A Spotify executive hasn’t held back in criticising Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after the couple’s $29mn (US $20mn) podcast series was scrapped after just one season.
Last week, Spotify and Archewell Audio (the couple’s production company) released a joint statement saying they had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together”.
There has been just one series of Meghan’s podcast – Archetypes – since Prince Harry and Meghan signed the $29mn ($US20mn) deal back in 2020.
Some American media outlets have reported that the couple will not receive the full amount due to not meeting the content requirements.
According to a quoted source in The Australia, Markle is looking for another home for the podcast which featured high-profile stars such as Serena Williams and Paris Hilton.
Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetization, Bill Simmons, took aim at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the latest episode of his own podcast The Bill Simmons Podcast.
“The f**king grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he said on the show.
According to vocabulary.com a grifter is a “con artist: someone who swindles people out of money through fraud”.
Simmons went on to say that one of his best stories was getting drunk and having a Zoom call with Prince Harry on ideas for the podcast.
“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.”
Simmons sold his sports podcast The Ringer to Spotify in 2020 for a reported $290mn ($US200mn).
Last week Spotify said it was laying off around 200 people, including audio engineers, as it moves to a more creator-focused structure.
