Prince Harry & Meghan axed by Spotify after releasing just ONE series of podcast in deal worth £18m
PRINCE Harry and Meghan have been ditched by Spotify after releasing just one series of a podcast.
The Sussexes pocketed an estimated £18million in a deal with the streaming giant.
But it yielded only 12 episodes presented by Meghan and a “Holiday special” in 31 months.
Sources in the US claim the couple were let go after failing to meet “productivity requirements”.
Spotify and Archewell released a joint statement yesterday claiming that the deal was ended by “mutual agreement”.
Meghan’s show, called Archetypes, sparked controversy after claiming her baby Archie had to be saved from a fire when the Sussexes were on a royal tour of Africa.
The Duchess of Sussex, 41, also told listeners she quit an $800-an-episode job as a briefcase model on American game show Deal or No Deal because she felt “objectified”.
Another episode slammed the Austin Powers comedy films and action movie Kill Bill for their representation of Asian women.
Elsewhere, Meghan claimed that she was 43 per cent Nigerian and that she was treated as “black” rather than “mixed race” after first dating Prince Harry.
The duchess is said to be working on podcasts for another platform — but it is not believed the Archetypes title will be resurrected.
Being ditched by Spotify is the latest shattering loss for the couple who are set to stop fronting tell-all documentaries and books following their Netflix series and Harry’s memoir Spare.
Meg’s animated series Pearl was ditched by Netflix last year.
She had been working on it with Sir Elton John’s producer husband David Furnish.
The show was canned as part of cutbacks amid a collapse in Netflix subscribers.
But the streaming giant is expected to air Harry’s documentary Heart of Invictus this summer.
The Sun revealed the couple are stopping their “tell-all” documentaries and will take on production roles behind the camera instead.
Harry’s biographer Angela Levin said: “I think they’re on a very bad run and really struggling.
“Three years on they are still just moaning — and when you see how elegant King Charles has been, and taking no notice of them, it is quite a contrast.
“I think Meghan and Harry now don’t know what to do.
“Spotify hasn’t got value for money.
“Meghan just talks about herself and people got bored of that.
“The series was about women’s issues which we started doing more than 30 years ago.
“What she was talking about was very out of date.”
It is said Meghan still has plans to work on a podcast project but is likely to be off-microphone as the couple prefer scripted productions.
A spokesman for Archewell Productions said: “The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify.”
Meghan revealed she had signed a podcast deal in December 2020.
A “Holiday special” boasted guests including Elton John, while Harry made a small cameo.
It took a further 18 months before the Archetypes series was launched in August 2022 but it soon topped the Spotify charts.
It saw Meghan interview stars such as Mariah Carey and Serena Williams and tackled issues such as race, parenthood and activism.
Since splitting from the Royal Family in early 2020 Harry and Meghan have looked to capitalise on their global fame in order to become financially independent.
They have banked an estimated £118million from multi-media deals.