The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been branded “f****** grifters” by a Spotify chief after the pair’s $20million deal with the platform was canned.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been branded ‘f****** grifters’ by a Spotify chief after the pair’s $20million deal with the platform was canned

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been branded ‘f****** grifters’ by a Spotify chief after the pair’s $20million deal with the platform was canned

Bill Simmons, 53, the sportscaster who is also head of Spotify’s international sports content, hit out at Prince Harry, 38, and his wife Meghan, 41, as the couple were dropped from the streaming giant last week following reports they did not meet "productivity requirements".

He said on his podcast: “‘The F****** Grifters’ – that’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them.

“I’ve got 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: “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation. That’s a podcast we should’ve launched with them.”

The collapse of the deal is said to be piling financial pressure on the Sussexes as bills for their lifestyle in Montecito, California, mount.

Their sprawling Tuscan-style estate, bought for $14.7 million in June 2020, where they live with son Archie, four, and daughter Lilibet, two, has a hefty mortgage, with annual property taxes alone costing $144,427 – with staff and maintenance on top.

The bill for the couple’s private security detail is believed to be about $2 million a year and there are legal fees from Harry’s battles with the UK press, as well as the fact they now have to keep their Archewell company afloat without Spotify’s cash.

A source told Page Six: “They’re not broke. But they’re going to have to keep spending their money, instead of banking it.”

The Sussexes’ Spotify deal was signed in 2020 but delivered just 13 hours of programming in two and half years – a dozen episodes of Meghan’s ‘Archetypes’ podcast as well as a one-off holiday special.

Another industry insider added to Page Six: “Spotify wants to focus on people who drive strong audiences, like Alex Cooper, Dax Shepard and Emma Chamberlain. There are a lot of great creators who are very eager.

“Meghan and Harry are the outlier on all of this, I think they have come off as being lazy and difficult.”

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

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