Meghan Markle, Prince Harry blame bad luck, Queen’s death and COVID-19 for career flop

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry won’t be heading to Las Vegas anytime soon.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly blaming their “unlucky” streak, the death of the Queen, Prince Phillips’ ailing health and COVID-19, among other things, for their failure to kick-start their life in the Hollywood limelight.

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“The word is that they think they’ve been really unlucky,” a source in Los Angeles tells The Daily Mail.

Meghan and Harry’s $20 million podcasting deal with Spotify was scrapped last month after producing just 12 episodes.

“Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” Spotify said in a statement.

After the deal ended, Bill Simmons, Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetization, slammed Meghan and Harry, calling the pair “f—ing grifters.”

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“I wish I’d been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation,” Simmons said on an episode of his own podcast called The Ringer. “‘The F—ing Grifters‘ That’s the podcast that we should’ve launched with them.”

Simmons then joked about the stories he could tell after his dealings with them, particularly Prince Harry.

“I gotta 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.”

United Talent Agency CEO Jeremy Zimmer drew some criticism after branding Meghan as untalented.

“Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” Zimmer told Semafor at the 2023 Cannes Lions advertising festival last month. “And, you know, just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.”

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His comments were described as “mind-blowing,” one A-list talent manager who asked to remain anonymous told Variety. “As an agent, you never publicly discuss your own talent or anyone else’s.”

Another top agent from one of Zimmer’s competitors called his dismissal of Markle “a shocking display of bad taste. Who wants to sign with someone who trashes people like that in public?”

Now Page Six is reporting that the couple is “under pressure to come up with good content ideas” to deliver on their $100 million Netflix partnership.

But a Netflix source told Page Six they remain “very valued” partners with the company and it is “business as usual” going forward.

Rolling Stone has said the pair are now entering their “flop era” — a moniker that seemed to stick early Monday in various stories surrounding their woes.

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“Part of the issue the Sussexes are currently facing is that they have made their brand about their beef with the Royal Family. Now, their feud has reached a stalemate it feels like there isn’t much more to say,” Rolling Stone reports.

“The Sussexes are in a difficult position: appetite is waning for content about their rift with the royal institution, because digesting it in so many different formats now feels like overkill. But there isn’t much enthusiasm for their other projects, like the Archetypes podcast, which aren’t about that.”

“Their ambition to become a global humanitarian power couple seems, for the moment at least, to be on ice,” royal commentator Alison Boshoff added in an interview with The Daily Express.

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Twitter: @markhdaniell

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