Meghan Markle has been accused of faking several interviews for her axed Archetypes podcast by industry ‘sources’ who claim that the Duchess had staff members on the show conduct interviews with her guests, before audio of her voice was edited into the final episodes.
The allegations, which come just days after it was revealed the Sussexes’ $20 million deal with Spotify had been ended in a ‘mutual agreement’, were reported by podcast-focused outlet Podnews.
According to the site, ‘multiple sources’ have claimed that ‘some interviews on the show were done by other staffers, with questions edited-in afterwards’, although Podnews did not highlight any specific episodes where this might have applied.
Meghan’s 12-episode podcast featured a series of high-profile guests during its one-season run, including Mariah Carey, Serena Williams, and Mindy Kaling, the latter of whom actually shared an image of herself being interviewed by the Duchess when her episode aired.
However, while Meghan may have interviewed several very high-profile guests for the audio show, this is not the first time that questions have been raised about her input into the interview process for other people who appeared on Archetypes.
In August last year, podcast guest Allison Yarrow, a journalist from New York, revealed that she didn’t actually speak to Meghan when being interviewed for the show, but rather a member of her production company.
Allison, who appeared on an episode of the show called To ‘B’ or not to ‘B’? in which she ‘explored the origin and plague’ of the word b***h, revealed in a social media post shared shortly after her interview was recorded that the chat had taken place with an audio producer called Farrah Safarfi.
Sharing an image of herself in front of a sign for Gimlet, an audio production company, Allison then thanks Farrah in the caption for being such an ‘excellent interviewer’.
Last week, Spotify and the Sussexes’ audio production company, Archewell Audio, issued a joint statement about the decision not to renew Meghan’s podcast for a second season, saying that they had ‘mutually agreed to part ways’.
Meanwhile a top Spotify podcast executive accused Harry and Meghan of being ‘f***ing grifters’.
After they ‘parted ways’ with the streaming giant, Bill Simmons, who is Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetisation, was quick to hit out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
‘The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,’ he said in the latest episode of his own podcast on Friday.
‘I’ve got to 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.’
