One of the most depressing parts of the royal gossip this week is how many Sussex-haters are smugly chanting “told ya so.” For years, those same people with their “Netflix sources” have claimed that “Netflix executives actually hate Prince Harry and Meghan” and that Netflix can’t wait to be out of the Sussex business. As People Magazine reported, the Sussexes’ Netflix deal will likely lapse in September without a renewal. There are other sources saying that the Sussexes are likely to get a “first look” deal, but again, this is ALL unnamed sourcing, both the good and the bad. Well, one of the “told ya so” people is Paula Froelich at NewsNation. To be fair, she really did report that Netflix was “done” with Meghan, but they would probably greenlight a third season of With Love, Meghan separately. Here’s Froelich’s latest column/gloat:
Readers of this column must be having a bit of deja vu. News “broke” in outlets like People and Page Six on Wednesday that Netflix isn’t renewing its $100 million dollar deal with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle Sussex.
This, despite the fact that the same news actually broke exclusively in this column last March when I wrote the streamer was “done” with her, despite announcing an already filmed “second season” of her bland cookery and entertainment show, “With Love, Meghan.” As I wrote on March 7: “It’s necessary for a second season because Netflix has sunk so much money into as ever — and she can promote the products in the second season she couldn’t promote in this one due to all the trademark hassle,” the insider said. “But yeah, they’re still done — they’re trying to recoup the investment.”
Not that anyone should be shocked — Markle and Prince Harry haven’t had any success with their $100 million Netflix deal other than their 2022 docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” in which they spilled all the royal tea about Harry’s relatives. The other shows they created — “Heart of Invictus,” “Live to Lead” and Harry’s “Polo” — bombed.
And “With Love, Meghan” — panned as “vain”, “narcissistic” and “pointless” by critics and fans alike — was an expensive show to make. The show’s director, Mike Steed, worked with Anthony Bourdain on the CNN show “Parts Unknown,” and given the rent on the $5 million home she shot in, insiders surmise each episode’s cost ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I can’t wait for people to also claim my other scoop that Netflix will attempt to keep Markle around — at least for one more season of “With Love”— as part of a piecemeal deal so it can try once more to make her product line “As Ever” a commercial hit. As I wrote on June 5: “Markle will be granted a third season, regardless of viewership, as Netflix is invested in making her product line and show a success… It is the first time Netflix has fully produced a product line and, like QVC or Home Shopping Network, sees it as a new cash cow for them (doing shows and selling products from these shows that Netflix manufactures).”
But Markle is facing an uphill battle. Despite name recognition worldwide and mountains of press, her show didn’t even break the top 300 shows of the year for Netflix and her popularity ratings are dismal. Her agency, WME, is on the verge of dropping her, and she has been accused of using her royal title (something she is not supposed to do) to make money.
WME is on the verge of dropping Meghan? Yikes, that’s an interesting/horrible wrinkle. Granted, we’ve heard rumors about WME “having issues” with Meghan before, but those rumors never went anywhere. Just like the rumors about Netflix never went anywhere. The rumors never go anywhere until they do. A lot of you are convinced that this is simply the royal silly season, which happens every summer. But I’m seriously getting deja vu from the horrible four-month period in 2023, where the Spotify mess metastasized into a legitimate PR crisis, then the British media began a massive campaign to convince everyone that Harry and Meghan were on the verge of divorcing, and the Sussexes paid a lot of staffers to do and say nothing.
What else? “Brand and culture expert” Nick Ede actually defended the Sussexes in quotes to Hello Mag, saying: “The end of the current Netflix contract between Meghan and Harry means that they are now open to offers from other streamers they haven’t worked with, like Amazon Prime, so potentially they may want to court those other streamers. The first look deal is something that many channels offer the biggest stars and I’m sure Netflix won’t want to lose their relationship with the pair as they have brought viewers, subscribers and column inches to the platform, and although some of their shows have failed to ignite the interest they originally had, they are still box office when it comes to publicity.” Who even knows.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Dusseldorf, GERMANY – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, were spotted uplifting spirits during the fourth day of the Invictus Games 2023. Held at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany, the couple looked genuinely happy as they interacted with athletes and fans alike. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 13 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Dusseldorf, GERMANY – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex during day 4 of Invictus Games 2023 at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 13 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Dusseldorf, GERMANY – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex during day 4 of Invictus Games 2023 at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 13 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Dusseldorf, GERMANY – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex visit Sitting Volleyball on day 6 of Invictus Games 2023 at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 15 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Prince Harry speaking during the Invictus Games opening ceremony at the Merkur Spiel-Arena. Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 09 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to watch the swimming finals at the Merkur Spiel-Arena during the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 13 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex during day 4 of Invictus Games 2023 at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 13 Sep 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the IG25 and Team Canada Reception at the Hilton Hotel during the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 15 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
“ she has been accused of using her royal title (something she is not supposed to do) to make money.”
Ok rat. The taxpayer funded ROYAL heir isn’t supposed to receive gifts from foreign governments without declaring them but yah, focus on Meghan and her private business. 😏
It’s just another attempt to distract from WanK, and Harry and Meghan only promised to not use the HRH for commercial reasons, considering that the King has broken the agreement with them I see no reason why they shouldn’t do the same. Like the rest of the royals who use their titles to make money for themselves.
So what does this rat think about Duchy Originals? Where does the money go for that? The king is not supposed to accept bribes but there he is receiving them. The logic goes out the window when it comes to Meghan and the double standards increase.
Distraction or not, claiming that she’s not supposed to be using her royal title to make money is a flat out lie. She and Harry can use their titles for whatever they please, they just were told not to use their HRH. That’s also pretty dumb considering other members with HRH can use theirs for commercial purposes.
IIRC, her HRH was used a single time, and I’m using the passive structure because she had her London office send some WLM items to a friend in London, and the London office used her old HRH card. Lying rats will lie.
All of this targeted hate is genuinely distressing. Meghan has been nothing but universally loved by co workers, colleagues, friends, orgs / non profits she has worked with as well as business partners.
This level of targeted character assassination is brutally cruel and lies on top of lies. They are working to rewrite everything in the public consciousness and to vilify/ sow seeds of doubt in even her most faithful supporters. It’s not working btw.
But. What do you do when multiple institutions are hell bent on ruining anything tangentially related to you and then crank that up to 11 when you start to show the world your life and joy after years of siege and trench psychological warefare?
I’m worried. I’m worried because I don’t know what kind of response would actually do anything against this coordinated hate. It’s been years and they have tried so many things.
No real Meghan fans would trash her. Like the writer paula claims. The show is not bland in the least. No talk of fergie using the duchess title she was allowed to keep. Tom Parker Bowles and James middleton use royal connections to plug their books. And Edward and princess michael using their royal titles in business enterprises
You can be a fan of someone and still find it frustrating when you see them not finding their way. Making decisions based on your values and what’s best for your family doesn’t necessarily lead to business success. I really hope they’ve got someone good advising them on their finances.
What is the way? Meghan sold out everything she put into the market. I really wonder what you guys are doing in real life that you are underestimating Meghan’s successes. Meghan became a millionaire on her own. You don’t have to worry about her or her family 🙄
@sevenblue I agree with you. Everything Meghan has put her hand to has been successful. She is still the only self made royal millionaire and has only added to her millions. Just because we’re not privy to the negotiations doesn’t mean it’s not happening. I may need to take a break from CB.
The writer called her vain and narcissist which is what derangers have called her. It is flat out insult that no real fan would say about her.
I think I’m going to have to go on a tabloid diet. This is getting more and more upsetting. There’s no reason on earth for this level of vitriol – it adds no value or information, it’s just the worst kind of bullying and I feel like I’m participating just by reading it.
I’m with you @eurydice. We know what this is, and they’re not even subtle with the bullying of private citizens. At this point, I don’t go to the original source link, and I don’t read the excerpts most of the time. I just read Kaiser’s intro and summary at the end. But in this vacuum of the tabs doing THE MOST to keep getting clicks and ignore the RF, it is remotely enjoyable escapism. I think I’m going to do a little fast myself.
I don’t care what the British tabs write because they are all right wing propaganda outlets. People Magazine has historically fawned over royal women so to see them running a negative story is disappointing. News Nation is a legit-ish outlet so I’m surprised to see how unprofessional this reporting was.
Can you convince everyone else to do the same? It’s time to bury the “look at how mean the tabloids are” narrative once and for all.
I’ve stopped clicking on the links too, but I’m grateful to CB for keeping me informed about the ongoing cruelty. Without it I might think the rats had grown hearts or something. Lots of us have outrage burnout from the current political situation as well as this, but it doesn’t mean I stop listening to Up First.
I don’t mean I’m going to stop reading CB, just that there’s no value to me to focus on the same hate every single day. It’s different when it comes to the political situation. That actually affects my life, the people around me and my country.
I never click links on 4 rota excised by the Sussexes, except in extremely rare cases, like checking a timestamp. Most of these Harry-Meghan hate stories engendered by BRFCo just haven’t been hitting the same as in 2019-2022 because we know their goals (e.g. stop looking at the Cayman registered megayacht with the Middletons aboard floating among Greek isles). Other britmedia lose their minds on Meghan stories, even FT & Guardian. Media that doesn’t need/want to puff BRFCo rarely have reason for Sussex stories, so frequently treat them as commodity for clicks, ergo NewsNation. But compare NewsNation 112K audience avg, to Fox News 2.67M, MSNBC 958K, or CNN 523K to keep it in perspective.
DailyFail is a special case because of their editorial stance. Compare all the Hulk Hogan stories where ppl are crawling out of the woodwork to offer tribute, but DF headline? “Hulk Hogan’s wife slammed by his ex-best friend in angry outburst.” 😵
I just made this very comment. Taking a break from all this may be the best thing. All of this breathless speculation and outright lies about the Sussexes a lot. We’re coming on the tails end of summer and the left behinds expect Ann aren’t working — so they’re distracting with Meghan Harry non-news. It’s pathetic.
I agree. I’m. Absurdly upset every day reading these stories. It’s not because I think I’m like them, it’s that I hate lies and bullying.. Harry said they don’t read any stories about themselves, and we shouldn’t either. CB is my first port of call when the clock ticks over but I’m wondering if a mental diet is in order.
I’m already on this diet, it is just too unhealthy 😶
“Who even knows”. I will go with that until a confirmed account of what is truly going on comes to light.
What a nasty bitch Paula is , I told you so .
What is it about women putting the boots into Meghan all the time .
It’s just constant bullying , never ending. .
If that was me I would just want to go away and hide .
Enough is enough .
Handmaidens to the Murdoch and Rothermeres of the world. For, deploy the witches and destroy any notion of sisterhood. But this rat is probably getting the most clicks from her Meghan articles.
Paula Froelich, per thin Wikipedia entry: was born in Leeds, England, grew up in Cincinnati, OH, former columnist at NYPost Page Six, wrote 2009 book ‘Mercury in Retrograde’ that was on NYT Bestseller List, claims to have written essay included in successful women anthology (refs N/A), and claims to have started a travel website, circa 2014-2016, for which Cloudflare cannot resolve domain (DNS resolution error 1001).
Paula Froelich, per NewsNation: is senior story producer and on-air contributor, started Jan 2022, is NYT bestselling author, and award-winning journalist (??? where – Page Six?).
Paula Froelich, per Simon & Schuster: Authors is only available on Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Paula Froelich’s NYT bestseller book, ‘Mercury in Retrograde’ —
1. Per Goodreads is chick-lit about an “intrepid reporter at the NY Telegraph” who has trouble whenever “Mercury is in retrograde,” garners 3.15 stars (out of 5) avg score from 1,304 raters, and the most ‘liked’ review is a brutal 1-star takedown from a junior high teacher who just wanted to relax with some mindless reading after doing lesson plans and grading papers.
2. Per Thriftbooks (where people sell used books into 2nd hand market) reviews are high (from sellers) for chick lit story with horoscopes apropos for 3 main characters, prices <$6 ea for 3 text copies in stock, Thriftbooks is probably stuck with one overpriced audio CD.
Paula Froelich, imho, is cloaked royalist from fauxnews who made $ mostly off of battering Meghan, but included other royals stories at Page Six, then transported her entire slant over to NewsNation. Also, imho, there's no reason to read her or any derivatives of her.
I said in a comment here about 3 or 4 months ago when they were saying how With Love Meghan was a horrendous failure and that was the end of the Netflix deal, (I think that was a literal guardian headline) that they’re going to go bananas when that deal ends at the end of the year and act like it wasn’t a natural progression that no one saw coming and is evidence of everyone in Hollywood hating them.
And here we are and the July and it’s playing out. The disheartening part is how so many supporters who should be aware of these patterns now continuously play into these tabloid narratives and feed into it. They have done this every summer and with everything that they do. Last summer it was literally that they didn’t have anything to do and they were splitting up at all this other stuff.
Then here comes January, Meghan’s back on Instagram, she has a show that’s supposed to come out in 2 weeks, she’s releasing her brand 2 months after that, oh and she’s releasing a podcast after that. Maybe I’m wrong, but after 5 years of doomsayers saying this is the thing that’s going to make everyone hate them and it never come into fruition I’m going to let them run their businesses the way that they want.
“ The disheartening part is how so many supporters who should be aware of these patterns now continuously play into these tabloid narratives and feed into it.”
Are you sure they’re supporters and not just rats in disguise posting to create discord? Divide and rule after all.
Makes sense.
If Netflix doesn’t want to re-up with Meghan and Harry I’m sure that there are other streaming services that will.
Amazon, The Food Network and QVC are right there. We will find out when we find out.
“But I’m seriously getting deja vu from the horrible four-month period in 2023, where the Spotify mess metastasized into a legitimate PR crisis, then the British media began a massive campaign to convince everyone that Harry and Meghan were on the verge of divorcing, and the Sussexes paid a lot of staffers to do and say nothing.”
The deja vu is due to the familiar strategy the institutional infowar that has been deployed since they got together.
Even with their liquidity, they can’t tackle Murdoch, Rothermere, the Palaces and the Windsors all at the same time. It’s like opening war fronts when you can only handle one eg Napoleon.
So they’ll come out even they’re ready but this is a wash over them, the tide of hate that ebbs and flows because they are so profitable to the rats. What’s the worst that can happen at this stage? They’ve faced mortality already so it’s hard to beat that one. They lose contracts, so what? They’re no longer publicly accountable since they’re not taxpayer funded anymore. Their private business is their own. And they’re still not divorced.
The bullying of Meghan for so many years deserves a documentary. It’s unprecedented. One woman, who’s done nothing wrong, who’s kind, intelligent, self-made and loves her husband and children, being demonized in a DAILY basis in many different fronts. British tabloids, newspapers, British talk shows, American detestable figures like Megyn Kelly (her unhinged speech about how much she hated Meghan was shocking), Bethenny Frankel, The Daily Beast, THR, People magazine, Vanity Fair, New York Post, shady Facebook reels, and that article years ago by some journalist in some high end magazine that I can’t for the life of me remember her name.
Seriously, the most abused woman I know, even though the media likes to dunk in many other women (Amber Heard, Blake Lively, etc).
All promoted by the royal family who not once defended her. The writing was on the wall when the first tabloids started the attacks and they stayed mum.
Really, someone needs to make this documentary. The level of hate is out of bounds. It’s a general psychosis.
A professional agency that reps all sorts of demanding celebs is gonna drop Meghan for being demanding? And why wouldn’t someone paying them top dollar for representation be demanding an outstanding job anyway? The people they have dropped have been because of conflicts with other celebs like Justin Baldoni and because of public opinion like Morgan Wallen with his racist remarks.
I can’t imagine being demanding is much of an issue. But I could see how lining up paying gigs for her could be a challenge. Turning a bunch of stuff down (for whatever reason) doesn’t exactly endear you to your representation.
How do you know what she has and hasn’t turned down? And, I imagine, whoever reps her knows what sorts of things she is looking for, as they would with any client.
They are writing the same article over and over again. Their netflix contract is ending according to the timeline they signed it. This is no big surprise. They said before WME is gonna drop Meghan any minute now. These people don’t know sh*t. Who believes in a NewsNation article? Come on people.
Netflix said nothing but nice things about Meghan on record, not through unnamed “sources”. This is nothing like Spotify. They are still investor in her company.
Agreed @sevenblue it’s just recycled bash piece on Meghan. They’d like both her career and marriage to tank and neither is happening. On the other hand, the brother is going to be the head of the Firm, an established brand but there are questions about their continued value in modern times and the criticism of the heir has been getting louder and louder. The real question should be if FK was on either a 2 or 3 or 5 year contract would anybody be renewing Wilbur’s deal? No charisma, integrity, sensitivity to nuance, generous, inclusive, kind, disciplined or reliable. Has to be cajoled or persuaded by Jason to show up for high profile events because he doesn’t do regular, run of the mill engagements because he’s deluded about his star quality.
Prince Harry is not worth all of this, the fact is all of this is most likely wrong. But your husband is on interview saying he wants a relationship with his father, despite you and your children racially attract, neo nazi arrested. Your brother in law travelling for the 5th time this year no complaints. I’m just tired for Meg this man is not worth it.
Well, the Windsors would certainly be happy if she left Harry. They seem pretty happy together from what I can tell so I don’t see her leaving him and telling him he’s not worth it.
Why are more people not shouting this from the rooftops? Why does Harry (and, frankly, William–I said what I said) always get away without even a mention, yet Meghan (and, frankly, Kate–I said what I said) bear the brunt of EVERY bad story? From the very beginning, he didn’t even prepare her to meet the queen, and even now, she’s the one out here making content and selling products. Where is her credit for doing all the work, and where is his accountability for being invisible when the going gets tough?
I think Harry, as someone less formal with QE and an insider, had no idea how they would constantly change rules and claim fake protocol only for Meghan. Who could be prepared for that?
It doesn’t hurt Harry if the tabloids attack him. It hurts Harry when the tabloids attack Meghan. They want to hurt Harry.
I tend to think harry “wanting reconciliation” is a tactic to keep the focus on charles for removing his security and not letting him blame harry (which he could in turn use to justify more media attacks and his other son stirring up the crazies)
I’ve always been careful when approaching this issue. I have a very strong background working with people in this exact sort of dynamic – family cults, narcissistic abuse in family systems – but on a smaller scale, obviously.
Harry is playing it right by claiming to want a relationship with his father publicly. If he said anything even slightly less than that- if he publicly rejected his abusive narcissist by saying he wasn’t open to reconciliation and if he didn’t leave the option for a relationship seemingly in Charles hands publicly – things would get so very dangerous, mentally, emotionally etc.
He and Meghan are a team. There have been hints over the years but to my mind they must be working with a team of incredible professionals who are deeply skilled in dealing with powerful individuals with these malignant personalities.
I cannot fathom Meghan and Harry not working with professionals – their approach has been so textbook perfect. it’s incredibly hard to navigate due to the psychological conditioning without solid professional knowledge.
And when it’s come down to choosing between long term planning for best psychological safety and positioning vs defending their business practices – they have chosen mental health. Which is not an easy choice because it’s easy to conflate things and think an approach can do both things. That’s when I was like – they for sure are working with people. When the Spotify deal broke apart. To me that wasn’t a comms issue. It was a psychologically sound defense that protected their long term de entanglement from the system vs an offensive response which would have led to a tripling down by the media, rota and royals.
There is no perfect solution to many of attacks. There is a choice. To engage and have immediate satisfaction which you will then pay for in more pounds of flesh than you can imagine. Or grey rock and hold the course and trust in the goodness and support of the community you have built and in your relationship which leads to the best long term outcomes but holy heck is it a STRUGGLE. esp for someone with a strong sense of justice
They have an obsession with Harry because of that famous Diana’s funeral walk and how sad Harry looked. They all want to protect him (especially those over 50) from what they see as an usurper who doesn’t belong (mixed race, older by a little, not from nobility) and calculating woman when in fact he fell in love with her, was extremely attracted to her, and she was a breath of fresh air in that rancid institution where the wives have no special talents. Let’s admit The Firm is a right wing institution that wants women as decoration and with no personality, obedient, and putting up with bad behavior. Just look at the others.
I really do not understand why the Sussex comms team is not taking care of the narrative. It is not just British and American tabloids running these negative stories, even People is reporting using tabloids as source. Compared to previous times when the Sussexes are faced with this much negative and degrading news coverage, we are now in the age of AI. Tabloid coverage is not yesterday’s news. AI is learning all this bad stuff about the Sussexes without the counter arguments. Some squadies think that we shouldn’t highlight the negative stories and click bait articles but the existence of Grok and Chat GPT changes the rules of engagement. Without any one whether the official comms teams or the Sussex fans countering the negative coverage, it is learnt as fact by AI.
Also WME forks FOR Meghan, she is THE client!
Countering AI is an excellent point about needing the Sussex comms team to say something. Too many people say “I asked ChatGPT about X” in order to get answers. A majority of the things written about Harry and in particular Meghan are negative and that’s the data AI is going to use for their “answers”. I agree that this is feeling like Spotify 2.0 and until they say something it’s going to get worse.
Newsnation isn’t worth responding to
And tbh it’s pretty telling that royalist media like the times, telegraph haven’t picked up this Netflix story yet. And none of the trades or business mags except Forbes (using people & the sun report) have either. I don’t think even trashy newsweek or the daily beast has reported it yet. To me it says that the comms may actually be working in the background & have said to certain news outlets that news is coming. So some are waiting for official statement etc & don’t want egg on their face whereas some don’t care & after clickbait. If you notice most of the press were aware & briefed that Harry was going to Angola but it was only the fail who broke an embargo & reported it before he arrived.
Even the tabloids & people mag aren’t saying that their professional relationship has ended. Considering how big a story it would be if people thought the Netflix deal was truly over- the reaction is pretty muted tbh. I think the comms are right to not go on the record until they are ready to which is presumably when an official statement agreed by Netflix & Archewell is ready.
As for people mag- even though H&M team work with them, they aren’t above embarrassing themselves & don’t know everything. They reported that Harry wasn’t going to his uncle’s funeral which was wrong & they also reported on the house purchase in Portugal which Harry seemed to deny at the deal book summit.
You may think NewsNation isn’t worth responding too but NewsNation is on every major American TV channel. This is why they need to respond to this. This is gotten way out of hand it will only get worse if they don’t respond. After I watch my local news NewsNation gives a lead in to their channel. Sure they can’t respond to every thing but I don’t see why they didn’t see this coming and had a response ready. In this vacuum on no response you get speculation. It’s like no one learned from the Spotify debacle. What the hell is going on with their communication team. Maybe they don’t listen to them. Their brand is taking a serious beat up from the press. The press will never give them a fair shake particularly the British press and they should adopt the mood that they will always have to be on edge. It doesn’t seem fair to them but they took the stance of not pitting themselves against the press. They had valid reasons but there is a downside to this. Personally I think Meghan gets attacked more than Harry but you can’t be in this business and have a thin skin. I feel she is a lot tougher than what people give her credit for. I feel that both of them know the press won’t give them a fair shake because of the lawsuits and some of the very same press work for the papers they were suing however some of their followers need to develop a thick skin also.
I have never heard of people taking NewsNation seriously or ever watching it regularly, and I grew up in a family involved in politics where many channels of tv and radio were kept abreast of.
How are they supposed to anticipate a story that likely isn’t true- being dropped by WME? One that was denied just in February? And in relation to the Netflix story if lawyers, agents etc are finalising arrangements right now & Netflix isn’t commenting what are H&M’s comms team meant to say?
Fox News constantly spews nonsense stories about H&M & they are a big channel but not aware they respond to them so why should they to News nation?
And no the Netflix story isn’t spreading everywhere. I haven’t seen any of the industry trades report on it or any broadsheets & no business publications who typically report on these deals except Forbes have. Even the tabloids & royal reporters who have commented on this are saying that the Sussexes will continue to work with Netflix after the current deal ends. So there aren’t currently indications that this is like Spotify.
@Angied – “After I watch my local news NewsNation gives a lead in to their channel.” This is called advertising by NewsNation on whatever local news channel you’re watching. Because they want you to $ub$cribe to them. NewsNation may also entice you with free news stories or other bits of programming – purely promotional by NewsNation because they want your $ub$cription.
All these unhinged stories about Meghan specifically seem to be a full court press move by the BRF to deflect from what is going on with them and attack her. I don’t truthfully think it matters if they are with Netflix, someone will want to air the projects she creates, and they are far from destitute or desperate. These stories fill up the real estate that’s open that should be running articles about the holidaying Prince and his family getting free yachts and planes from foreign governments/countries and the upcoming decision for royal funding that will take place soon in parliament.. then there is the deflection from a dying king also.. this all comes across as extremely calculated and vile so WanK are involved somehow imo.
That’s also how I see this. Plus….so what if this is true? All of it could be true, and it doesn’t detract from one thing or the other. H&M never once said they left the UK in order to take Hollywood by storm and win a bunch of Oscars or whatever. That was all made up–it’s as absurd as assuming that everybody who chooses to move to London is doing it to have tea with Will and Kate. Even if we accept the premise that the reception to them has been tepid despite their popularity (I don’t think this at all), doesn’t that say more about overall lack of interest in the royals than anything personal about Harry and Meghan? H&M have been the stars of the royal household for the past six years, even after moving to a different continent, and every story and photo and book released about the Windsor’s has been about H&M for a long time now, right? So if people aren’t interested in buying what H&M are selling despite the fact that they’ve more or less been the MVPs of the whole thing, then what does that say about the rest of the Windsor’s? How did Earthshot do in the ratings? What about Kate’s Kristmas Koncert? I seem to recall a King going on American Idol on the day of his coronation and nary a word being said after…did they consider that cameo a success?
How do people feel about Camila?
Word!
I would seriously suggest that people go back to the archives on this very site and look at the articles and the comments in July and August of those years. It’s like this every single summer.
July 2021- everyone hates them after the Oprah interview, there is no trust, the American public supports the royals. July 2022 -Why haven’t they released anything for netflix, what are they doing? Why haven’t they released anything for Spotify? They aren’t just going to get paid to do nothing. July 2023- Everyone hates them after Spare, they really love the Royal family, Harry’s all alone, him and Meghan are going to split, they’re doing stuff separately, he’s living in a hotel. July 2024- They haven’t produced anything for Netflix in years, Spotify dropped them, no one is interested in anything they have to say after Spare, they’re so disappointed in them for letting the Queen down after she died. July 2025- fill in the blank.
It’s literally the same thing every year. The Wales go on vacation, they won’t report on that, they start to tear into Harry and Meghan and people question their every decision. It’s Groundhog Day.
Page Six and People mag aren’t providing cover for the Waleses on vacation though.
They’re not providing cover per se. Page 6 is doing its usual. Although Page 6 did add on the first look detail to the original Sun article that People lifted. People repeated a tabloid story and then said they received no comment from both sides. Other outlets jumped on bc Sussex stories print money. What’s really happening? idk.
Agree. It’s a filler for the summer real estate for the rats as @Dee2,mentioned.
I think the Sussexes are on holiday so I hope they’re enjoying their time in the sun.
I think several friendly sites are pointing out that Meghan has not had the best direction and the issues they see too so I think at this point something is going on.
Paula out and out name called Meghan. It was,personal
Yawn. Even the tabloids that have said the Netflix deal will not be renewed are saying that Netflix will continue a relationship with them. In other words they are fudging the language focusing on ‘renew’ because Netflix & H&M may enter into a new agreement on different terms- likely first look like pretty much all talent/studio production deals in the industry recently. None of them are reporting that their partnership is over & in line with what Netflix & Meghan have said earlier in the year, have said WLM s2 would air in the fall.
just last weekend most of the tabloids were saying that the deal would be renewed & a WLM s3 announced in the autumn. So no none of these folks know what they are talking about & are just throwing various theories out & playing both sides which they can claim as right when official news comes through.
Some of these stories are because trashy press want to force a response for more stories but Netflix isn’t saying anything when approached for comment so it’s clear both parties are holding the line until an official statement. The pr may actually be working relationships because I’ve noticed that none of the uk broadsheets have reported the renewal story even the royalist ones that you’d expect to be gleeful & credible business publications who reported on their deals before like the New York Times, Bloomberg, WSJ etc haven’t reported on anything either.
Page six tried it with WME story last year I think which was denied & this is more recycled stuff . There’s no reason to believe WME are dropping Meghan when as ever is doing well & they are clearly looking to expand in 2026. I think the press are trying to claim as ever isn’t doing well to try coerce Netflix/as ever to release official figures for their product sales so they have more content to ‘scrutinise’ etc
I wish Harry would publish volume 2 of Spare. Or even better, Meghan could publish volume one of her experiences in Salt Island hell.
This will just encourage people who say that the only thing people want from them is the royal connection. Yes, it’s true that royally-connected things have been the most successful, but we already know that Kate doesn’t share lip balm–do we also need to know that she won’t give a tampon to a duchess in need? How many more “experiences in Salt Island hell” will be enough? They’ve been gone for five years, they’re in their 40s, they have kids. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I want to see them rise above, not rehash.
You are not the only one. No need for Spare 2 he said all what he wanted to say. It would just be rehashing old new. We already know what kind of people his family is. It would be just more gossip for the public but what is the cost for them and their family. I personally feel he has moved on from this.
Who the hell cares what the tabloids are saying?
And Meghan shouldn’t have to “rise above” this garbage. Telling the story of one’s own life isn’t rehashing … it’s truth-telling.
You’re not alone in wishing H&M would never again speak about the royals. Harry could probably say more about his mother, but the less said about the rest of them the better. As for Meghan, she has her own story to tell which, if she chooses to do so, one can only hope that she limit royal anecdotes to Harry and their children.
Her book would sell like crazy. “The Royal Hell”.
I don’t think there’s much Meghan’s team can do in this situation.
I have no clue either way about WME. i doubt they’re going to drop her but I dont know how that kind of relationship works.
The Netfix thing is frustrating because i think if it ends, there won’t be any bad blood. Ted Sarandos loves Meghan – not sure how much clearer he can be about that – and even here, we’re hearing they’re going to do a third season of Meghan’s show even though it is “so expensive” (I doubt it) beause…..something something product line? So I’m sorry, are you saying that she does make money for Netflix so they want to keep a relationship with her?
So anyway, who knows?
It looks like Disney isn’t renewing the DR Who so does that mean that the Time Traveller is finished after 62 years?! I don’t think so! It is the same with Meg, she is just getting started!
I think everyone is getting upset over nothing. A First look contact that the Sussex probably signed involves money and lots of it. First Netflix has to view the project $$ to the Sussexes produce the project if approved $$ to the Sussexes Also who says they don’t have a deal with Netflix already. When Netflix decided to back Meghan’s As Ever product line, that was not in the existing contract. So it had to change. Also if Netflix is taking a percentage of As Ever sales for their backing Meghan’s lifestyle brand, That evolves a different set of contact numbers than the original contact.
No one is dropping one of the top few biggest celebrities in the world. That’s hilarious.. Who gets sucked in to this bs? If she moves it TO someone else. People get pissed when she moves, not when she stays. People need to use their brains
I love the Sussexes. I love the work they do and even more their charities. Sussex’s doom’s day is a recurring topic in the toxic press and happen usually when the ‘working’ royals are on holiday. As for answering to these stories, Netflix and WME also have their part of responsibility. I guess the non response is a decision taken by both parties. I don’t read those ridiculous and negative articles as, over the years I have learned to be patient as they are both able to face the chaos. Answers will come when they are ready.
It’s a fake story for energy, and here we are! Talking about a fake story. More clicks the better. Literally no one knows. It’s bs. Click click money money
Exactly. Lather, rinse, repeat. Come on, party people. We are smarter than this.
Why do I get the feeling that after Harry visited Angola he went and met his family for a long vacation. I’m just saying the entire family is probably in Botswana or something, with the kids this time. I’m just spitballing here. The Sussex team, Meredith and Netflix has not said a thing. Do I wish more was being said now to counter the negativity? Sure. But I’m just going to wait and see.
I’m a TV writer. Half my friends are repped by WME. Agencies like WME or CAA always have clients who aren’t making them any money. But they’ll hold on to those clients for a long time, because it costs them nothing to keep those people on the roster, the big stars keep the lights on, and fortunes change: non-money-making clients can start generating income for them overnight.
So the narrative that WME is going to drop Meghan because… something about how a Netflix show wasn’t super profitable? Even though it’s getting renewed? Yeah, that doesn’t actually make sense.
The rats never make sense with their twisted logic.
This is their fantasy – everyone to drop the Sussexes, shun them, make them a pariah.
Instead their OTT hate for the Sussexes and OTT fawning for the Waleses is having the opposite effect.
The more they fantasy hate write about the Sussexes, the more obvious they are of protecting Willy and his yacht story.
How many articles has it been this week and not a single one on the yacht (except for the Greek papers).
The tabloids aren’t writing about H&M to avoid covering W&K. They ignore W&K because that’s the agreement and more importantly no one really cares about their tired vacations. And they fill their pages with H&M stories because they generate more traffic. The more negative the articles the higher the engagement.
There’s a lot of media sites that make clicks and money talking about the sussexes. It’s a constant stream. When there is nothing new, it will get filled. If it’s negative and the Sussexes haven’t clapped back even better. It’s exhausting and requires constant diligence. I don’t know what’s happening with these deals but I’m willing to wait for details. Do I wish there was an instant response? Sure. But there’s not one.
“Netflix is done with her…” LOL These people are doing the equivalent of crowing over the fact that some couple is no longer “dating”… when, in fact, the couple is no longer “dating “because the people in it have married—each other.
Netflix is literally “in business” with Meghan.
Paula definitely likes to hedge her bets – like her story about Kate being as ill as Charles. So she can come back and say, “Told ya!”
That being said, as I brought up yesterday, the lack of endorsements has been off, imo. That is something WME would’ve worked on. Harry, of course, never had representation so he also went without this easy lay-up for money and work. Someone brought up that it might not be possible for them to go full on with being the face of products since Harry is fifth in line to the throne. In that case, I’m starting to wonder if these deals all tying up + the meeting with Charles’s people means something else is on the horizon. Something that will annoy both sides.
Harry isn’t repped by WME – only Meghan is. There’s never been any indication that brand deals etc is something Harry would do & doesn’t seem to be his style tbh
There’s been reports that he has his own commercial project coming so watch this space
This is all a distraction from KP and BP. They will continue to use the media to bash Meghan. Fortunately for Meghan, their narrative isn’t narrating and catching on. Meghan is a smart woman, she will continue to be successful in everything she does.
I saw a quote last night – “When a toxic person loses control of you. They then try to control what other people think of you.”
The gross windsors and the press want to control how people see Harry and Meghan. And sadly, they are successful in a lot of ways.
Harry was trained his whole life to so 2 things, brief military service (10 years is not brief, but the family usually keeps their service short), and charity events.
Meghan loved the charity aspect and expected when she got married that this would be their life forever.
And then it wasn’t.
Who has their whole life figured out in 5 years? They are trying things, different avenues. Some of them work, some don’t.
What will as ever become? With Love Meghan is something that dovetails to beautifully with her As Ever brand. She can introduce cookware, etc through the show. I hope we don’t lose it.
I just don’t know a lot of other public people who get the level of scrutiny on their various projects.
The BRF and press NEED them to be seen as failures. No one living in Montecito is a failure in whatever business they are in.
“A lot of you are convinced that this is simply the royal silly season, which happens every summer.”
Yup. That’s all it is. Nothing to see here, folks.
They REALLY don’t want people to know or focus on the future King accepting expensive gifts from an official from a foreign government, do they?
This is just turning into a pile on. We haven’t heard from the Sussexes in weeks and the focus is on Harrys Angola trip. Why is this such an urgency now?
I believe the British Tabloids are in business now because of M&H fans clicks. They all get riled up and go comment on the site. I am not blaming the tabloids one bit. They need help and Sussex fans are happy to give them help. I also think they want engagement from the Sussex’s team and they are not give them any. Why should they? Why give a website that I did not know even exist engagements.
The Fail is also monetizing hate clicks, including bot hate clicks. So KP’s hate bots may help buy ad revenue for the Fail because they look like real upclicks/downclicks to advertisers. It’s a vicious cycle–or spiral down to hell.
The key to finding the hate bots is to go to the Best Rated tab and take a look at the top posts (OPs) and compare these to the top replies to the exact same posts. Do this for the first 3-10 threads.
To take a current example, there’s an article about how Meghan’s wine was the supposed nail in the coffin for Netflix. The best-rated (hate) post on that article has 4.1k upvotes (and 14 downvotes), while the top reply to that post has… a mere 316 upvotes and 1 downvote (from me) as of this writing. The second highest-rated post on that article has 2.7k upvotes and 14 downvotes, while the top reply to that post has … wait for it… 136 upvotes and 1 downvote (again from me). The Fail used to do this on a strict 10::1 ratio of up to down votes (someone else from the Fail comments pointed that out), but with apathy running so deep that replies are only generating a few hundred votes, maybe they can’t do that.
Probably the Fail’s more sophisticated advertisers know exactly what’s going on and discount the clicks, because bots aren’t going to generate real engagement or purchases. Also the NY Times pointed in 2020 that the Wales were already deep into using bots for the Insta account. But less sophisticated advertisers–and the British public, and probably so-called journalists–may think the thousands of hate clicks are genuine.
I appreciate the detail and thank you. I made a 2019 new year resolution to never click on British Taboids and so far that is the only resolution I kept.
These days many streamers and studios are preferring first look vs multi-year. I think the days of the huge payouts from studios aren’t as common as 5-6 years ago and tariffs ain’t helping either. I won’t be surprised with one off projects here and there instead of them having multi-year contracts. In this new world , that seems to be the strategy.
With HM, their haters have been going mental as they are thriving in the U.S. it’s also human nature When one is successful some are so jealous they want to tear that apart. They got a $100 million deal that went full term with Netflix. Some shows can’t even last a freaking pilot. The deals they’ve gotten early on they prob can retire if they want to – heck my college friend just retired this year at 50, and both her and her husband plan to volunteer their time for non-profits as that’s what they want to do at this stage in their lives.
Or HM can start new business ventures. California is number 1 in the world for new startups and new ideas- there’s many opportunities for them to do what they want to do. It’s just the BM and their allies and cronies that want to tear them apart. They think just because they weren’t renewed HM are a flop. It doesn’t work that way bud, esp not here, one door closes and another door usually opens for the better.
It must be going really bad for the royals. It’s wall to wall articles about Meghan.
They are attacking Meghan. One of the main reasons, apart from racism, classism and misogyny, is that they want to wear down her love of work and her husband so that she leaves Harry voluntarily.
They believe Meghan must finally do so. After all the vicious meanness and cruelty they’ve already tried. And the country and its king have refused to give her any support. For the same reason. Harry and Meghan are very grateful people who are very lucky to have created a loving family, a loving partner, two wonderful children, a beautiful property and lovely neighbours and lots and lots of good work. All of this – gratitude. Nothing that the billionaires and the pseudo-press know …