Meghan Markle has been accused of faking her podcast after a Spotify executive labelled her and Prince Harry "f***ing grifters".
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex partnered with Spotify in 2020 in a deal worth around £18 million to produce the podcast Archetypes, which has not been renewed by the audio subscription site.
A source previously told the NY Post that the Archewell media company launched by Harry, 38, and Markle, 41, didn’t produce enough content to receive the full payout as their podcast only released 12 episodes. Now insiders have come forward to the publication and accused Meghan of 'not conducting the interviews for her podcast and editing in her voice in production'.
Insiders claimed to PodNews that some interviews on the show were done by other staffers, with her questions edited-in afterward. The report didn't give details about what interviews were said to edited this way, but journalist Alison Yarrow previously claimed she was interviewed by producer Farrah Safarfi.
The reporter appeared on an episode about the origin of the word 'b****' and thanked Farrah for being an "excellent interviewer". Other high-profile guests on Archetypes have included Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling.
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A joint statement from Spotify and Archewell Audio said the two were "proud of the series we made together" but they had "mutually agreed to part ways". However, an Archewell spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the ‘Archetypes’ audience on another platform".
Bill Simmons, who is Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetisation, has now hit out at the Duke and Duchess as a result of the fractured deal and slammed the pair as "f***ing grifters".
"The f***ing grifters. That's the podcast we should have launched with them," he said in the latest episode of his own podcast on Friday.
"I've 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."
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