Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer and current high-ranking executive at Spotify, is currently beefing with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The veteran journalist's ire stems from a recent decision by Spotify to prematurely end the company's podcasting contract with the royal couple. Reportedly, Harry and Meagan produced just 12 episodes over two years despite being on a $20 million contract. Furthermore, additional reporting revealed that Spotify would not be paying out the full $20 million to the couple.
On his own podcast, Simmons went hard on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “I wish I’d been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation,” Simmons said. “The f*cking grifters. That’s the podcast that we should’ve launched with them.” Simmons also compared Harry and Meghan to the Obamas. Spotify saw a major return on investment with the former POTUS and FLOTUS, whose podcasting contract expired last year. Now Stephen A. Smith, who formerly worked with Simmons at ESPN, is entering the story.
Smith Addresses Royal Spotify Drama
“Bill Simmons went off!” Smith said during a recent episode of his own podcast. “Now, Bill Simmons is my contemporary, former colleague with me at ESPN, has his own stuff, The Ringer podcast network, moved up the ranks to an executive at Spotify, I like Bill. I respect the hell out of Bill … ain’t no shade here. But Bill Simmons was going off … Bill Simmons seemed very happy they were gone.”
Smith went on to admit that he wasn't actually familiar with the term "grifter" and spent a few moments looking it up so he had the full context of what Simmons was saying. After educating himself, Smith said that he felt applying the term to Harry and Meghan was a "bit excessive." However, he also noted that "he works at Spotify and not me." Do you think Simmons went too far? Let us know in the comments. Follow all the latest sports news here at HotNewHipHop.
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