Spotify executive Bill Simmons calls Harry and Meghan ‘grifters’ after podcast deal ends
Spotify recently announced job cuts in its podcasting division.
By Issy Ronald, CNN Business
(CNN) — Spotify executive and popular podcaster Bill Simmons has hit out at Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, labeling them “grifters,” after their multi-year partnership with Spotify ended on Friday.
“I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation,” Simmons said on his self-titled podcast Friday.
“‘The F**king 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**k them. The grifters.”
The partnership between Archewell Audio, the couple’s production company, and Spotify was intended to include numerous programs but, ultimately, only one series and a holiday special were produced.
Their series “Archetypes” aimed to “investigate, dissect and subvert the labels that try to hold women back,” according its description, and featured Meghan’s interviews with celebrity guests including Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Trevor Noah.
Archewell Audio and Spotify announced that they had “mutually agreed to part ways,” just two weeks after the audio streaming company said it had cut 200 jobs within its podcast unit, amounting to 2% of its global workforce, in a “strategic realignment.”
CNN has reached out to both Archewell and Spotify for comment on Simmons’ remarks.
Simmons previously criticized Harry in a January 2023 episode of his podcast, saying that he was “so embarrassed” to share Spotify with him.
“What does he 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**king 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.”
Spotify acquired Simmons’ sports and culture site “The Ringer,” with its slate of more than 30 podcasts, for more than $200 million in 2020, Forbes reported at the time.
Since then, he has become the head of podcast innovation and monetization at Spotify where he also hosts multiple podcasts including “The Rewatchables.”
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CNN’s Max Foster contributed to this report.
