Harry and Meghan break silence on Spotify drama

The couple have come under pressure to ditch their $34 million mega-deal with the company over the US commentator’s views, reports The Sun.

And in a statement released on Sunday, they said they have spoken with Spotify bosses about their concerns.

They said: “Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis.

“Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of mis- and disinformation every day.

“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid misinformation on its platform.

“We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.

“We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

Spotify has previously said it bans “false or dangerous deceptive content about Covid-19, which may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health.”

The platform is home to podcast The Joe Rogan Experience – the top-rated show on the site – as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Audio.

Sussex statement

Rogan’s podcast has been denounced for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 throughout the pandemic, with doctors and scientists taking action after he aired hours of interviews with Covid sceptics, including a three-hour discussion with US cardiologist Dr McCullough which racked up over 40 million views in its first week in December.

Just four months ago, Harry hit out at news and social media outlets for “peddling lies” about vaccines, claiming the only way to “overcome” Covid was to “break the system” of misinformation.

And he has also openly begged for vaccine equity, saying the vaccine should be distributed “to everyone everywhere”.

But royal biographer Angela Levin, who spent a year with Harry, said she believes he’ll never give up his Spotify deal.

She told Sun Online: “Harry has been accusing many countries, including the United Kingdom for not doing enough to vaccinate people around the world in poor countries.

“Now here he is working and earning money from a company [who have employed someone] who is an anti-vaxxer.”

Spotify has been waiting more than a year for Meghan and Harry to produce further podcast content.

The company has now taken the Sussexes’ output “into their own hands”.

The streaming giant said it was looking forward to a “full-scale” launch of shows in 2021 – but nothing appeared.

And after the lengthy wait, a host of in-house producers have been hired to finally deliver content for the royals.

Right royal row

Bosses are currently recruiting new in-house staff to work with Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Audio for a show that features “the voices of high profile women.”

But any material they produce from now on will have to compete for hits against Rogan’s show.

Ms Levin said: “I think there’s no chance Harry would leave [Spotify].

“One, because he has not left Netflix even though it has been incredibly rude about his mother and his father and all the Royal Family.

“He doesn’t seem to care.

“He also now has quite a reputation for being a hypocrite after lecturing us not to fly but flying himself on a private plane.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Harry and Meghan speak out on Spotify ‘misinformation’ drama