Hilton calls her turkey clip a safety hazard and names her Salmonella Sussex (Image via Getty)
Meghan Markle went viral over Thanksgiving, and the talk quickly turned sharp after many people online said she made a “major safety hazard” in her kitchen. On December 2, 2025, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton jumped into the conversation and joked that Meghan Markle now had a new nickname: “Salmonella Sussex.” Hilton shared a post on X and wrote, “Martha Stewart would never!” The line spread fast, and so did the clip that started all the drama.The clip came from Meghan Markle’s Instagram Story on November 28. In the video, she showed herself mixing seasoning and rubbing it on a raw turkey with almost bare hands. She also wore her gold wedding band and bracelet while touching the meat. This upset many people because food-safety rules warn against touching raw poultry without gloves and while wearing jewelry. The video was captioned, “Let the ‘game’ begin. Get it? #momjokes.” As the video made its way around social media, comments poured in. Many users teased the Duchess of Sussex for not following basic kitchen safety. And that is when Hilton decided to speak up.
Perez Hilton explains why Meghan Markle’s turkey video caused a big safety debate
In his article, Perez Hilton said the main issue was not Meghan Markle cooking a turkey. It was how she touched and “massaged” the raw meat with almost bare hands and multiple pieces of jewelry. He said that food experts, including the CDC, warn that raw turkey can carry dangerous bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter, and the “juices” from the turkey can contaminate anything they touch. Hilton also pointed to FDA guidance, which says that only a plain wedding band is allowed for food workers because bacteria get stuck inside small cracks in jewelry. He noted that Meghan Markle wore more than just her band, and he reacted by writing, “Yeesh!!!” To make the worry bigger, Hilton added that Meghan was not only cooking for her family. In her own newsletter, she said she was also hosting friends for Thanksgiving. He wrote that taking that risk when guests are coming over is not a good idea and joked, “Hope nobody got sick!” As more people reacted online, Hilton said fans “roasted” Meghan for the kitchen mistake. Many comments said it was a simple rule she should have known.Meghan Markle will be back on Netflix with her holiday special With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, which starts streaming on December 3. She also has an acting cameo coming up in the movie Close Personal Friends.Also Read: “I Will Be Naming…”: Candace Owens Alleges TPUSA Leaders Betrayed Charlie Kirk Before Deadly Shooting And Vows To Show Evidence
