Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are called ‘f*****g grifters’ by Spotify exec Bill Simmons after their $20M Archetypes podcast is axed
- Spotify and the Sussexes’s audio production company Archewell Audio on Thursday night said they have ‘mutually agreed to part ways’
- The announcement marks the end of their $20 million deal, signed three years ago: they produced 13 episodes of Markle’s podcast, Archetypes
- The Wall Street Journal said they did not meet the productivity benchmark to receive the full $20m payout: she is said to be working on other projects
A top Spotify podcast executive has called Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘f***ing grifters’ after they produced only one 13-episode series of a podcast for the company, and then split.
The end of the couple’s reported $20 million deal was announced on Thursday evening, three years after it was signed.
Spotify and the Sussexes’s audio production company Archewell Audio released a joint statement saying they have ‘mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together’.
Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, condemned the pair in an episode of his own podcast on Friday.
‘The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,’ he said.
‘I’ve 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.’
Bill Simmons (left), who sold his podcast and sports journalism company The Ringer to Spotify for $200 million in 2020, now works as Spotify’s head of podcast innovation. On Friday he described the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (right) as ‘f****** grifters’ after they parted ways with the company
Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes will not be renewed for a second season
Simmons, a sportswriter, founded sports and pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer, and sold it to Spotify in 2020 for $200 million.
He then joined Spotify, and has long been critical of the couple.
Last January, he blasted Prince Harry, saying it was ’embarrassing’ to be affiliated with the same company.
‘Shoot this guy to the sun,’ he said, according to sports website The Big Lead.
‘I’m so tired of this guy. What does he bring to the table? He just whines about s*** and keeps giving interviews.
‘Who gives a s***? Who cares about your life?
‘You weren’t even the favorite son. You live in f****** Montecito and you just 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.’
Spotify has recently laid off staff and scaled back big-name talent in favor of emphasizing the creator economy.
The streaming giant announced it would be laying off around 200 staff members – around two per cent of their workforce – who work within their podcast teams. It cited difficulties in making podcasts profitable, despite its popularity among listeners.
Markle’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes, will not be renewed for a second season.
The move to ditch the Duchess of Sussex’s show, which explores the ‘labels that try to hold women back’, follows discussions months ago about renewing it for a second series.
Insiders close to the audio giant claim the royal couple did not meet the productivity benchmark required to receive the full payout, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Markle, however, is still planning to create more podcasts and find a new home for her series, which previously featured her friend and tennis star Serena Williams, pop sensation Mariah Carey and South African comedian Trevor Noah.
Archetypes launched in August last year, exploring the ‘labels that try to hold women back’. The Duke and Duchess reportedly signed the deal for $20million but will not receive the full payout as it did not reach the productivity benchmark
Meghan signed off her 12th episode in the Archetypes podcast series with a defiant piece of poetry about survival
The axing of the show comes after sources close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed the pair would stop making tell-all Netflix documentaries, publishing memoirs and sitting down for interviews discussing the royal family, as they have ‘nothing left to say’.
READ MORE: Harry and Meghan ‘are FINALLY going to stop writing books, making documentaries and sitting down for interviews to bash the Royal Family’ claim insiders
The talent agency that recently signed Meghan, WME, told the Wall Street Journal: ‘The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify.
‘Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.’
The podcast reached the top of Spotify’s charts in the week it premiered.
Meghan signed off her 13th and last Archetypes episode with a defiant piece of poetry about survival – but made no mention of a potential second series.
Closing the show, which featured men for the first time, she quoted the Greek post-war poet Dinos Christianopoulos and said: ‘What didn’t you do to bury me? But you forgot that I was a seed.’
Discussions to publish more content from Archwell – the production company owned by the royal couple – are ongoing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There are also suggestions that Meghan could soon look to bring back her wellness and lifestyle blog The Tig, in a bid to rival Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website, which is reportedly worth $250 million.
It comes amid reports that the couple will stop making documentaries and tell-all books as they have ‘nothing left to say’
The royal pair have raked in millions since moving to California. Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare was part of a $20million book deal
Since officially leaving the Royal Family and moving to California in 2020, the Duke and Duchess have pursued a number of different avenues to bring in revenue.
This includes Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare which he created as part of a $20 million deal with Penguin Books.
The couple also teamed up with Netflix to produce the docu-series called Harry And Meghan, with the streaming giant reportedly paying the pair $100 million for the six-episode series.
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