Harry & Meghan Are ‘Sick & Tired’ After Spotify Exec Called Them ‘F—in’ Grifters
Several weeks after the streaming service dropped their multi-million dollar deal, Harry and Meghan reacted to Spotify’s decision.
The exact reason why the streaming giant and the Sussexes parted ways is unknown. A joint statement from the couple’s company, Archewell, and Spotify had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” per the New York Post published on June 15, 2023.
Though the Suits alum is still ready to publish more content in the near future. An Archewell Productions spokeswoman added to The Wall Street Journal: “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.
So how did Harry and Meghan react to the end of their Spotify deal? Read more to find out.
How did Harry and Meghan react to their Spotify deal?
How did Harry and Meghan react to their Spotify deal ending? After what Spotify did to them, not exactly well. “Spotify was supposed to release a statement saying how great it was to work with Meghan, but they didn’t,” a source told Us Weekly and added that the team behind the scenes “had been pushing Harry and Meghan for more content over the last year.”
The source also said that Harry and Meghan “weren’t delivering” on what Spotify needed before the deal came to an end. After they saw what Spotify executive and The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons said publicly, the source said, “It seems to be one assault after another these days, with people lining up to take cheap shots at them. Quite frankly, both she and Harry are sick and tired of it.”
Though things ended on bad terms, Harry and Meghan have “a ton of exciting things in the pipeline,” another source told the site. “[They’re] ready to come back stronger.” The Wall Street Journal also reported that several of the higher-ups at Archewell Audio left their positions before 2022. The head of communications at Archewell left in May 2022, including several others, like the head of audio, head of scripted content, and head of marketing. Other people who left included Promising Young Woman producer Ben Browning and president of Archewell Mandana Dayani.
In a statement, Bill Simmons said the following: “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation,” Simmons said. “‘The F—king Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. 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 … F—k them. The grifters.”
Simmons previously criticized Harry in a January 2023 episode of his podcast, saying that 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 f—king 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.”
The reviews have been mixed for Meghan’s podcast Archetypes. Guests of the podcast include Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Mindy Kaling, and Paris Hilton. “It’s the most self-congratulatory 57 minutes of audio you’ll hear all year,” wrote The Independent’s Olivia Petter. “Meghan frequently inserts herself into the conversation. When Williams alludes to some of the sexism and racism she has experienced in tennis, Meghan doesn’t ask her about it, and instead interjects to remind listeners just how close the pair are: “But hold on a second, unless you want – can I jump in there?” she says. “Because there are certain things that I know you won’t want to say about your experience, but I lived through a lot of that with you.” Petter continued: “What is being promoted as a subversive feminist podcast appears, so far, to be nothing more than an exercise in navel-gazing. One that is more about promoting its host than anyone else.”
Nevertheless, the podcast won Best Podcast at the People’s Choice Awards in 2022. At the time, Meghan wrote: “I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative. And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversations with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them. It has been such a labor of love.” So why did Spotify drop Harry and Meghan? Read on to find out.
A source with insider knowledge of the situation told the New York Post that Archewell simply didn’t produce enough content to receive the full pay-out of the multi-million-dollar deal in 2020, which was originally described by Spotify as a “multiyear partnership,” with the promise of delivering “podcasts that will inspire.” The collaboration, believed to be inked sometime in December 2020, resulted in just one season, 12 episodes, with the first episode released almost two years later in August 2022.
Netflix stood by their partnership with Harry and Meghan offering their own statement: “We’ll continue to work together on a number of projects, including the upcoming documentary series Heart of Invictus.”
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