PippaPippa BangBang

Posted on by Courtney

I know that a while back I said I wouldn’t post anymore paparazzi photos of Pippa Middleton, but when she’s doing/is with someone who is doing something this ridiculous, she kind of deserves it.


Pippa Middleton went to visit a friend in France over the weekend, and did things that all normal folks do on vacation to Paris:

She attended a fancy dress party (what we in America call a costume party) to celebrate the birthday of a French millionaire (he’s the founder of the French label that is creating the ties for the French Olympic team, if that means anything to you)…

… walked around

Pippa with Viscount Arthur de Soultrait

… drove in fancy cars…

… pulling guns on people… wait, what?

Credit: www.thesun.co.uk

Incase you can’t tell what’s happening in that photo, Pippa is sitting in the passenger seat of a car smirking while her friend, who is driving, pulled out a [toy] gun, turned all the way around in his seat, and pointed it directly at a photographer on a moped.


It turns out, Pippa and her friends may now face legal ramification. If the gun had been real, they could have faced up to 7 years in prison each. However, as the gun is fake, they could still each face up to 2 years in prison. I’ve heard, however, that the French authorities 

The photographer later spoke with The Daily Beast and said, 

“We had been following Pippa since the beginning of the day. She was hyper cool, we even chatted with her and her friends. It was a fine day, and the atmosphere was truly very relaxed. When the driver pulled out his plastic pistol, it was for a joke, to play around. A few minutes later, when the vehicle had parked, I was able to touch the plastic weapon which the driver showed to me. It was possible to see that it was the kind of thing you would find in a toy shop. It’s a real shame to see the magnitude this story is taking on.” {Note: For some reason I liked this once, and the link has now disappeared and I can’t find the article anywhere online. But I swear I didn’t make it up, and it was really online in The Daily Beast.}



From this, it seems like the group in the Audi were clearly playing around, and that the photographer was in on the fun. However, the general public is up in arms over the fact that Pippa’s friend was behaving completely irresponsibly and, in the wake of recent deadly shootings in the area that left many dead recently, incredibly hurtfully.


My issue with all of this is thus: People seem so focused on Pippa’s involvement (“she should have stopped him!”) because she is the famous person in the car that they appear to be forgetting a few key facts:

  • Pippa wasn’t the one holding the gun, or pointing it at anyone
  • We have no idea if she encouraged him, or told him to stop, because we weren’t there
  • The man that’s holding the gun is also driving a car and completely ignoring the road
  • Pippa couldn’t safely have done anything to “stop” him, other than speak with him – had she grabbed his arm he could have swerved into traffic and caused an accident or, (again – prior to learning the gun was a toy) accidentally pulled the trigger
Was Pippa in the wrong? Kind of – she definitely shouldn’t have gone along with it, even if it was just a joke. It’s just tasteless, and it turns out – most likely illegal. But her friend is the one that is more seriously in the wrong. Unfortunately, Pippa is the one that is internationally known, and she makes for a way better headline… so she’s the one who is going to take the flack for it.

What do you think about this situation? Should Pippa face any legal ramifications for her part in this (being the passenger, and “smirking” while not doing anything to stop her friend)? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments!