ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith bizarrely meddled with the British royal family on Tuesday when he delivered a damning verdict on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The pundit is the latest media personality to give his opinion on the couple in the wake of their divorce from Sportify.
Top Spotify executive and former ESPNer Bill Simmons labeled Harry and Markle “f***ing grifters” after the Sussexes parted ways with the music streaming giant.
Now, speaking on his self-titled podcast, Smith claimed that no one is interested in the couple unless they make headlines with their feud with the royal family.
“If Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex don’t complain about the royal family, I don’t know if anyone cares what they have to say,” Smith said on “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has delivered a damning verdict on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Spotify and the Sussexes said last week they have “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we have created together.” Meghan and Harry can be seen at the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York, May 16, 2023
‘[…] I try not to dog [Meghan Markle] like she has no talent or something like that. She did damn well [the show ‘Suits’]… I like ‘Suits’. In fact, I’m going to watch it again… I love that show […]
“But what I’m saying is, you don’t really care what they have to say unless they offend their family.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex only produced one 13-episode series of a podcast for the company, despite signing a $20 million deal three years ago.
Spotify and the Sussexes’ production company, Archewell Audio, released a joint statement Thursday evening saying they have “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we have created together.”
“The f***ing grifters,” Simmons said as he posted the pair on an episode of his own platform The Bill Simmons Podcast on Friday.
On the recent episode, Simmons told guest sportswriter Ryen Russillo, “The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them.’
“I have 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,” he added.
Smith, who was perpetually confused about whether or not to refer to Meghan as the Princess or Duchess of Sussex, then played an excerpt of Simmons’ comments about Harry and Meghan, noting that his former colleague seemed happy they had Spotify to leave.
Bill Simmons, who sold his podcast and sports journalism company The Ringer to Spotify for $200 million in 2020, now works as Spotify’s head of podcast innovation. He is pictured at The GRAMMY Museum on March 23, 2023 in Los Angeles
The Duchess of Sussex produced just one series of 13 episodes of a podcast for the company
“Damn, did you think I was bad? Bill Simmons took off!’ said Smith. “Now, Bill Simmons is my contemporary, former colleague at ESPN… I like Bill. I respect Bill Simmons, there is no shadow here. But Bill Simmons ran off… The Duchess of Sussex, along with Prince Harry, Bill Simmons seemed very glad they were gone.’
Smith continued to admit that he had to look up the definition of a “grifter” and said he didn’t know what it meant.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to have a relatively extensive vocabulary,” he said. “I never knew what the hell grifters meant. So I had to look it up.
‘… A swindler is a swindler: someone who cheats people out of their money. That’s what Bill Simmons called Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
In all seriousness, he’s qualified to say that. I’m not, because I don’t know anything about them. I don’t know about them [Spotify] agreement. I’m shocked that my daughter can tell me about it… and then I realized it, although I wouldn’t call them names and certainly wouldn’t be derogatory or inflammatory to them on a personal level.”
Smith also admitted that he thought Simmons’ comments went too far.
‘I didn’t think that was necessary, but yes, he works at Spotify, not me. So he knows more than I would ever know about that particular situation, meaning it came from a personal place,” he said.
“Again, I don’t know anything,” he added. “There is not a person on this planet who is less interested in the royal family than I am.”
Simmons first gained fame with his website The Boston Sports Guy in which he began writing sports columns. It became so successful that he was picked up by ESPN in the early 2000s, eventually writing for the Page 2 section and then head of the Grantland blog.
The move to ax the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast follows discussions months ago about renewing it for a second series. The two are pictured at the Nelson Mandela Centenary Exhibition at the Southbank Centre, July 17, 2018
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a $20 million deal three years ago
During his tenure at ESPN, he was at one point America’s most widely read sportswriter.
After leaving ESPN and a brief failed venture with HBO, Simmons launched his own website The Ringer in 2016. The outlet focused on sports and pop culture, as well as podcasts.
The Ringer was then sold to Spotify in 2020 for a reported $200 million. Simmons still remains CEO of the outlet and maintains editorial control.
He also joined Spotify as an executive, leading podcast innovation and monetization, working with the Sussexes on their somewhat lackluster podcast ventures.