SUSSEXES RUN AGROUND

Dumped by entertainment execs for being ‘underwhelming’ and ‘inexperienced’, Meghan and Harry need to find a way to reinvent themselves

- NICOLA WHITFIELD

IF YOU’VE been paying attention lately you might’ve heard it: the sound of people cackling and rubbing their hands together in glee at the latest developments in the lives of the couple who live in that mansion in Montecito.

It’s called Schadenfreude: deriving pleasure from other people’s misfortune. And while the two are hardly on the bones of their backsides and – let’s face it – are unlikely ever to be, there’s been enough of an oopsie to make their haters happy.

Even if just for a little while.

Meghan has lost her podcast series after Spotify and Archewell Audio, the Sussexes’ production company, announced they were parting ways.

The contract Meghan and Harry had with the digital entertainment giant was worth about $20 million (R360 million) and was one of the huge deals they signed in 2020 after fleeing the Firm.

Back then, the pair were big news and podcasts were all the rage. But things have changed. Public sentiment for the couple is complicated to say the least and some podcasts haven’t delivered the dollars.

Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, admits the company overinvested in podcasts and have had to let hundreds of staffers go as a result.

“We’re going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals,” he says. “And the ones that aren’t performing, obviously, we won’t renew.”

For Meghan, that means her multi- series women-centric podcast – in which she interviewed the likes of Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling – has been canned after its first season.