Prince Harry and Meghan Markle delivered a big blow to the UK tabloids the last few days with the announcement last week that they’d signed a deal with Netflix and that they’ve already repaid the Sovereign Grant for renovations at Frogmore Cottage and that they’re no longer being financially supported by Prince Charles. These were the go-to angles of criticism that the tabloids continued to hammer – and now a new chapter’s been written without their knowledge. So they’re finding other sh-t to stir.
Like the report in The Sunday Times about how the Netflix deal f-cked over the Invictus Games…even though it didn’t. There was to be a fundraising event in LA in support of Invictus and per PEOPLE:
“A recent report in The Sunday Times claimed that Harry and Meghan Markle were also set to make speeches at the Hollywood bash next spring. Crucially, the plan was that Netflix rival Amazon would stream the show. The outlet claimed that the event was cut off because of Harry and Meghan's multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix.”
Prince Harry has now, through his lawyers, sent a complaint to The Sunday Times calling out the inaccuracy. The event was cancelled because of COVID-19… like SO MANY OTHER THINGS.
But also, here’s another reason why The Sunday Times report is amateur hour. Because they clearly don’t understand Netflix. With conventional television networks, sure, exclusivity might be an issue – maybe. In the past, maybe you’d want to avoid deal-making with NBC if you’re already producing with ABC. Again, that was more of a concern in the industry a couple of decades ago, before the internet and social media and streaming upended entertainment and culture. Even still, even if the major networks operated that way occasionally, their protocols and practices don’t apply to Netflix.
The whole f-cking point of Netflix is that it doesn’t play by old school rules – which is how they disrupted the game. Maybe more than any other media company, Netflix understands that they benefit when their talent gets shine on other platforms. And there are many content creators with Netflix deals who work on one-offs with other streaming services. Example: Beyoncé, Disney, Netflix. Example: Kenya Barris, ABC, Mixed-ish, Netflix. So the suggestion that Harry was prohibited by Netflix from an Invictus fundraiser because it would be streamed on Amazon betrays a lack of knowledge about the Hollywood entertainment industry. And the sourcing on this Sunday Times story is driving in a lane they are clearly unfamiliar with.
Speaking of lanes though…
That’s what they’ve been trying to tell Meghan Markle ever since she married Prince Harry. We don’t do things like that here in royal spaces. We don’t talk like that here in England. We don’t act like this here in the castle. This is not your lane – and if you want to do it your way, just go back to Hollywood.
Hilariously… she DID go back to Hollywood.
And now they’re saying that Meghan doesn’t know what she’s doing in Hollywood, even though she literally grew up there and has spent most of her adult life in the business. That, literally, is her lane! But the reporting coming out of the UK is that that’s not the Sussex lane. Royal reporters are trying to spin narratives that the Sussexes are inexperienced producers, that no one would watch their shows. But wouldn’t Netflix (for f-ck’s sake it’s Netflix!) know better about that than… the Daily Mail and the Sun and The Sunday Times?!
