An executive at Spotify called Prince Harry and Megan “grifters” the day after the news dropped that the pair’s podcast “Archetypes” would no longer be on the streaming platform.
Bill Simmons, head of podcast innovation and monetization at Spotify, made the comments during the
He and guest Joe House were discussing NBA trade deals when, around 19 minutes in, House began to segue into a question by describing Simmons as a person who does “a lot of business deals, a lot of negotiations.”
“I do? I wish I had been involved in the Meghan-and-Harry-leave-Spotify negotiation,” Simmons replied. “The f---ing grifters — that’s the podcast we should’ve launched with them.”
“Archetypes” premiered last August to immediate success, topping the Spotify charts in seven countries including Canada and winning the top podcast award at the People’s Choice awards last year.
Spotify and Archewell Audio, the production company founded by Harry and Meghan, said in a joint statement on Friday that the decision for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to part ways with Spotify was a mutual one.
In the June 16 episode of his podcast, Simmons went on to say that he should “get drunk one night and tell the story of this Zoom I had with Harry to try to help him with a podcast idea.
“It’s one of my best stories,” he said.
The “Archetypes” podcast was hosted by Meghan, and featured guests such as Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, Mariah Carey, Mindy Kaling and Serena Williams, among others. It’s unclear why the podcast was pulled from Spotify, or if it could continue elsewhere, but the news comes amid a layoff of 200 Spotify employees.
Archewell Audio landed a multi-year deal to create podcasts for Spotify in 2020. The “Archetypes” podcast was the only project that the production company had launched for Spotify thus far.
Following the split with Spotify, the Duke and Duchess will not receive the full US$20 million payout of the Spotify deal now, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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