Meghan Markle's Podcast Panic: Embarrassing Spotify 'F------ Grifter's' Era Forces Duchess of Sussex to Seek 'Tactical Rethink' for New Chat Show

Meghan Markle's new podcast with Lemonada Media was delayed until early 2025, which has apparently given the Duchess of Sussex time to "pour over" Spotify mistakes.

"I'm proud to now be able to share that I am joining the brilliant team at Lemonada to continue my love of podcasting," Meghan shared in February.

In June 2023, both Meghan and Prince Harry were dumped by the streaming giant after signing a lucrative $20 million dollar contract with the audio company in late 2020. The duo only produced one 13-episode season of Meghan's "Archetypes" series, which started strong in August 2022 before fizzling out. The pair were named "f------ grifters" by Spotify executive Bill Simmons and did not receive the full contract amount in the parting.

Royal commentator Gareth Russell recently shared about the "disaster partnership": "I don't think it would be unnatural for the Sussexes and their team to have felt embarrassment about the quite high profile and high publicity criticism that their Spotify era garnered and the comments that were made personally about their work ethic by people who had worked with them."

Meghan was even accused of "faking" certain parts of her podcast interviews, which were also criticized for "taking attention away from the guests," in which the Duchess spoke about herself.

"It would be perfectly understandable if they were embarrassed by that or if they were delaying things," Russell added. "However, it could also be that they are having a tactical rethink about what messages and what contents they put out into the world. We do know that they've recruited a new team of public relations and publicity experts."

Numerous royal analysts and insiders were left shocked when the Suits star decided to give the audio chat fest circuit another go.

"Being able to support a female-founded company with a roster of thought-provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024," the ex-working royal said in a statement. "Our plan to re-release 'Archetypes' so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast, is well in the works. I’m so eager to be able to share it soon, and am overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family."

In explaining her decision, Russell further observed that "it could simply be that they're pivoting to something different under advice from them," when referencing Meghan and Harry's new slate of advisors in 2024.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are also said to be "scrambling" to ensure Netflix has enough content from them to satisfy a reported $100 million dollar contract they inked with the streaming company in the fall of 2020. The deal expires in close to 1 year from now, and the pair have only given Netflix execs one hit documentary and two flops.

GBN reported on Russell's remarks.