Nothing offends the Daily Mail more than British people moving to America and finding success and happiness here. Nothing brings out the snide contempt of the Mail’s editors and writers more than that – it’s not just Prince Harry and Meghan, it’s any actor, any writer, any royal reporter. Anyway, if you read Omid Scobie’s Endgame, you know that he absolutely burned a lot of bridges with that book, and he did so knowing that he would have to move on from his royal-reporter gigs. The British media – especially the Mail – has been obsessed with Scobie’s bridge-burning and move to LA. They’ve been keeping tabs on him and they want everyone to know that they’re watching everything he does in LA. From the Mail:
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to release their ‘happy holidays’ card last week they did not do it through their phalanx of PR lackeys, nor even on the website of their charity, the Archewell Foundation. Instead, the first image of the achingly woke card – featuring photos of the couple’s philanthropic work alongside a blurry shot of them with their children – was released by their longtime friend and hagiographer Omid Scobie on his X social media account. For many, it was proof that Scobie, the author of two gushing books about Harry and Meghan, remains very much in favour with the couple.
Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Scobie (dubbed ‘Scobie-Doo’ by his detractors because of his Sussex sycophancy) has moved permanently to Los Angeles, meaning he is only a two-hour drive from the Sussexes’ 16-bathroom mansion in Montecito. Insiders say the 43-year-old is working on a book and TV project whose inspiration bears more than a passing similarity to Meghan’s turbulent history with the Royal Family before she and her husband upped sticks and quit the UK for California.
The combined projects, both called Royal Spin, revolve around a glamorous and feisty American publicist who leaves her high-powered job in Washington DC to work in the communications department at Buckingham Palace. According to a source at media giant Universal, which secured the rights to the show for a reported seven-figure sum, the series is ‘Emily in Paris crossed with The Crown’.
The source said: ‘Let’s just say the plot isn’t a million miles away from Meghan’s account of what happened to her when she joined the Royal Family, just substitute ‘publicist’ for ‘actress’. You have this plucky woman who enters the Palace and comes up against the ‘men in grey suits’ who are stuck in Victorian times. The heroine is a thoroughly modern woman, a feminist, much like Meghan sees herself, yet she is stymied at every turn by stuffy royal aides. She gets stuck in the middle of culture clashes and finds herself very much a fish out of water.’
But, of course, in Scobie’s fictionalised version of events, the feisty American import wins over the hearts and minds of everyone she meets and ultimately triumphs over the Establishment ‘baddies’.
Scobie travelled to LA earlier this year to ‘seek his fortune’, intending to sound out opportunities in the entertainment industry. At the time he was living in a luxury flat in London’s Canary Wharf but, according to one associate, was seeking the ‘Hollywood dream’. They said: ‘Omid already had a gig as a regular talking head on [TV show] Good Morning America but he’s ambitious and always dreamed of having a Hollywood career. He went out to LA to take meetings. He took a lot of meetings.’
According to his Instagram account, the former Heat magazine reporter initially rented a house in the Hollywood Hills but, the MoS can reveal, decided to make the move permanent once he sealed his Universal deal. He has told friends he plans to live in LA for a minimum of three to five years. Today he is ‘living the dream’ in a luxury apartment block steps from Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood.
We heard about Scobie’s show over the summer, when there was a bidding war for the rights to Royal Spin. It’s funny that they’re claiming this is a fictionalized version of Meghan’s story – Meghan didn’t come to the UK to work in the palace’s comms office, she came from America to marry a prince, and she was abused by the racist Victorian snobs working within the palace structure. Scobie’s framing is actually pretty unique and funny, and I think the set-up for the show is great. He’s also been living in LA for the better part of two years, hasn’t he? Anyway, Scobie tweeted this, after the Mail published this story:
Just because it’s a catchy headline doesn’t make it true. So let’s make this clear: Royal Spin’s story and characters have nothing to do with Meghan. As a journalist I covered the Duchess fairly, but it’s so boring to keep calling her my friend (not true) or link her to my work.
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) December 23, 2024
Photos courtesy of Omid Scobie’s IG.
They want so badly to make Meghan into just an employee instead of an actual family member. They are as racist as ever.
How does one fact check the number of bathrooms in a private residence?
I for one am a massive fan of the regular bathroom count we get from the press, it’s so utterly ridiculous that they’ve turned something so trivial into shorthand for ‘how DARE they have nice things that cost money’.
Same! I laughed so hard at this one. Who tf refers to house size by bathroom count? It is supremely creepy.
Omid wasn’t even the first person to post the card on his social media. It was Elizabeth Holmes who received the card because she is on the Archewell mailing list. Omid posting something on his social media that has been sent to everyone on the Sussexes mailing list is hardly an indication that he is close to them. Sussex fans were sharing it before Omid posted.
Shh! Don’t use facts to mess with the narrative they’re crafting!
Seriously.
Funny how Elizabeth Holmes can’t stand H+M and makes her living slagging them off at every opportunity and spreading deranger lies yet jumps at the opportunity to (a) be on their mailing list AND (b) use their Christmas card for clout.
They sound so bitter about his success. I don’t know what the other ” commentators, experts, historians” are making for their constant insights but something tells me it’s not enough money to live in one of those high-rises on Canary wharf or to move to Hollywood hills. Also, why does Carolyn Durand never get the same smoke that he does? I mean I KNOW why, but you would think that he wrote Finding Freedom all on his own they barely even mentioned that she had anything to do with the book.
Bitter was the word that and to my mind as well. They basically threw all their usual lies and dog whistles into a Bingo ball turner and spit out this article: achingly woke, check. 16 bathrooms, check. Using a stupid name for Omid, check (and how does calling him Scobie-Doo have any connection to Meghan?!). Insinuating they’re BFFs, check. Insulting LA/America, check.
I also agree with you that it’s not surprising that Omid’s co-author hasn’t received any similar attack. Their continued obsession with him smacks of racism and homophobia as well as bitterness.
The article sounds unhinged.
If you look at scobie’s twitter feed, he references this very question. Someone said in a tweet:
” ……..why is it that DeRangers hate Omid so much for that book but not his co author? You do realize there were TWO authors of FF? Why no hate for his coauthor?”
And Omid said: “We all know why.”
PS: His co-author on Finding Freedom is Carolyn Durand.
I love to see the DM and their RRs salty about Omid’s success. All the man did was report fairly about Meghan. While the rest of them are begging for scraps, he’s shining.
Well, that’s not all he did. He also has some talent in writing and creating that they lack.
Let’s not forget he is very handsome, looking good on TV screens, other than most “royal experts”. US TV stations surely would rather pay him to show up in their shows than the old yellow teeth brigade whining about their wayward prince refusing to come home.
Omid also had the foresight to focus on working mainly for US outlets, which aren’t bound by the INVISIBLE CONTRACT.
If the daily fail and the British media keep being so salty about Omid success and that of Harry and especially Meghan, they won’t be enough salt left in the uk for people to brine their turkey and season their food at Christmas
I really like the fact that he actually replies to the lies published about him and his work. Tabloids deserve to be publicly called out and shamed.
Again, I didn’t find the holiday card “achingly woke,” lol. It was a normal photo card released by businesses world wide. Rolling my eyes here.
Also before Meghan there were plenty of series, movies, and books about a fish out of water scenario, even involving royalty. And after Meghan there will continue to be. Fish out of water is a very popular plot line. I hope these rotorats do yoga (secretly of course, because they’d rather look down at their noses at something so woke….like yoga that dates back further than their monarchy) because of their constant reaching.
He went to “seek his fortune” lol why do they make it sound so antiquated like something from an early century novel. Anyways, the fact that it’s not a princess marrying in makes it pretty different. Omid’s experience working with the palace teams as a journalist will be the biggest inspiration. As well as the fact that he was working with an American outlet would have made the experience unique.
Right? Is the aristocracy and all its hangers on this stuck in the past? (Yes)
This piece confirms two things: the MoS is not on the Archewell/Sussex office mailing list and they only view Meghan as an employee of the Royal Family.
Didn’t Harry has a staff member who worked in Obama’s administration, in Washington, before moving to London to work at Kensington Palace for him?
“Endgame” drug the Royal Family for ABSOLUTE FILTH 😱 and it dosen’t look like he wrote ONE LIE! Like H&M I’m glad Omid took his CONSIDERABLE talents to L.A….why should he subject himself to reporting on the bland basic cornucopia of British Royals seeking validation with their boorish f—kery?🫤
Endgame is a wonderful book! Full of both snark and serious commentary. And Scobie does a terrific job narrating the Audible version. If you haven’t read it, give yourself a holiday present and snag a copy.
@ArtFossil…my library was 😎 enough to get the audiobook…which was DELIGHTFUL ❣️
Scobie repeated the LIE that Kate had “never put a foot wrong” despite all evidence to the contrary over the years – several of which HE himself had pointed out in the past. He was very selective with his “truths” in that book.
He seems like a decent person, but I don’t like what LA is doing to him. He is starting to resemble the lost Kardashian brother.
Omid gets criticized because he is British and not lily white and he dared report fairly when the status quo in UK media was not to say anything good about Harry but especially Meghan. Anna Pasternak and others have openly stated how positive stories about Meghan were not going to get printed.
The mob like behaviour of the UK media especially in relation to how they cover the royals needs to be exposed. It is like North Korea propaganda. That’s why they couldn’t comprehend why a completely fake photo of Kate and the kids would be rejected by legitimate news sources. BBC, ITV and the rest don’t apply the same standards for that family as they do for other stories.
I can’t wait to see this show, I have a feeling it’s going to be wonderful and make a lot of rota jealous and look like the fools that they are.
I can’t wait. I wonder who they will cast as the wasp, the bee and the fly.
Other commenters have flagged the many reasons that the Rota have their knives out for Omid, but I think another factor is his testimony in one of the tabloid hacking cases, where he discussed the illegal activity he witnessed an intern (iirc, when Piers Morgan was the editor). But yeah—he’s non-white, he isn’t a sycophant, and he’ doesn’t have to shill for free dog food, so they will keep trying to bring him down.
Oh, they are soooo bitter, it drips off of the page! The fact that Omid “wasn’t satisfied” just being a talking head like the other rota rats. No, he is “ambitious” (gasp!) and moved out to LA (double gasp!) then took meetings with HOLLYWOOD (bring me my fainting couch!). And the mention that his place in LA is just a mere “two hours” from the mansion in Montecito is an obvious way to mention the number of bathrooms. Again. It’s embarrassing!
In addition to what you said, I noticed that the way they made a point of mentioning “blurry” photos of their children made me think that they lingered over the picture and tried desperately to enlarge it, so they could get a better glimpse of the Sussex children.
My, my, someone sounds VERY jealous. What I want to know is how many bathrooms Omid has. Why didn’t they report that? Slackers
Wasn’t there an actual Washington DC comms person who used to work for Hilary Clinton who worked for H+M for a while and ended up following the BP and KP line every time instead of supporting them, and went to work for BP after they left? The one who lied to the press re A’s birth then kept quiet while H+M got the blame? Can’t remember her name. Haven’t heard that she left, so she must still be there?
Scobie’s book sounds like it’s about her, even though his main character is likely an amalgamation of people.
Sara Latham. https://www.tatler.com/article/sara-latham-hired-by-queen I don’t think she’s there any longer, though.
Oh my what did this man do to his face🤭?
THANK YOU! I’ve been scrolling the comments to see if anyone notice how plastic he has become. It’s cringey just to look at him.
Ffs, it’s like reading shit Oompa says.