Harry and Megan dubbed "fucking grifters" by Spotify exec and podcaster

[Qbish]

No great surprise there... Would love to hear his story about Zooming Prince Harry, I can only imagine his frustration with the whining ninny!

Leading Spotify figure lashes out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after end of podcast deal | The Independent

So you'd think when Simmons zoomed him to discuss ideas, Harry would have jumped to get stuff sorted.

That would be assuming he is capable of doing this. They had no reason to think he could.

I suppose because someone was willing to pay them, they believed it meant they could do it. Maybe they thought it would be easy. But we are living in a time where smoke and mirrors abound. Elizabeth Holmes is such a great example.

I suppose because someone was willing to pay them, they believed it meant they could do it. Maybe they thought it would be easy

Maybe they did, but as Gracewithoutend just pointed out it's not as if they were left to do it alone
With experienced staff to guide them I'd have thought more would have resulted, but then who knows what these other staff might have to tell about their willingness to learn?

There’s great hubris in thinking one should be put in charge of a massive endeavor with which they had no experience. People who actually do this kind of work must have not been shocked to learn that it’s not for the novice.

Also @Puzzledandpissedoff, that would require that they understand their limitations and are willing to take guidance from others. Neither has shown form for that. “No thanks Queenie, I don’t need help or mentoring. I know it all already. And besides I’ve got Harry!”

I think this is a good point. Hitting the ground running rather than following Ann’s approach. But then Ann didn’t want to be in the limelight

... that would require that they understand their limitations and are willing to take guidance from others. Neither has shown form for that

I know, AliceOlive, but I guess I hoped they might have been able to pull something out of the box at last, if only because it involved a lot of money they must surely need

It's not even just the Spotify deal which was at stake; as PPs have said the "f-ing grifters" thing won't be easy to shake off, and you have to wonder what effect it'll have on future hoped-for projects

@Puzzledandpissedoff I agree it won’t help, but suspect the horse was out of the barn before Simmons spoke. Everyone knew about the massive amounts they were paid. Anyone interested can see that it resulted in little content.

It feels a bit like they were set up to fail, honestly. I think “self as content” works for so few people. Someone mentioned Martha Stewart but she was never that at all. She obviously had experience in cooking, homemaking, etc. Her original content wasn’t about her at all, until she had already become well-known for actually creating things. Even today it’s more about her guests and experts than her as a person.

Gwyneth Paltrow did it, but that was before we were saturated. Oprah was already a household name before she even tried to do this.

I do think the Invictus documentary will be a raving success, as long as it’s about the people and not much about Harry.

It's not even just the Spotify deal which was at stake; as PPs have said the "f-ing grifters" thing won't be easy to shake off, and you have to wonder what effect it'll have on future hoped-for projects

Yes, I think that's really important. Whether you admire or loathe Simmons, or are indifferent, that was a big barb.

And the point I was trying to make above, is whether anyone has been prepared yet to categorically deny that Harry suggested the idea that he interview Trump? Has anyone? Would anyone here give that cast-iron guarantee?

Because the suggestion of Harry doing a Trump interview, let alone Putin and the Pope, had me laughing.

Now I could analyse that, and why that was my response, and come up with all sorts of complicated, internalised motivations; but meanwhile it remains the case that it WAS my immediate response and that's how delusional I think Harry has become, and I was far from alone in that by all accounts.

I suspect that Harry has exposed himself to ridicule on quite a wide stage. People ARE intellectual snobs, even in LA. It's a cut-throat world out there and the movers and shakers are not stupid.

@AutumnCrow Now I’m laughing, too.

I completely agree with you.
It's like the Bud Light case. The execs who signed Dylan Mulvaney are to blame for the hiring- I don't blame him for taking the money.
I believe that they Spotify and NF people who hired them no longer work at those companies.

Simmons is a sports commentator and his podcast is a lot of rambling. Sports podcasts and commentators have a lot of trash talking and filler comments. This seems like an off hand comment he made without really thinking it through as part of rambling on. It wasn't the focus of the podcast. Sports commentators always say some controversial things as that is what leads to debate and emotion and gets people hooked to listen.

He probably got his hand slapped by Spotify for saying it but since it was true they probably just told him to be more diplomatic and watch what he says going forward. I think it could relate to the 'talk to Putin and Trump about their childhood trauma headline'.

I’m not sure I agree… Netflix documentaries are not exactly panorama, they tend to be very sensationalist and one-sided. It also doesn’t have charity fundraisers either. I guess the equivalent could be something like F1 Drive to Survive which even then is made from the human interest side about the drivers. Tldr I think he is going to have to slag his family off in it at least a little bit.

Simmons is a sports commentator and his podcast is a lot of rambling.

He’s not just a sports commentator, he’s a senior executive at Spotify too. It the senior executive hat he’s wearing that makes those comments damaging to their future prospects.

Understanding their own limitations or not Meghan Markle has got to stop making everything about her. Her speeches, her podcasts she cannot stop making it all about her. Maybe she should just be honest and promote herself as a speaker talking about herself and if people want to pay for that then fair enough.

I actually thought it was pretty unprofessional but that doesn’t necessarily make it untrue

Oh?
Just like the royal family kept quiet about 'out of Compton headline'. They all share the same view?

The William who called his mother paranoid and went after Bashier? That William ?

Don't know who came up with subpar performance.
Not WSJ, as far as I recall. Bloomberg and them had eyebrows raised with 'those in the know'. who?
Archetypes was top of the chats and won awards.

Simmons got a job as executive with his sport pundit podcasts and signed on some super expensive podcasts on his own.

You do the maths.

Archetypes podcasts fizzled out quickly as they weren’t very good.

Went after Bashir?
Or rightly criticised him for manipulating his late mother when she was in a vulnerable state?
Martin Bashir has a lot to answer for.

It stayed on top of the charts in several countries for weeks on end.

It didn’t end strongly, the later episodes really struggled to attract listeners and it just fizzled out which is why it was cancelled.

Oh, and 'people who know ' has moved on to 'people familiar with the matter/situation'. and goodness me it's been upgraded to 'people involved in the project' ugh . Now we are to believe that Archewell staff have turned against the Sussex's. Ofcourse they have, articles state clearly that they left because they were unhappy. Except for the fact that some of them appeared on their Netflix video looking all buddy, buddy as well as on their website after they left.

I do have to stay that I love the idea of Ms Havisham as a heroine, I did feel it unfair she was portrayed as a mean bitter spinster.

I think they needed a broader concept than labels that try. The name and the tag don’t naturally lend themselves to extensive content.

And listen, call me a bitch but I need someone more like me if I’m going to listen to a podcast about the struggles of women. A beautiful, rich actress who is world famous and granted a platform because she married a prince is undoubtedly not going to resonate with the average common woman.

I’m genuinely impressed they got 12 episodes out of it.