Add Stephen A. Smith’s name to the growing list of media personalities opining on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the wake of their Spotify breakup after a $20 million deal.
Days after Bill Simmons labeled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as “f–king grifters,” Smith reacted to the comments on the latest episode of his self-titled podcast, stating the former working royals only seem to be relevant when they are feuding with King Charles and Co.
“If Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex ain’t complaining about the royal family, I don’t know if anybody cares what they have to say,” Smith said on “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
“… I’m not trying to dog [Meghan Markle] like she doesn’t have any talent or anything like that. She did damn good on [the show ‘Suits’]… I love ‘Suits.’ Matter of fact, I’m gonna watch it again… I love that show.
“But what I’m saying is, you don’t really care what they have to say unless they’re insulting their family.”
On Friday, Simmons — a former ESPNer and sportswriter, who is the current head of Spotify’s international sports content — remarked on his own podcast that Markle, 41, and Harry, 38, are “f–king grifters” while discussing the “Archetypes” podcast from the couple’s media company Archewell, which will not be returning for a second season.
“The f–king grifters,” Simmons said. “That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them. I gotta 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.”
Markle and Harry signed the Spotify deal in 2020 but delivered just 13 hours of programming in two and a half years — resulting in 12 episodes of Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast and a one-off holiday special.
Warning: Explicit language
Smith then played the audio clip of Simmons going in on the couple on his own podcast.
“Hell, you thought I was bad? Bill Simmons went off!” Smith said. “Now, Bill Simmons is my contemporary, former colleague at ESPN… I like Bill. I respect the hell out of Bill Simmons, ain’t no shade here. But Bill Simmons was going off… The Duchess of Sussex, along with Prince Harry, Bill Simmons seemed very happy they were gone.”
Smith added he had to look up the definition of the word “grifters” and then read it aloud.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I pride myself on having a relatively extensive vocabulary,” he said. “I never knew what the hell grifters meant. So, I had to look it up.
“… A grifter is a con artist: someone who swindles people out of their money through fraud. That is what Bill Simmons called Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
“In all seriousness, he’s qualified to say that. I am not, because I know nothing of them. I know nothing about their [Spotify] deal. I’m appalled that my daughter can tell me about it…and then I realized, although I wouldn’t call them any names and I certainly wouldn’t be derogatory or incendiary towards them on a personal level.”
Smith also noted that he found Simmons’ comments to be “a bit excessive.”
“I didn’t think that was necessary, but then again, he works at Spotify, not me. So, he knows more than I would ever know about that particular situation, which means it came from a personal place,” he said.
Smith went on to say that he could care less about the royal family.
“Again I know nothing,” he continued. “You can’t find a human being on this planet less interested in the royal family than me.”
Markle and Harry, who have been married since 2018, stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and currently reside in California with their two children, son Archie, 4, and daughter Lilibet, 2.
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