Spotify exec labels Prince Harry, Meghan Markle 'grifters' after podcast deal ends

A leading Spotify figure has ridiculed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after the company ended the couple's reported $25 million deal with the audio streamer last week. The end of the deal was reportedly a mutual decision.

Bill Simmons, the "Ringer" founder and head of podcast innovation and monetisation at Spotify, labelled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "f***ing grifters" during an episode of his self-titled podcast.

"The f***ing grifters. That's the podcast we shoulda launched with them," he said and teased that he "gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom" call he had with Prince Harry "to try and help him with a podcast idea." He called it one of his "best stories."

This is not the first time that Simmons criticised Prince Harry. He also called the Invictus Games founder a whiner in a January 2022 episode of his podcast.

He said, "Shoot this guy to the sun... I'm so tired of this guy. What does he bring to the table? He just whines about s**t and keeps giving interviews. Who gives a s**t? Who cares about your life? You weren't even the favourite son."

"You live in fucking 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," the podcaster added.

Simmons' recent jibe at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle comes after their multi-year exclusive contract with Spotify ended. They signed a reported $20 million deal to release original content through their Archewell Audio company in January 2020.

However, in the three years since they signed the contract, they were only able to release one podcast called "Archetypes." The 12-episode series had high-profile names including the duchess' longtime friend and tennis champ Serena Williams, the songbird Mariah Carey, heiress Paris Hilton, actress Constance Wu, and comedians Mindy Kaling and Trevor Noah, to name a few.

Representatives for both Archewell Audio and Spotify confirmed the termination of the contract last week, saying it was a "mutual" decision and that they "are proud" of the series they made together. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for WME, Meghan Markle's talent agency, teased the former "Suits" star is taking her podcast to another platform.

The agency announced in a statement, "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."

According to The Guardian, the deals with Simmons and the Sussexes were part of Spotify's expansion into podcasting following its success with Joe Rogan's "The Joe Rogan Experiment." But the company is reportedly now facing financial woes after it lost £367 million last year.

In January this year, Dawn Ostroff exited as chief content and advertising business officer for Spotify. Then earlier this month, the company had to lay off 200 employees from its podcasting business due to "strategic realignment."

Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek admitted that the Stockholm-based streaming company made a mistake in "overpaying and overinvesting" in its push to establish itself as a key podcasting venue. He said during a conference call with financial analysts, "We're going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals. And the ones that aren't performing, obviously, we won't renew. And the ones that are performing, we will obviously look at those on a case-by-case basis on the relative value."

"Archetypes," the podcast hosted by Meghan Markle, was a success. It ranked number one in the U.K., U.S.A., Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on Spotify's international charts two days after it premiered in August 2022. But unnamed sources claimed their contract ended because of lack of output. They were unable to deliver their end of the bargain and thus, will allegedly not get the full agreed payment.