Spotify executive and podcaster Bill Simmons bashed Prince Harry and C-list actress Meghan Markle on his podcast after the couple’s Spotify deal ended, calling them “f***ing grifters.”
During Simmons’s podcast on Friday, he said, “I wish I had been more involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation.”
“‘The F***ing 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*** them. The grifters,” said Simmons.
This is not the first time that Simmons has expressed his distaste for the royal couple, harshly criticizing Harry during a podcast episode from January 2022.
Simmons said that he was “embarrassed” to be sharing the Spotify platform with Harry.
“What does [Harry] 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***ing 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,” said Simmons.
In December 2020, Harry and Meghan signed a podcast deal with Spotify that was reportedly worth around $20 million. However, on Thursday, both the couple’s production company and the streaming platform announced they had “mutually agreed” to part ways.
In a joint statement, the two parties said, “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”
Despite the statement claiming the split was “mutual,” the Wall Street Journal reported that Spotify cut ties with the couple because they haven’t “met the productivity benchmarks required to receive the full payout from the deal.”
When the partnership was initially formed, there was an intention to create multiple programs. However, only one series “Archetypes” was created. This podcast series was meant to “investigate, dissect, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.”
