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

She never had the respect or gravitas of a heavyweight actress to make a Glenda Jackson style full-time crossover into another public facing role. Even at it's height, her acting career was always about playing a hot supporting girlfriend role.

The most telling indication that she was too lightweight for the podcast she aspired to put out was right there in the name. She used a Jungian term which she badly misunderstood due to lack of relevant knowledge but she went there anyway (even though she would have been advised that it was nonsense). She thought a new image and powerful friends would mask the shortcomings but it never worked.

It’s insulting to compare Harry to Obama. Obama was a former president of the United States, twice elected, a self made man who rose to the top due to his hard work, intelligence and his charisma. He and Michelle Obama are every inch the definition of a power couple. The Sussexes should be embarrassed to even think they could ever be like the Obamas.

I listened to a couple of the podcasts and read the transcripts for others, I didn’t find them at all engaging, in fact they seemed very superficial and unfocused. Lots of podcasts are pretty amateur but the hosts haven’t been paid millions for them. I think MM failed to appreciate the higher standards that would be expected from an outfit like Spotify.

She might have improved as an interviewer with time, but the days of being allowed to find one’s creative groove are long gone. There’s too much competition. Anyone not delivering the expected and paid for goods can easily be replace by the next hopeful.

It will be interesting to see MM’s next move now that it’s clear that the game is up with Harry. He has betrayed his family to flog his tawdry book, everyone is sick of his pathetic whingeing and he has become a public joke.
Having leeched what she can out of him, I fully expect her to dump him & try to target a tech billionaire as her next victim. Someone nerdy who will be impressed by her ‘Royal’ title. She really is an utter 🤐.

I think it was unprofessional.

It's a bit of a trend in Hollywood at the minute - producers/writers have publicly tried to smear Jenna Ortega - actress playing Wednesday - and Henry Cavill and back tracked when public consensus was they were right and knew their source material. You see it even with audiences branded toxic fandom when they dislike things like Rings of Power - mainly due to bad writing - I've been told on here that not liking last Dr Who meant I was racist, homophobic and anti women rather than just fed up with truly shit writing and wasted talent.

I do think some professionalism been lost in entertainment media because I suspect this stuff isnt new but as old at the hills and at one time was said quietly in the correct ears not announced publicly as click bait.

However many people do seem to have issues working with this couple - and this podcast doesn't seem to have played to Meghan strengths at all - so image there a huge amount of blame to shift around.

It's still all so combative between the Cambridges and the Sussexes.

She does a Backgrid pap stroll on the morning of Trooping The Colour because she wants to show that she is queen bee who will effortlessly win the main tabloid headlines in jeans with a constipated expression over dolled up Kate and the kids.

Meanwhile, Kate brings it back in a green outfit to cancel out the relevance of that Westminster Abbey confrontation where Meghan stole the show in a green formal outfit just when things were about to blow up publicly.

Kate brings it back in a green outfit to cancel out the relevance of that Westminster Abbey confrontation where Meghan stole the show in a green formal outfit just when things were about to blow up publicly.

LOL, that's a stretch! I very much doubt that Kate (or rather, the stylist who chose her outfit) gave Meghan a second thought. Meghan is nobody to them now

It is kind of sad because the rivalry between the wives keeps the brothers estranged for even longer.

Each looks out in the hope of the other raising a white flag. Harry, in particular, needs it more than ever but he is the one who cannot stop himself from going nuclear and targeting the person whom he needs the most.

@Elior I don't think Kate will have much focus on MM now.

I think Kate does look stunning, Sophie too...just proves what RF backing can do for you! Even Camilla looks so much better these days.

Tbf to MM formal outfits and ceremonies may not have been her thing, I imagine it's like dressing for wedding & christening but on constant basis.

It must be all the more frustrating for her to not win the main tabloid headline, let alone do it effortlessly. Meghan’s pap stroll is so far down it’s in double digits.

The Cambridges are royalty and today is about the Royal Family. H&M can’t compete with that and are struggling to be able to compete with the sort of things that once they would have been guaranteed a headliner to detract from. It must be even more difficult to accept that today is probably as popular and famous as they will ever be, because they are rapidly waning all round.

Kate's in Green as she's C-I-C of the Irish Guards.

I liked one of the comments under the article saying Harry had handed in his "too weak" notice.

It is kind of sad because the rivalry between the wives keeps the brothers estranged for even longer.

I think the problem is nothing really to do with the wives and all down to the brothers - and Harry's jealousy and William's hurt at recent events.

I think it's the media focusing on the women - I don't think Kate ever felt need to compete with Meghan - she was always going to be in a less senior position and I think Meghan trying to move on from RF and find a role for herself going forward.

Popularity and notoriety being two sides of the same coin, Meghan can win on notoriety and still generate more interest than extremely popular Kate. Isn't it about the grab for attention? I think Meghan and Harry manage to do it better. They just need to stop trying to be likeable or credible and go all out as villains.

The whole thing is nauseating.

It is a sinking ship already, I don’t know why it’s necessary for people to release more hatred and drag them through the mud further. It just gives them more headline space… and I am done hearing about it all.

As for the royals they are highly incentivised to put out positive stories about themselves and to throw others under the bus to remain in their position. Kate is the golden goose. And it’s very apparent how important it is she is liked above all to keep the royals going….

Although as I said, I am not a H&M fan after what happened, I can see how Meghan as she was (glamorous, popular, headline grabbing, approachable) would have been inconvenient to the main agenda.

I do get the feeling there are machinations on both sides. Can’t work out which is more manipulative of the public, except to say that British press is certainly eating out of the royals hand.

But I don’t think Meghan is and that has to be a hard acceptance to make. If Meghan can’t make it on notoriety or being likeable or credible then there really isn’t anything left for her.

Yeah but this guy ( forgot his name already) isn't someone who was recruited into Spotify. He's in post because his own media company was bought out by Spotify. It's a semi-sinecure. He's a renegade lone operator who was brought onboard as part of a buyout. They made him "head of innovation". He's coming from a different angle to the operational senior management.

@oakleaffy

Those podcasts were absolutely dire- Markle's breathy, highly produced voice interrupting the more interesting guests at every turn, right. {'Right' being a Markle word that she uses a lot}

There's a very funny article in The Times on this today (Saturday) - Harry and Meghan’s podcast revealed their painful pointlessnessAs the Sussexes’ $20m Spotify deal comes to an end, James Marriott asks if they have anything left to sell.

Harry and Meghan’s podcast revealed their painful pointlessness (thetimes.co.uk)

Here are a some of the bits I enjoyed:

"Archetypes, you may have forgotten, was a motivational interview show aimed at helping women “to be our authentic selves”, whatever that means. And it was the distilled essence of purest Californian banality. A great big smiley, bland motivational nothing. Even the unintentional hilarity of the self-regarding celebrity speak (Meghan always telling her guests things like “I want to hold a space for you as a guest to define yourself”) could not sustain public interest."

...

"The podcast revealed their pointlessness more painfully than any of their other ventures. At least Harry’s cringeorama memoir was about something. Archetypes generated a few astonished initial reviews. But after that, nothing. No headlines. No news stories. Not even much Twitter mockery.

Nobody cared."

...

" For Harry and Meghan this is a worrying sign. Meghan’s most (only?) profitable media enterprise is endlessly retailing her story about leaving the royal family. Last year’s Netflix documentary milked that tale to within an inch of its life. There is nothing more to be said.

The failure of Archetypes shows that whenever she tries to talk about anything else, virtually nobody is interested. Even the roster of high-profile guests (Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, etc) couldn’t save the podcast. Meghan has a remarkable ability to take fascinating people and cover them in meaningless gush (“You’re choosing liberation and newness. I love that so much”, etc) until they are not interesting at all. The opposite of good interviewing technique."

I think that last bit is particularly astutely observed. Interviewing people for media is a skill. Broadcast journalists train to do it. There is no reason why anyone would think they can just do it, any more than you'd think you could be a trapeze artist without any training.

@JeandeServiette

I’m sure he sits at the top table though and it sounds like he was asked to work with Harry

WME must be pulling their hair out, and who wants to work with reputed lazy, difficult, self absorbed whingers

(perhaps Tyler Perry?)

also think we’re all being had, pulled into an orchestrated mirage to continue supporting the monarchy enabling them to keep their millions and way of life.

good point,
Trooping the colour after all!

let's support the Royal Family and wholly criticize the deserters

I suspect it was that Harry just didn't know what he was doing, certainly wasn't capable of writing anything or generating fresh treatments or ideas for programmes. So this guy got stuck in a zoom meeting with him, having been asked to mentor him into birthing some actionable content plans, and this guy discovers that Harry is deeply stupid, used to being praised for nothing and maybe a complete space cadet. Maybe he was even inappropriate. It's quite easy to imagine. Harry has spent his whole life propped up by courtiers, who did his thinking for him and covered for him.

when all else fails, blame the royals again. Harry and Meghan making a mess of things has nothing to do with Kate and her popularity. There’s no machinations there to undermine Meghan, as kate has undergone the same press intrusion and criticism that Meghan experienced, even worse in some aspects as she was stalked and chased by the paparazzi and topless photos were taken of her. And the press continues to criticise her, maybe not to the same extent as they did before, but the main difference between her and Meghan is she keeps her head down and doesn’t feed the press attention. Meghan could have been all those things you say she is, but the problem was she wasn’t willing to be a team player, she didn’t want to be second best to the future Queen despite marrying the 6th in line to the throne. It’s not about the royal family feeling threatened that she would overshadow Kate due to her star power. As it’s been proven when the Sussexes left the royal family, they don’t actually have the star power and charisma they thought they had, as it was their connection to the royal family that gave them their status. Meghan and Harry need the royal family more than the royal family needs them.

It is kind of sad because the rivalry between the wives keeps the brothers estranged for even longer.

I highly doubt it's the women. Harry has sold out his family, it's likely the RF don't want to get close to them to get sold out again. The estrangement between the brothers is of Harry's own making.

And the irony of someone connected to Spotify of all things talking about grifting considering how much they make from the labour of artist compared to how much they pay them.

They didn’t do anything. They swan about waiting to be given things, they don’t actually know how to sit down and do the work needed to produce ‘content’.

Meghan using her name to talk to famous people is not original, creative or particularly interesting. And that was it. That was all they did.