#Disney+ docuseries

[multifandumbmeg]

Watching the Disney+ Docuseries on BTS and I'm loving the insights from Bang Shihyuk (Bang PD). Hearing his perspective on why he chose each member, marketed the group as an idol band etc is so fascinating, and smart, and I think it shows why he and BigHit/Hybe were able to succeed and keep growing beyond their initial position in the great big horrifying hierarchy of of the kpop industry. One really popular group can make a huge difference for a company, but it's also easy to let that band fade away or never have another hit group or just stagnate and do fairly well in the local market. BTS is a one-of-a-kind talent (at least after the initial rookie push, which is standard but deserves our eternal consternation), but they've only become global household names because Bang PD and his staff made the right choices with marketing, treatment of their talent, deals, and media exposure.

[oscar-isaac]

i’m gonna need a docuseries on disney asap after this istg

[nerdby]

If anyone who thinks Disney giving Miley Cyrus an award only MONTHS after the release of the Quiet On Set docuseries is just a coincidence is fucking delusional.

[thenerdsofcolor]

Idris Elba and Shianne Brown on ‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’

NOC Interview: Idris Elba and Shianne Brown on ‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’ @idriselba @NatGeo

Idris Elba narrates and executive produced Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color, which is a four-part National Geographic docuseries. All episodes, including Shianne Brown’s “D-Day,” are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Continue reading Idris Elba and Shianne Brown on ‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’

[corvigae]

😎 rollercoasters?

The very first tubular steel tracked rollercoaster was designed by Arrow Development (or Dynamics? I always forget which version of their name they had at what time, they changed it a lot) and Disney Imagineers for the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, a track design that would basically be the industry standard for metal coasters for decades to come. And I still get sO GODDAMN ANGRY WHEN DISNEY LIKES TO TRY AND CLAIM THIS AS A PURELY THEM THING BC NO A LOT OF THAT CREDIT GOES TO ARROW THEY BUILT SO MANY ICONIC RIDES FOR YOU AND WERE THERE WITH YOU ON LITERAL DAY ONE BUSTING THEIR ASSES TO MAKE YOUR PARK GREAT AMUSEMENT PARKS AS WE KNOW THEM LITERALLY WOULD NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT ARROW THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS SHOW THEM SOME FUCKING RESPECT!!!

[virgotxngirl]

https://disneyplus.com/series/bts-monuments-beyond-the-star/3ItPowcufUqR?sharesource=iOS I thought you might like "BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star" on Disney+.

[volleypearlfan]

Random 2025 predictions

RFK Jr's brain is completely eaten by the worm in it

A random Depeche Mode song trends online

The yumeship community has a major drama and then implodes upon itself

Nickelodeon holds a huge event celebrating Avatar: The Last Airbender's 20th anniversary but it goes horribly wrong due to them using AI or other things

JKR will outright say that she thinks only white women can be really women

Nintendo officially changes Diddy Kong's name

Project 2025 is enacted and AO3 gets banned. Then people either try to start a new website or migrate to FF.net, only to be frustrated by the old and ugly UI on that site

For that matter, TikTok is banned as well

Chappell Roan sells out and guest stars in an animated kids show where she voices a literal pink pony.

American Dragon Jake Long undergoes a fandom renaissance, sparked by a popular crossover fanfic with Danny Phantom

Disney buys Sesame Street, under the condition that each new season have at least one episode dedicated to shilling Disney products. So there will be an episode where Elmo, Abby, and Cookie Monster watch the latest MCU movie.

Disney posts an official Nick Wilde thirst edit on TikTok.

Related to the above: The furry community has a war about whether Mr. Wolf from The Bad Guys or Nick is hotter.

Completely AI movies start being released by major companies

Hawk Tuah starts beef with another content creator

Elio somehow beats the HTTYD remake at the box office

The creator of Skibidi Toilet is sued by a parent for "inducing brainrot"

The Witch Hat Atelier fanbase proves to be even worse than Dungeon Meshi. Now you will see Coco pfps attached to the most asinine opinions of all time.

Ouran High School Host Club season 2 is finally announced, but they completely changed the art style into something more generic (most notably removing the characters' noses)

Netflix greenlights an animated series based on Chill Guy

Snyder fanboys try to boycott the new Superman movie, but fail.

Mr Beast gets into huge legal trouble.

Netflix shits out a true crime docuseries about Luigi Mangione.

[lizardsfromspace]

Honestly nothing sums up how dire things are for networks than how this season, Abbott Elementary, the last good network sitcom, is also literally the last sitcom on its network. They have no other comedy series, they're airing it crammed into the half hour between The Golden Bachelorette - a spin-off staring a older woman - and a true crime docuseries based on a podcast

Given most of the scripted shows that are left are procedural spinoffs - two different networks devote entire nights to spinoffs of one show! There's something called "NCIS: Origins"! - we really are looking at their death throes. Within the decade we'll have the first network to drop scripted series entirely in favor of just sports and reality/game shows - maybe within the next couple years

At least we've finally shed the homogeneity and illusion of choice of the three networks era, for the three networks era, but the three networks are Netflix, Disney+/Hulu and Amazon Prime

[cloudberriesforaqueen]

Elsa's diary! ✍️❄️

From A Frozen World written by Marilyn Easton!

From Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2. "Diary of a Snow Queen" written by Jen Lee herself.

DISNEY, RELEASE IT NOW! TAKE OUR MONEY!

They've released books with Anna's POV before (e.g. Unlocking Arendelle, A Frozen Heart), it's about time they publish one with Elsa's perspective! Maybe even Iduna's too...

— ♡

[thoughtsonkm]

" ARE YOU SURE?! "

Y'ALL-

I CANNOT fucking wait for this show. Literally inpatient at this point.

I have never looked forward to August this much in my entire life!

Interesting choice with streaming it on Disney+ when they would've made as much money on weverse. It's probably some contract thing that started with the docuseries last year OR just another way to reach a broader audience for jm+jk

8 episodes means it'd done by 19th September. Wonder what they've planned for October.. (except Hobis return ofc)

ALSO they're probably gonna talk about the idea and reasoning behind the buddy program right?? NOT READY ( just a little heartfelt talk while relaxing in that hot spring in Sapporo ✨)

Not Disney+KR describing the whole thing as "hot chemistry and heartwarming moments"

like c'mon now 💀👀

Oh this is SO gonna have a little jikook song OST to go with it. I NEED IT, I DEMAND IT.

It's gonna be the perfect mischievous mixture of ISP x BV. I can already picture all of their shenanigans and all the "bro-coded" situations 😂

Listen I'm manifesting behind the scenes videos, commentary videos, OST and merch. Seems pretty realistic to me 🤡

[myobsessionsspace]

Pre Release of Travel Show Thoughts

This might be a bit all over the place 🙈

Just some random thoughts after talking with my friends.

Remember when Hope on the Street came out and it was on Amazon Prime. I think many of us were thinking that was the end of the set shows, programs etc that were gonna appear on Disney+ from BTS.

We’ve had a number of shows from the group since Chapter 2

I kinda forgot about their Disney deal when the talks of Jikook’s travel show started to become real. My friends and I started guessing if it would be on Weverse only, like Jimin’s Production Diary or on YouTube like Suchwita & Jin’s The Drunken Truth. We were hoping and praying it wouldn’t just be one Bangtan Episode or on a South Korean nft platform like the HYYH series Begins ≠ Youth.

To be honest we hoped for a Jikook YouTube Channel (still dreaming for one🥲), where after service they could come back and carry on with more adventures and content, but we would have settled for Prime too.

I say all of this to say, how come it’s on Disney+ again after the switch up with the last HYBE show Hope on the Street being on Prime?

It makes me wonder about the start of the show’s planning. Like Jungkook said in Suchwita it was kinda spontaneous and following a years old conversation between Jimin & Jungkook. Them seizing the opportunity of the both of them being together in New York, after Jimin went to support Jungkook’s solo debut performance.

I wonder about if Jikook knew if their application for companion enlistment had been approved yet. Many have covered in detail the program and the kinda 1 in 100 chance of getting approved for it. BTS already have done many unique things and why should their military service be any different, all members aiming to at one point in time be serving at the same time and have all completed their service to not have to worry about it again?

There’s only one other group I know of before BTS

**see comments for extra info**

Anyway back to the the point 😅. As all the members wanted to enlist and return as one unit in 2025 and with Jimin being in his last year of eligibility due to age criteria, if they hadn’t have been approved Jikook wouldn’t have been certain of being together for their 18 month military service.

It makes me wonder about their plans. If they wanted to create as many memories as they could in as many places as they could together just in case they weren’t going to be able to enlist together.

If they wanted to take the moments in between the end of FACE promotions, the little gap at the start of SEVEN promotions and the gap in between the rest of GOLDEN’s recordings, MUSE’ recording and also squeezing some more travel at the end of GOLDEN promotions, Jungkook’s Japan promotions and the Usher remix video Jungkook had to do straight after Japan.

It feels to me like Jikook knew that regardless of if they did enlist together, they wouldn’t have been able to travel as a duo for a long time as if we can take Jim as an example, the members will most likely be going straight into OT7 work mode once they complete their service in 2025.

It feels to me like if Jikook hadn’t have gotten their companion enlistment approved, the travelogue was a was to permanently keep record of the many memories they wanted to make.

That with everything on Jungkook’s plate it wouldn’t be feasible for one GCF Tokyo style video like before.

For starters their travels were on a much larger scale than their 2017 trip to Tokyo.

Not just one hotel in one destination, walking around the city, visiting some shops restaurants and Disney but multiple countries, multiple hotels, villas, camping, kayaking, yachting, skiing, indoor adventures, restaurants etc

They are way more globally recognisable than in 2017 where there were still some sightings but not as many as if it was 2023.

Jungkook and Jimin literally had to squeeze these moments in between hectic schedules tight time constraints.

It makes sense that they would utilise their company to help with areas to visit to help with descretion, with bookings, as they’d have to book out whole villas, hotel floors, activity locations etc. it makes sense that because they’d need security.

Unlike Tokyo 2017,

dropped off by their fathers and Jimin’s brother

No security detail with them at airport

Sightings around Tokyo

which was a gift to Jimin from Jungkook, where Jungkook planned everything, paid for everything, filmed everything and edited and uploaded GCFT, this time round it was for both of them. Not for one to have to shoulder the planning, payments, filming and editing.

How would they coordinate everything in the midst of recordings, rehearsals and flying around the world for international promotions?

ding ding ding

Their company and staff are still a company, whose main directive is to make money, beginning and end of it all.

I’m sure the company are nice enough to the members but how would such time, resources and expenses be written off if Jikook asked on the company to help them with security details, with flight planning, whole hotel floor booking, villa bookings, closing businesses down for the duration they wanted to visit or opening ski resorts up a day early etc.

Their airport arrival streamed by news outlets

Management and security accompaniment vs when they were spotted alone in 2017

Fans falling over to picture Jikook, camping out for hours at airports, protective barriers errected at Japanese airport for theirs and fans protection etc

Yes they are millionaires but I’m sure we all know millionaires who earned from the bottom up and are sensible with their money. We all know the members and joke about how they’ll wear expensive watches and clothes but still fight over a rice cooker as a prize or Jungkook take home hotel toiletries or ingredients from run cooking episodes etc

So for the company and staff to help Jikook make this a possibility in the time the had before enlistment how would it make sense financially? How would it benefit everyone? We know Jikook love sharing with army, Jungkook’s lives of 2023 show us, their predebut days of vlogging to now show us, Jungkook’s GCFT shows us. They share.

So a show, sure, Jikook are used to cameras, the members are able to retain their authenticity through they years since day one of being in front of a camera.

That’s it, I’ll stop cos otherwise I’ll keep on musing forever 😅

💜💛

[armynoonas]

High Nine Brewing on Instagram

Big thanks to Jimin and Jung Kook from K-pop sensation BTS for stopping by to hang! It was truly a pleasure to have you. Please support our new friends and stream their docuseries "Are You Sure?" now on Disney+! @/bts.bighitofficial @/disneyplus #areyousure #areyousurejikook #areyousurejiminjungkook #확실합니까 #jikook #jimin #jungkook

[240808]

[writeraid]

Okay but imagine the documentaries about Harrow

I'm procrastinating finishing tonight's doodle- I know there's a few fics out there that have poked at this, usually in a fun, meta light, but I'm being dead serious here.

The news about Harrow and everything that happened in Egypt would almost certainly break eventually. And while I'm fully confident some of the stuff is probably just a normal Tuesday in the MCU, I feel like The literal worldwide cult would catch plenty of attention. I don't think anything like that has really appeared in the MCU at this point (correct me if I'm wrong.). Now, obviously, we can assume that some of the particular instances of real cults that have happened in our world have at least happened in this world to some extent (The MCU likes to play fast and loose with history, like how Pearl Harbor for sure happened in this world but then WWII took a whole other turn - that's a whole other tangent I could go on.) and we can rightfully assume True Crime is a thing in this world (I mean, we know fan spaces for Superheros exist within this world, it would only make sense if this kind of thing exists for other subjects and such.) so logically, there's going to be documentaries on those historical cults. ...what would those for Harrow's even look like? How much do we even know about Harrow's followers? What if they're in various governments around the world? That's..utterly terrifying to think about, actually.

We never even really get the name for it. Everyone always just calls it 'Harrows followers' and such. Something to do with Ammit, mayhaps? And even assuming there is a name decided on in universe, are the streaming services the same in the MCU? We know Star Wars exists (Thanks Peter Parker for unintentionally making an entire fandoms heads hurt!) does Disney+ exist? What about Netflix? Hulu? Are they called that or something else? Putting ALL OF THAT aside, it would have to be a docuseries. Maybe an episode about the very beginnings of it? A section devoted to educating people on what they'd need to know about Ancient Egypt to even understand what's happening? Discussions of the 'Mysterious Stranger(s)' who appeared during the Battle in Cairo and are (presumably) yet to be seen again? The sky over Egypt (and presumably most of the rest of the Western Hemisphere) turning back? The mystery surrounding Harrow's death? I don't know, this is just one of those things my brain has really latched onto as a concept and I don't know why but now you have to think about it too!

[muddyorbsblr]

the tempest press night :: 19 december 2024 (batch 6)

(source)

I know we have a lot of content to look forward to in 2025 because new docuseries on Disney+, Much Ado About Nothing, The Life of Chuck, and potentially Night Manager S2, but I'm gonna go ahead and pspspspspspsps an action movie…(*cough* put this man in the John Wick franchise *cough*) OHH and also SoccerAid 2025 because I got some other pspspspspsps in place for that

@lokisgoodgirl @lokischambermaid @michelleleewise @mochie85 @fictive-sl0th @xorpsbane @ladyofthestayingpower @loopsisloops @joyful-enchantress @acidcasualties @liminalpebble @alexakeyloveloki @dangertoozmanykids101 @mischief2sarawr @simplyholl @vbecker10 @holdmytesseract @smolvenger @lokiprompts @give-me-a-moose @ijuststareatstuffhereok89 @holymultiplefandomsbatman @wheredafandomat @caffiend-queen @km-ffluv @kikster606 @itsybitchylittlewitchy @glitchquake @gigglingtiggerv2 @november-rayne @viv-annelore @five-miles-over @gruftiela @coldnique @smirkingkitten @raqnarokr @jaidenhawke @mrs-elsie-barnes @tallseaweed @chantsdemarins @cabingrlandrandomcrap @jiyascepter @cl-0-vr @foxherder ++

[thenerdsofcolor]

Jason Parham and Prentice Penny on the Response to ‘Black Twitter: A People's History’

NOC Interview: Jason Parham and Prentice Penny on the Response to ‘Black Twitter: A People’s History’ @The_A_Prentice @OnyxCollective @Hulu #BlackTwitterHulu #DisneyUpfront

During the Disney 2024 Upfront Red Carpet, I spoke with Jason Parham and executive producer Prentice Penny about Black Twitter: A People’s History. The docuseries, which is currently streaming on Hulu, is based on Parham’s WIRED cover story, A People’s History of Black Twitter. Continue reading Jason Parham and Prentice Penny on the Response to ‘Black Twitter: A People’s History’

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

The Sussexes🍋 have delivered little since signing w/the steamer in 2020

"Meghan and Harry’s $100 Million Netflix Deal Is a Hollywood Miss | Emily Smith Feb 28, 2024

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s lucrative Spotify deal fell apart in 2023, Bill Simmons, The Ringer’s founder and managing director, was incensed.

“I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation,” Simmons, the head of podcast innovation and monetization at Spotify, which owns The Ringer, said on his self-titled show. “‘The F–king Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them.”

Simmons’ astonishing comments followed the collapse of the Montecito, California-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s $20 million deal with Spotify, signed in December of 2020. They delivered just 12 episodes of Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast.

But the Spotify contract paled in comparison to the estimated $100 million Netflix agreed in September 2020 to pay them, a deal which produced a documentary series “Harry & Meghan” two years later — and little else since then.

Aside from the docuseries, the exclusive Netflix deal produced the “Heart of Invictus” in August 2023, which covered Prince Harry’s games for wounded warriors, and “Live to Lead,” about inspiring world leaders and featured interviews with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Gloria Steinem. That series premiered on Dec. 31, 2022.

Unproduced is an animated series created by Markle titled “Pearl,” which Netflix axed in May 2022 as part of a series of cutbacks. There is little else close to production.

What’s gone wrong? TheWrap spoke to multiple insiders who say the Sussexes have worn out their welcome in Hollywood with an iron-fisted desire for control, combined with a lack of experience. A revolving door of executives have departed the couple’s production company, Archewell, in the past two years while a long list of exhausted agents, producers and other industry veterans have stamped it with a “life’s too short” reputation.

The Sussexes founded Archewell Productions in the name of their four-year-old son, Archie. It includes their nonprofit charitable foundation, plus a for-profit arm focused on media projects.

“Everything with them was fraught and complicated because they wanted complete control,” one Hollywood creative who has worked with them, who declined to be identified, told TheWrap.

Another insider with knowledge of the management of Archewell agreed, saying the couple have proven to be stubborn to the point of alienating others.

“It appears that they just want what they want and won’t take advice,” the insider said.

“Taking on Harry and Meghan was a great coup for Netflix,” public relations and image guru Mark Borkowski told TheWrap. “It probably got a lot of eyeballs and subscriptions, but they [Harry and Markle] never delivered.”

Borkowski added that the clients he works with are closely watching their budgets and costs, but, given the former royals’ lifestyle, “The amount of income this pair has to raise is enormous.”

An insider with knowledge of the Netflix deal with Archewell said it is an “overhead agreement,” meaning not all the money would go to the Sussexes, but it also helps fund their staff, office and development fees.

Archewell and the Sussexes declined to comment for this story.

The former royal couple were initially a hot property. Before signing with Netflix, they also had discussions with Apple, Disney and NBCUniversal, The New York Times first reported. Meghan previously narrated a documentary about elephants for Disney+, and Harry collaborated with Oprah Winfrey on a docuseries about mental health for Apple TV+.

The “Harry & Meghan” docuseries, directed by Liz Garbus, was a legitimate hit, setting a record for the biggest debut for a Netflix documentary with a total 81.6 million hours watched on its first four days of availability, amounting to more than 28 million households watching.

The series was an intimate glimpse inside the Sussexes’ marriage and made headlines for their criticism of the British royal family for failing to support them, including allegations of racism and a narrative that the couple was essentially forced to leave England for the U.S.

But production was apparently difficult. One individual with knowledge of the series said dealing with the former royal couple was a “nightmare” as they were fiercely protective of their story.

“Harry and Meghan made the collaborative process very hard, to the point that there was no collaboration at all,” the insider said.

Other projects have not gotten off the ground.

Netflix and Markle announced “Pearl” with much fanfare in 2021. The animated series — co-executive produced by Markle and David Furnish — was to center on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who finds inspiration in a variety of influential women throughout history. Netflix canceled it the following year while it was still in the development stage.

There have been reports Netflix bought the romantic Carley Fortune book “Meet Me at the Lake” for $1 million for the pair to produce into a movie. Other plans included a TV drama feminist retelling of Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” and a documentary about Prince Harry traveling solo in Africa. But these all seem far from getting off the ground.

Another Archewell insider told TheWrap that “Meet Me at the Lake” was “in active development,” but has not yet been cast. And Harry’s trip to Africa has not been scheduled. Some projects will be announced in the next few months, the insider added.

“They have a couple of unscripted things they’re working on,” Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said at the “Next on Netflix” event on Feb. 1 of Markle and Harry, including “a movie in development” and “a [scripted] series.”

Bajaria emphasized that these projects were still in “early development,” which raises the question what exactly has been going on between Archewell and Netflix? COVID struck at the start of their deal, Markle went on maternity leave and then the writers’ and actors’ strikes halted production for much of last year. But with all that, it is it is remarkable how little the couple have actually made work for the streamer.

Reps for Netflix, which has also pulled back on its TV and film expenditure during the work stoppages, declined to comment. Harry and Markle do not have guild relationships so any non-U.S. productions would not have been affected.

Markle recently announced she’s joining forces with Lemonada Media — whose tag line is “Making Life Suck 🍋 Less” — for a new podcast, and it will also rerun her “Archetypes” podcast. The company, founded in 2019 by Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs, is small and is not expected to be a big pay day for Markle.

The actress is still earning residuals from “Suits,” which recently found an entirely new audience on Netflix.

Archewell turnover: Meanwhile, there has been a dramatic executive turnover at Archewell — particularly those negotiating TV, film and media deals. Mandana Dayani, a human rights activist and business executive, was the president of Archewell from May 2021 to December 2022 and stepped down just days before Harry and Markle’s docuseries aired, with no reason offered. 

The company also lost its BAFTA-winning head of content Ben Browning in January 2023 after his contract expired. Browning, who worked on “Harry & Meghan” and the “Archetypes” podcast, returned to his former employer, FilmNation Entertainment as president of production.

Bennett Levine, their production manager, also left in January, as did Rebecca Sananes, Markle and Harry’s head of audio who left to work as a freelance writer and podcast producer after the “Archetypes” podcasts were concluded.

The company has also parted ways with their SVP of scripted television, “Fargo” producer Nishika Kumble, who lasted less than two years in the role.

“Meghan and Harry don’t have a quality team around them,” Borkowski said. “They drive this ship, they are in the wheelhouse. Whether you are the Obamas or Meghan and Harry, you have to defer to people who can really get the job done.

“They just need to sort out a proper production company, they need significant hires,” he added. “People who can actually develop scripts, wrangle talent.”

The Archewell insider insisted the couple has hired talented new executives. Tracy Ryerson was brought in as the new head of scripted content. She formerly worked at the production company behind “Peaky Blinders,” Caryn Mandabach Productions, and starred in a reality show titled “The Real L Word.” Former Disney+ executive Chanel Pysnik joined in 2021 as head of unscripted.

The Sussexes made a surprise appearance at the Jamaica premiere of the Bob Marley biopic “One Love” in late January, sparking speculation about a possible deal with the film’s distributor Paramount Pictures, especially given that they reportedly travelled with the company’s boss Brian Robbins — who is a neighbor in Montecito — via a Paramount private jet.

Yet parent company Paramount Global is strongly rumored to be up for sale, so it is unlikely to be a safe landing pad for the couple.

Last August it was announced that WME signed Markle to be repped by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, Brad Slater and Jill Smoller. Archewell is also being repped by the agency, which didn’t comment to TheWrap.

“She is extremely ambitious and knows what she wants,” an industry insider told TheWrap of Markle’s discussions with the talent agency. “But there have been issues with executive turnover inside Archewell.”

In the meantime, The Sussexes need to make money to keep up their California lifestyle and their $14.65 million mansion. The U.K.’s Daily Mail reported that they made around $20 million from their tell-all documentary, while Harry made an estimated $15 million from his memoir “Spare.”

“I think possibly Netflix has dodged a bullet,” Borkowski said. “They know their content, they are data wonks, they know where the interest is. So they’ve got a very good idea or not whether there is a huge amount of excitement around Meghan and Harry.”

The viewing public may not be interested in a romantic movie from the Sussexes, he said. “They create a lot of column inches, but do people want content from them unless it is revealing something extraordinary [about themselves or the British royals]?” he said. “I don’t know how much more they can reveal.”

https://www.thewrap.com/

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pulled the plug on their $20 million podcast deal with Spotify this week, Bill Simmons, the streamer’s head of podcast innovation and monetization and CEO of The Ringer, called them “f—ing grifters” on the latest episode of his podcast.

The deal, which was struck in 2020, resulted in only one show, the one-season, Markle-hosted “Archetypes.”

“I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry’ leave Spotify negotiation, the f–ing grifters,” he told guest Joe House on Friday’s episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” “I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories. F— the grifters.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Harry and Meghan would not receive the full $20 million from their payout. The two signed a deal with Netflix in 2020 to produce documentaries and series, and released their first show — a docuseries called “Harry & Meghan” — earlier this year.

Simmons, who founded sports and pop culture website The Ringer, sold it to Spotify in 2020 for $250 million. He’s in charge of several Ringer-branded podcasts at the podcast giant.

https://x.com/rBillSimmonsPod/status/1669665129393160192?s=20