Meghan Markle's Blunt Response Over Spotify Executive Calling Her and Harry "Grifters" After $20m Deal Falls Through
Bill Simmons slams the couple and Meghan responds.
Many entertainment industry jaws dropped when the $20 million partnership between Archewell Audio, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle production company, and Spotify was announced. The mega-deal was to consist of a number of programs produced by the couple, the first of which was Meghan's Archetypes, a series to "investigate, dissect and subvert the labels that try to hold women back."
On the show, Meghan interviewed everyone from Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton to her pal Serena Williams. While some of the interviews were extensively covered by the media, they didn't translate to listenership.
In a shocking announcement last week, Spotify announced they were dropping the Royal power couple from their lineup, and one exec had some not-so-nice things to say about them.
On Thursday, Spotify and Archewell announced the dissolution of the deal. "Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together," they said.
Shortly after, Spotify executive and podcaster Bill Simmons lashed out at the couple, deeming them "grifters." He went on to say that if he had been involved the in the negotiation deal, he would have creatively come up with a different theme for the show.
He is currently the head of podcast innovation and monetization at the media company and hosts multiple podcasts, including The Rewatchables.
"I wish I had been involved in the 'Meghan and Harry leave Spotify' negotiation," Simmons said on his self-titled podcast Friday. "'The Grifters.' That's the podcast we should have launched with them."
He also revealed that he personally talked about podcasts with Prince Harry. "I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories."
Team Meghan released a statement following the diss. "The team behind Archetypes remains proud of the podcast they created at Spotify. Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform," Archetypes Audio said in a statement.
This isn't the first time Simmons has slammed Harry. In January 2023, he said he was "so embarrassed" to share Spotify with him. "What does he do? It's one of those things where it's like, what's your talent? Why are we listening to you? So you were born in a royal family and then you left … You live in Montecito and you just like, you sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family and you just complain about them."
