RICHARD EDEN: The reasons I’m now suspicious about Meghan’s motives as her podcast relaunch struggles to get off the starting blocks

Show business bosses are rarely known to criticize “talent.” Who knows when they’ll have to work with them again?

So last summer there was widespread shock when an executive at the music streaming platform Spotify publicly described the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as “f****** fraudsters.”

That’s an American term for people ‘engaged in small-scale or small-scale fraud’, and not a characterization the Sussexes would embrace.

Bill Simmons, who holds the title of Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization, took advantage of the muted criticism last summer, just hours after Harry and Meghan’s podcast deal with Spotify, reportedly worth £15 million, was scrapped.

“One night I have to get drunk and tell the story of the Zoom [call] I met with Harry to help him with a podcast idea,” Simmons ranted. “It’s one of my best stories.”

Why would he say such things?

An ever-expanding list of Harry and Meghan’s high-profile ventures and initiatives could provide an answer — projects that, despite all the carefully constructed razzmatazz of their launch, have so far amounted to little.

Simmons’ comments certainly suggest a dramatic loss of confidence.

He won’t be the only one who remembers the Sussexes being praised as “powerful voices” who appreciated the “potential of audio storytelling” when Spotify signed up their podcasts in 2020.

That was shortly after the couple left royal duties and sought a new life and fortune in the United States.

They ended up producing twelve podcast episodes in two and a half years before parting ways with the company, a decision that was reportedly made by mutual consent.

However, Meghan is undeterred. In February of this year, she attempted to revive her podcast series Archetypes, announcing to much fanfare that she had signed a deal with Lemonada Media, a female-founded company that wants to “make life less suck.”

The Duchess said she was “overjoyed” to join Lemonada, a much smaller company, adding: “Our plan is to re-release Archetypes so more people can access them, and to create a dynamic launch new podcast are good. in the works.

“I’m so looking forward to sharing it soon.”

Whenever ‘soon’ may be… As I’ve now revealed in my Daily Mail social diary, Eden Confidential, Meghan’s Lemonada deal is struggling to get out of the starting blocks.

No broadcasts are expected this year.

“The relaunch of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast has been postponed until 2025,” a California source told me.

It turned out that there were some complications. For example, it’s clear that Lemonada didn’t want the podcast’s launch to be overshadowed by Meghan’s new lifestyle television series on Netflix, which she began filming last week in a rental home in Montecito.

The broadcaster has said the show will ‘celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertainment and friendship’.

Lemonada is also said to be concerned that there may have been “scheduling conflicts” between the launch of the podcasts and that of Meghan’s new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.

A spokesperson for Meghan declined to comment on the delay, but sources claimed she had already planned a list of “very high-profile guests.”

Her series for Spotify certainly featured real stars, in the form of Wimbledon champion Serena Williams and pop star Mariah Carey.

Still, announcing a new show business deal and then not producing any broadcasts for a year is an unusual marketing strategy – to say the least.

Broadcasters typically launch new ventures when they have content ready to share. The Royal House only makes announcements when there are details to be provided, as Harry knows.

Maybe it’s an approach we have to get used to.

Meghan launched American Riviera Orchard with a video posted to Instagram in March.

Six weeks later, the only sign of activity was the jars of strawberry jam sent to 50 of the Duchess’s friends and social media influencers.

It makes Harry and Meghan look unprofessional and amateurish. It also makes me suspicious of Meghan’s motives.

I really hope Lemonada isn’t just used for publicity purposes.

If so, it would only encourage others to share Simmons’ unkind – and very candid – take on Montecito’s royal couple.

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