It started as a large-scale project – and in the end it will be remembered mainly because of the enormous costs: In her podcast “Archetypes” Duchess Meghan wanted to talk to high-ranking and prominent interlocutors about the stereotypes attributed to women. But after just one season, the project was shelved. Bill Simmons, Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetization, later complained about the exorbitant fee the Duchess raked in for it — reportedly around $23 million — and called Meghan and her husband Prince Harry “crooks.”
In the end, it stayed with the twelve episodes of the first season, in which Meghan spoke to Serena Williams, Mindy Kaling or Mariah Carey, among others. As is now known, the Duchess would have liked other prominent guests for her podcast – however, despite intensive efforts, she was rejected.
As the “Wall Street Journal” reports, Markle Taylor Swift is said to have even written a personal letter inviting the pop singer to take part in an episode. Swift declined — and had the refusal relayed through an employee.
Apparently, the Duchess firmly assumed that there would be a second season of her podcast. New episodes were discussed for months, as the “Wall Street Journal” writes, until Spotify put an abrupt end to the plans with a clear rejection.
The cooperation with Netflix is said to have gone a little better. There, like Spotify, they were “underwhelmed” by the lack of productivity on the part of the Sussexes, as the newspaper writes – the English word means the opposite of overwhelmed.
In summary, both platforms got the same impression of the royal couple: big ideas, little behind.
Which: “Wall Street Journal”
