This week, Variety published a really bonkers hit piece, mostly on the Duchess of Sussex. They also tagged Prince Harry, Netflix, Ted Sarandos and As Ever. It seems like the same old agenda is at play: Meghan is terrible, because she mutes Zoom calls and because of the Oprah interview and because she talks over Harry! Within the Variety piece, there were real-time denials for all of the bullsh-t from “unnamed Netflix sources.” All I can say is that I came out of that piece convinced of multiple things: there is a high-level, decade-long, international campaign to take down Meghan in particular; mid-level Netflix employees are selling/giving away negative stories about the Sussexes; and Meghan and Harry have finally, at long last, realized that they need to respond immediately whenever their professional credibility is impugned or smeared. If this Variety piece had been published in 2023, they probably would have just stayed infuriatingly silent. What’s also interesting is that Ted Sarandos and Bela Bajaria (Netflix’s head of programming) went to bat for the Sussexes yet again within the Variety piece. Bajaria did it again on Wednesday:
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria on Wednesday batted down reporting that the streamer has been distancing itself from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
“I would say don’t believe whatever you read,” she said about a recent story in Variety reporting on Netflix’s “falling out” with the Montecito-based couple. “Maybe we should all do a little fact-checking. But here’s the thing: We still have a relationship with them, we have movies in development with them, we have an amazing doc with them, they have things in development on the TV and film side.”
Bajaria added, “Deals come and go all the time and… we don’t renew so many deals and those don’t get as much press for obvious reasons, I guess. So there’s no juicy story there.”
Bajaria made the remarks at the Next on Netflix presentation of the streamer’s upcoming slate, which spotlighted projects like Ben Affleck’s upcoming film Animals and the second season of Beef (but nothing from the former royals).
The comments weren’t surprising, given that Netflix vociferously responded to the Variety piece, with a spokesperson telling the publication that it is “absolutely inaccurate” that the streamer had run out of enthusiasm for the couple and their Archewell Productions. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are owned by the same parent company, Penske Media Corporation.
But it’s clear that the streamer has been disentangling themselves from business deals with the couple over the last year or so. On March 6, Netflix announced that it was exiting Markle’s lifestyle brand As Ever as a business partner. The [move] followed Netflix downgrading the couple’s rich overall deal to a first-look deal in August 2025 after the company had produced the documentary Harry & Meghan and unscripted series Polo and With Love, Meghan.
Watch how the trade papers’ stories shift from paragraph to paragraph, not just in this THR piece but in the Variety piece as well. Here’s yet another Netflix executive going on the record again, saying that we’re still in business with the Sussexes and we have stuff in development with them. “But not enough,” cry the trade papers, as they list a fraction of the projects Archewell has already produced through Netflix. Which is it? Netflix hates the Sussexes because they haven’t done anything, or Netflix hates the Sussexes because the Sussexes aren’t offering up 24-7 content after already producing several successful shows? Anyway, I know Bela is tired. Not tired of the Sussexes, tired of the industry media and British media behaving as if Harry and Meghan are the only f–king people under contract with Netflix.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
Imagine being the industry bible and having your ” well sourced” story even more explicitly debunked a day later. I know that no lessons were learned and they will have another story in June about how, ” no really everyone hates them”, but I’m going to enjoy this for now.
All these legacy media entities are being bought up by the same four conglomerates and putting grossly incompetent people in charge. They are relying on the newspaper /magazine/network’s reputations to push their narratives as legitimate, but it’s becoming clear that they have agenda’s.
Between this, what they did to Sinner’s last year, and what they are trying to do to Chloe Zhao and SMG now as well, it’s become apparent what sort of journalism the new staff follows. And that’s why circulations are down, subscriptions are being canceled, and ratings are in the toilet, see the recent news about the Washington Post and CBS.
William/Kate/Kensington P just hire an extremely expensive new crisis pr manager. Soon thereafter the hit piece in the WSJ and now this.
“All these legacy media entities are being bought up by the same four conglomerates and putting grossly incompetent people in charge.”
They are only “grossly incompetent” if they are trying to actually be effective journalists, analysts fact finding, providing intelligent insights, focusing on the truth.
They seem to be incredibly competent at what they were likely hired to do > spread the narratives, further the agendas of the oligarch 1%-er overlords who hired them, in lock step with their allies and cronies.
Look at Will Lewis at WaPo – he wasn’t incompetent – he did EXACTLY what Bezos hired him to do – decimate the newsroom and opinion staff, weaken a major independent free press institution, throw marbles under Kamala Harris’s presidential bid and, silence any democracy/Constitution supporting non-MAGA voices, drive the US further into autocracy/fascism and then move along.
The drum beat of malicious and lying “reporting” on all things Sussex is a branch on the same rotten tree.
So a Netflix exec is going on record as saying don’t believe what you read, we still have deals with them, there are several upcoming projects – and THR is all “but no really, trust us, netflix has Meghan.”
That was something surprising to me about the Richard Palmer article from earlier this week (or last week?) because it actually referenced the fact that Netflix has moved to these first look deals across the board and NO ONE is signing the kinds of deals the Sussexes signed or the Obamas. (Shonda Rhimes is not a fair comparison in this convo – no idea what kind of deal she has anyway – because she came to Netflix as an obviously very well established television producer/creator.)
bottom line is these lies sell, but I do think they’re running out of steam and I do think people are getting tired of them. but then what’s the point? Variety is just sitting around and decides “lets run a hit piece on the Sussexes?” out of nowhere? Someone is pushing for these. Is it William? Does he have that much influence over Variety?
Variety, THR, and some others are owned by Jay Penske, who is MAGA and buddies with Murdoch.
So yes, yes, the order probably did come down, “run a hit piece on Meghan.” Seems unlikely Variety editors would have chosen to run a piece where every anonymous claim is immediately denied by named Netflix sources going on the record, but they may not have had a choice.
I think that they may not have had a choice. Because it was very interesting to me that the denials were coming from the Sussex lawyer written via letter, rather than from a spokesperson. That would lead me to believe that they want a documentable paper trail to these denials.
I don’t know if they’re at the point of suing yet for these type of stories, but they’re probably getting all their ducks in a row. And honestly outside of doing the establishments bidding, because it is the establishment not just the British royal family that has a problem with them, I think the media is also worried about the fact that they are known to sue but more importantly, often win. That has to be ruffling some of the conservative media feathers over here too.
But again, though, why is Variety invested in this? I know its easy to say “Murdoch” but honestly that’s a cop out in many ways. The Murdoch empire is busy and has lots of enemies, lots of celebs who have spoken out against him/them/it. This narrow focus on the Sussexes is coming from somewhere and I don’t think the answer is as simple as “the owner of Variety is friends with Murdoch.” Maybe that’s enough to get this story published but someone had to write this, edit it, source it, approve it, etc. And at the end of the day, Murdoch is a capitalist. He’s going to put out there what sells. And I don’t know how much this is selling these days.
I don’t know. it’s just weird to me. Not necessarily weird that this was published, but weird that it was written at all. Someone directed this.
I think @Jais is probably right that its a combo of factors and there is a lot happening behind the scenes.
That was my question too – does Will have that much influence to get an article like this in Variety? It’s one of the few things that made me think he really might have a new “strategist” on board (because the recent over explaining – e.g., about Will and his coffee habits – didn’t strike me as particularly impressive). It is the kind of thing KP might push for, because Will is so petty and has nothing else to do with his time than hassle H&M. I’m not sure why BP would want to push for this. Maybe Variety figured it was a way to fill space after the recent news about Meghan taking full control of As ever? Is there another butt Variety is trying to kiss, considering the owner? Is there a connection with the court case? Have to admit, it’s started to get too convoluted for me to follow closely. I did notice though that Bajaria’s comments seemed to get a lot of coverage yesterday, which was good to see.
Yes, this has been my question all along. Who profits from this? I can see why William would want all these hit pieces, but what can he offer to Variety, Penske, Murdoch, MAGA, (insert other right wing bad guy here).
But maybe this isn’t about William at all? Maybe this is about Netflix? It would make more sense that industry publications are waging a proxy war within the industry and H&M’s history of negative press is a convenient weapon. I don’t know, at this point, it can’t just be clicks and malice.
Who wins here? The people that are getting clicks for these stories. Variety knows people love and hate the Sussexes. So it will get clicks. Are there people at Netflix willing to talk about “the mess” that is the Sussexes. Apparently. Then you have another story in the HR about it. Also owned by Penske. That then gets more clicks. Idk sometimes I just feel like it’s a combo of factors. Do I think it’s always smooth sailing for the sussexes with their productions? Probably not but that’s no different than any other production. Difference is they will draw clicks. These media companies are floundering and scrapping for attention. So the Sussexes get used.
@Jais – I guess my brain can’t wrap around this as logic. Penske is a millionaire and his father is a billionaire. Murdoch is a billionaire. Supposedly they’re smart and have business strategies in place for their portfolios of acquisitions. So, if their media companies are floundering, they decide that slamming H&M is the solution to the problem?
If loving or hating H&M and repeating the same stories over and over are enough to sustain financially all the British media, the Australian media, a good chunk of the US media, etc., etc., etc., then H&M should sue for a cut of the profits.
@becks1 asked above, do these stories still sell? Idk but I think maybe they do? Not at the levels they used to but they do get traction. You’ve got the haters citing it in the DM. You’ve got supporters clicking on it too. That’s probably more than they get on just a regular old story. Meghan separating Asever from Netflix was like chum in the water, a beacon for them to revisit one of these type stories. So what’s the truth? It’s clear people are going to believe what they want, that variety has the real scoop and Netflix and Bela are fronting or alternately that variety’s sources are just rage-baiting. At this point, I’m just like well the Sussexes will have to prove them wrong. By showing their work over the next few years. It is what it is. Is the level of scrutiny unfair? Yes. Is it going away? No.
Meghan and Harry have big things coming up at Netflix with Meet Me At The Lake! I cannot wait to see that. I also wish they would make another season of Polo
Has anyone seen eyes wide shut that tom and Nicole kidman movie? Spoiler alert in that movie tom naively come across and saw elite ritual ceremony. Ever since tom was followed and gaslight by everyone in his life. This is what happens to meghan because I believe brf is cult when you try to leave the cult they smear and many newspaper ceo is part of that club. That why fergie said to Epstein no one leaves the family with their head. I think they changed their way from Diana because deleting sussex is horrible pr instead they chose smear campaign and no one will dare to go anywhere near them because of bad pr.
They are unable to delete the Sussexes because the Sussexes had the foresight to do the Oprah interview. This meant that any action taken against them would be viewed within the lens of that interview. And unlike with Diana, a clear line back to the Royal Family can be drawn. This is why the royalists are so up in arms about that particular interview. It was the Sussexes protection and the royalists know it.
Here’s the thing. The Sussexes have projects in development. They will come to fruition or they won’t. If they don’t, then sure, write about that. But that’s not where we’re at yet. Just last week, the papers were crowing about how the cookie doc was not picked up and then days later it was announced it found distribution. Anyone who jumped on and echoed that “oh dear their movie hasn’t been picked up” ended up with egg on their face. Same here. Assuming that the variety story is the whole story bc it confirms something about the Sussexes that you want to believe is a choice. The next few years will show what they produce and what they don’t. The people who agree with Variety’s take on the Sussexes are experiencing confirmation bias. And they might end up with egg on their faces again, just like with the cookie queens documentary. Or not. Maybe Variety is right and they’re a mess. Guess we’ll see. I’m gonna bet on the woman who now owns her own business and found distribution for her documentary but that’s just me. And if I’m wrong one day, I’ll be wrong.
When I read that Penske had acquired those gutter rags, I immediately dismissed the legitimacy of the reporting. Happy Netflix supports their talents and happy Netflix now has a complete picture of the forces campaigning against the Sussexes. Also happy to see both Meghan and Harry living their fabulous life in Monticello at their home completely unbothered.
It’s interesting that the rebuttal was put in THR and not Variety. What’s going on here? The more I think about it the more I think these trades are getting money to write these hit pieces. Anyway, it’s good that Bela spoke out but it’s getting tiring.
Bela was speaking at a Netflix event and was asked about the relationship with H&M. Reporters that were at the event including from Deadline, THR and The Wrap have all reported on her comments. Funny that variety who was also likely at the event too haven’t yet though..
It seems to me that a group of people within media who are accustomed to getting access to ‘Hollywood bigwigs’ are not getting access to the Sussexes and they intend to keep reminding the Sussexes that the media can use levers to ‘humble’ them. The Sussexes do not make a lot of public appearances in LA and they do not engage privately with people in the media. They’re quietly living in Montecito raising their children and building their businesses, away from the ‘Hollywood gossip’. They are not doing the things that fit the narrative a certain group of people expected them to follow. A certain group of people expected them to fail and they continue to try to create content to fit the failure narrative. It looks like there is now a fraternity of British and American media journalists who are highly invested in the Sussex storylines. They might have different reasons but they have a common target. Thankfully the Sussexes and Netflix have been responding to factually address the fictitious narratives created by anonymous sources.
The media tactic is similar to that used against politicians who don’t ’play the game’ and give them access. What they did in 2024 was especially egregious and arguably destabilizing to our society. Now we all face the consequences of the destabilization of our society, governed by deranged greedy bloodthirsty corrupt sycophants.
Glad they’re finally sticking up for themselves. Arrest more aristocrats! This is why they don’t want “outsiders”. Because they do things like, tell people where the bodies are buried! Keep going Meghan!!
What is it about Netflix doing deals with H&M that has brought out the blood sport? There’s something we don’t know behind the scenes. Was there another media company that wanted H&M but got turned down?? Because ever since Netflix announced it, the knives were out. I don’t think this is about William at all. I think some media head was pissed Netflix got them and has wanted it to fail ever since.