Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry are being mocked and denounced by fellow celebrities, politicians, and journalists following their claims they could have been involved in a “near catastrophic” car crash Tuesday night while being pursued by paparazzi in New York.

After the pair said they experienced a “relentless pursuit” that lasted two hours across Manhattan, questions regarding the accuracy of their statement began to arise across America and the United Kingdom.  

The duke and duchess of Sussex’s representative said the “near catastrophic” car crash almost occurred on Tuesday night after Ms. Markle was awarded a prestigious 2023 Women of Vision award in Midtown Manhattan. 

After the couple and Ms. Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, left Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ballroom around 10 p.m., they claimed via their spokesman to have been dogged by paparazzi in a “relentless pursuit” that lasted two hours with “multiple near collisions.”  

Some paparazzi did indeed follow the Sussexes around for 90 minutes, the director of a private security business contracted to help the couple, Thomas Buda, told CNN. Yet the length of the pursuit was due to the fact that the couple was deliberately driving in circles so as to lose the press and not disclose where they were staying, at the Upper East Side residence of an unnamed friend.

The couple was later dropped off at the New York City Police Department’s 19th precinct on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Then, as their ruse escalated, they got into an ordinary yellow cab, driven by Sunny Singh, at around East 67th Street.

Mr. Singh says he drove them around aimlessly for 10 minutes until they were blocked by a garbage truck and the paparazzi caught up with them and started taking pictures. Panicking, the pair asked Mr. Singh to return them to the police station from whence they came. 

Mr. Singh told the BBC that Harry and Ms. Markle looked nervous but said he did not feel like the paparazzi were being aggressive.  “They were behind us. They stayed on top of us,” Mr. Singh said. “That was pretty much it. There was nothing more.”

According to Mr. Buda, after returning to the precinct, the pair was able to return home around midnight. Patrol officers at the department blocked the street with their police cars, which allowed the security team to escort Harry and Ms. Markle back home. 

Following the alarmist statement by the Sussexes’s publicist, a former Fox News star, Megyn Kelly, opened a thread on Twitter, claiming she has lived in Manhattan for 17 years and that “it is not possible” to have a two-hour car chase amid the many street lights, stop signs, and car traffic. 

“If they really want to avoid the paparazzi perhaps the Duchess should stop using them so obviously when she wants to see herself in the paper,” Ms. Kelly said. “The relationship can get complicated.”

An Olympic medal-winning athlete, Caitlyn Jenner, added to Ms. Kelly’s thread and said she has been followed many times by paparazzi at New York and Los Angeles, but never for two hours. “It comes with the territory,” Ms. Jenner said. “Whine whine whine is all these 2 seem to do.”

According to one of the paparazzi’s photo agencies, Backgrid USA Inc., there were no collisions or crashes during the incident. “The photographers have reported feeling that the couple was not in immediate danger at any point,” a statement sent to The New York Sun says. 

The agency notes that photographers have a “professional responsibility” to cover newsworthy events and personalities. They were covering Harry and Ms. Markle’s stay in New York, the agency says, which could have included dinner after the ceremony. 

“They had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras,” the statement says.

In addition, the agency’s photographers said the couple’s security escort was driving in a way that “could be perceived as reckless,” as he was blocking off streets and was even allegedly stopped by the police. The agency says they are taking Prince Harry’s allegations seriously and will conduct an investigation. 

A British broadcaster, Piers Morgan, dismissed the royals’ statement, by saying it is inaccurate and untrue. “There was no collusion with anybody, nobody got hurt. It is not a catastrophe,” Mr. Morgan said in his show “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” while questioning the spokesperson’s use of “near catastrophic.”

Mr. Morgan also spoke on the couple’s attitude with the press and the active lawsuits they have against them. They occasionally write a book or release a Netflix series, which invades their privacy, Mr. Morgan said, and in between, they complain about press intrusion. “Whether they like each other or not,” Mr. Morgan said, they all belong to the same celebrity ecosystem. 

During the event on Tuesday, the pair were unreasonable with the press for not letting the photographers take pictures of them, a former publicist for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Princess Michael of Kent, Rob Shuter, tells the New York Post. 

“The photographers wanted to get the photos they came out to get,” Mr. Shuter said. “Going out and letting them take pictures of you outside the venue is part of being a celebrity.”

During a news conference Wednesday, Mayor Adams called the car chase “reckless and irresponsible” and recalled Harry’s mother, Diana, princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 after being pursued by paparazzi. Yet, Mr. Adams said he found it “hard to believe” that it was a two-hour high-speed chase. 

A former press secretary to Mayor Bloomberg, Stu Loeser, said Harry and Ms. Markle have “every right” to attend a high-profile event in New York, and they are also entitled to travel anonymously. Yet, they cannot do both in succession, Mr. Loeser said.

“Journalists and other humans have every right to follow them in NYC public spaces,” Mr. Loeser said “Like it or not they do.”

Other observers noted a real life comparison to a recent “South Park” episode that portrayed the Sussexes as being on a “worldwide privacy tour” and demanding repeatedly that “we want privacy,” all while doing their utmost to attract as much attention as they can to themselves.