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

A leading Spotify figure has lashed out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, branding the pair “f***ing grifters” after the audio company split with the couple and ended their $25m deal.

Podcaster Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer to Spotify for $200m in 2020 and is now an influential executive there, slammed the Sussexes after their company Archwell parted ways with the company.

Harry and Meghan had signed a three-year deal to produce content for Spotify, which is also home to the likes of Joe Rogan.

But Meghan hosted just one series of the Archetypes podcast as part of the deal, interviewing Serena Willians, Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton among the guests.

Simmons, who is Spotify’s Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetisation, criticised the couple on his own podcast on Friday.

“The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them,” he said.

“I gotta 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.”

Simmons’s criticism comes as no surprise, as he had previously slammed Harry when he was under contract to Spotify and in January said it was “embarrassing” to be affiliated with the same company.

“Shoot this guy to the sun,” Simmons said on his podcast. “I’m so tired of this guy. What does he bring to the table?

“He just whines about s*** and keeps giving interviews. Who gives a s***? Who cares about your life? You weren’t even the favourite son. … You live in f***ing 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.”