Prince Harry’s bizarre alleged Spotify podcast pitch revealed

Prince Harry never produced a podcast during his three-year Spotify deal – and a new claim about what he wanted to do may explain why.

Meghan and Harry. Picture: AFP

Prince Harry’s pitch for his own podcast involved interviewing controversial guests like Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump about their childhoods, it’s been alleged.

It was reported last week that Harry and wife Meghan Markle are cutting ties with Spotify just three years after agreeing to a deal believed to be worth somewhere between $29 to $37 million AUD.

In the wake of the news, Bill Simmons, sportscaster who is also head of Spotify’s international sports content, labelled the pair “f**king grifters,” and claimed he was drafted in to help Harry with ideas for a podcast.

Prince Harry’s portion of the Spotify deal came to nothing. Picture: AFP

“I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of this Zoom I had with Harry to try to help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.”

Now, Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman has spoken to “people with knowledge of the situation,” to tell her what sort of ideas Harry was toying with for a podcast.

These anonymous sources told her that Harry wanted to interview “controversial guests” – names touted included Russian President Putin, former US President Donald Trump, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – about their early formative years, and how they made them the people they are today.

She reports that Harry also had ideas for specific topics for episodes of the show: Fatherhood, climate change and religion among them, with Pope Francis his top pick to be interviewed on that last topic.

“Mr Trump, what would you say to your five-year-old self?” Picture: AFP

“Mr Putin, did your mummy really love you?” Picture: AFP

Carman reports that those tasked with helping Harry bring his podcast ideas to fruition found the idea “questionable,” given how difficult it would be to secure controversial figures like Putin to give in-depth interviews about their childhoods.

In any case, no Prince Harry podcast ever materialised. The sum total of he and wife Meghan’s three-year deal was one 12-episode season of her podcast, Archetypes, which saw her sit down with Hollywood stars like Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Mindy Kaling for hour-long episodes.

The Sussexes’ Spotify arrangement was declared officially over in a joint statement from the streaming giant and Harry and Meghan’s company, Archewell Audio, last week.

In it, both parties stated they had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together”.

According to the New York Post, the Archewell media company didn’t produce enough content – just one single season of a series – to receive the full payout of their deal.

Originally published as Prince Harry’s bizarre alleged Spotify podcast pitch revealed