Here is a collection of words I could have never imagined typing when I graduated with a degree in journalism: Stephen A. Smith, on the most recent edition of his podcast, discussed the current beef that Bill Simmons has with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. On an episode of his own podcast, Simmons — who has been described by other outlets as a “Spotify executive,” which he is, but also, we’re a sports website — called out the two over the end of Markle’s deal for a podcast with the platform.
“I wish I’d been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation,” Simmons said. “The f*cking grifters. That’s the podcast that we should’ve launched with them.”
Smith, as he is wont to do on his podcast that lets him talk about basically whatever he wants, decided to dive into all of this, because it is his podcast, and why would he not remark on this situation? After admitting that he is interested in her because he was a fan of the television show Suits, he brought up that their $20 million deal by Spotify got dropped and the two sides opted to part ways after 12 episodes.
“Bill Simmons went off!” Smith said at the 1:09:02 mark of the above video. “Now, Bill Simmons is my contemporary, former colleague with me at ESPN, has his own stuff, The Ringer podcast network, moved up the ranks to an executive at Spotify, I like Bill. I respect the hell out of Bill … ain’t no shade here. But Bill Simmons was going off … Bill Simmons seemed very happy they were gone.”
After playing the audio clip, Smith admitted he had to look up what the word “grifters” means and said that, while Simmons is “qualified” to speak on this, he thought calling them that was “a bit excessive.”
“But then again, he works at Spotify and not me,” Smith then conceded.
Smith did not remark on the rumor that Markle would fake some of her interviews, although my assumption is that’s because he has not learned about that accusation yet.