California
In California, Maybe It’s Not Such Good Business After All: Meghan Markle And Spotify Officially Part Ways
The Smile Is Ready: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in May in New York. (Photo by MEGA/GC Images)
The writing, in the form of high levels of doubt within the industry and without as to whether the “Archetypes” Spotify podcast put together and hosted by Meghan Markle had any legs, is now officially on the wall: Spotify and the Archewell principals Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, are walking away from their reported $20-million contract. No word yet on how much or how little Meghan Markle actually got for her dozen episodes over three years since the inking, but it is a fair bet that it does not begin to approach the reported contractual sum.
It also has been reported that the decision was a “mutual” one. The Windsors of Montecito and their several new eagle-eyed public relations representatives would have insisted on that bit of presentation for this news byte, so as to avoid the widely-held impression across broad swaths of the public and on the many backlots of Hollywood that the dozen lackluster and occasionally downright stultifying episodes of the thing had no driving magnetism or spark, much less the kind of entertainment valence that would grow a steady audience.
In the 18 months after the celebrated 2020 inking of the now-discarded paper, there was clearly a conceptual problem with the production, or more pointedly expressed, perhaps several of them. Behind the scenes, meaning, in the Montecito mansion and/or as the Archewell offices got up and running, there may well have been this or that idea floated, or this or that celebrity friend of the couple rung up and asked for an appearance. But the fact remains: For the first 18 months of the reported 3-year contract, nothing was aired.
In fairness to the Archewell principals, good things do take time, and in that particularly harsh, cutthroat terrain of content-land in which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle operate, namely, that of the personal narrative, finding the right tack for a bully pulpit such as an ‘issues-oriented’ podcast can be tricky. The whole notion behind the thing was to upend the conventional thinking on all sorts of ‘archetypes’ under which we labor.
The results we have in the episodes that were produced feel distinctly rushed and not well thought through, but it also can be that there was appropriately deep, thoughtful debate between Meghan Markle and her producers. We can certainly at least hope that it happened. But it doesn’t seem like it.
Nevertheless: Whether the prospective chat-show host Meghan Markle was aware of it or not, the year-and-a-half delay until any bit of product landed left Meghan Markle and Prince Harry with a great, Hydra-headed showbiz-startup disadvantage. That was: By beginning their Spotify odyssey at that late point, they severed their own audience-building ramp of time literally in half. Said another way, they left themselves with 50% less room for experimentation and, perhaps more critically, nuanced course-correction in the always-uncertain search for audience.
The corollary disadvantages emmanating from that Hydra head of having less time were, and are, deadly. If there’s no time to find an audience, it can engender that the producers then lurch in all directions at once, madly casting broad nets of topics out of the boat in an effort to rope in the greatest number of fish, fast, so that it at least looks on paper as if somebody has been successfully fishing. Which then leads to the problem as embodied by the episodes of ‘Archetypes’ that did make it to air: Since it is about everything, all at once, the vehicle doesn’t travel. It goes nowhere. Its purported journey becomes about nothing.
Word has somehow seeped out that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would like to ‘diversify’ — in the sense of broadening — the platforms upon which they offer audio content. However much of a Band-aid that may be on the current state of affairs, that’s fair. They may have at any platform that they like — who knows, Lauren Sanchez may step off the Bezos superyacht in Portofino, decide to come out of retirement and rope ‘em in for Amazon.
But the second, rather deeper and more enduring architectural problem with “Archetypes” is one that, first, Britain and the British press — and increasingly, with the release of his as-to-to-‘autobiography’ Spare, the American press — have had with Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s content for some time, namely, that quite a lot of the content that they commercially market is about them. There’s a distinct limit to that narrative — of oneself — and it is a highly nuanced one. If you’re going to make a business talking about yourself, you have to make sure that the door-policy of the nightclub you’re opening is quite a liberal one. You can’t afford to cherry-pick your clientele, at the very least not until things are up and running. Short and sweet: You have to be generous, and invite everybody in. Meghan Markle didn’t do that with the episodes she managed to produce of ‘Archetypes.’
“While SCA 2 was one of many efforts to help address the housing crisis, the November’s ballot will be very crowded, and reaching voters will be difficult and expensive,” Allen said in a statement. “In addition, the legislature recently passed my SB 469, which substantially addresses some of the most significant concerns about how Article 34 might be impacting housing production.”
SB 469 clarifies that the use of state affordable housing dollars does not trigger Article 34’s requirement for voter approval. Allen said his focus is on determining whether these efforts are “making a significant dent in addressing the problem,” adding that quickly building more affordable housing is a priority.
Backed by the California Real Estate Association, the forerunner to the current California Association of Realtors, Article 34 was first adopted by voters in 1950. Realtors played on voters’ fears that affordable housing would lead to greater racial integration of exclusively white neighborhoods.
CAR issued a formal apology in 2022 for its past support of Article 34, with association President Otto Catrina condemning the actions and vowing to address the legacy of its “discriminatory policies and practices.”
The organization “remains a strong supporter of the repeal of Article 34 … which adds unnecessary hurdles and costs to the creation of affordable housing,” CAR spokesperson Sanjay Wagle said in a statement.
Wagle noted that a majority of Californians support repealing the provision but cited research showing a voter education campaign would be needed to explain the article’s effects.
“The cost of such a campaign in an election year with so many initiatives on the ballot made this campaign more costly and difficult, thus making it more logical to pursue a repeal on a future ballot,” Wagle wrote. “We thank Sen. Allen and Sen. Wiener for their efforts on this repeal effort and look forward to working [with] them and other stakeholders on this issue in the future.”
Though Penn State has been busily filling its 2025 recruiting class in June, the program hasn’t stopped looking ahead. The Nittany Lions on Tuesday received a commitment from 4-star California quarterback Troy Huhn, who became the second player in Penn State football’s 2026 recruiting class.
Huhn (6-4, 205 pounds) will be a junior at Mission Hills High, just north of San Diego. He threw for 1,623 yards and 16 touchdowns as a sophomore last season. Huhn quickly built a strong offer sheet that included Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Auburn and Notre Dame, among many others. Huhn took an unofficial visits to Ohio State and Penn State in June, committing to the Nittany Lions two weeks after his trip.
Huhn is the 2026 recruiting class’ 10th-rated quarterback prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite, and a top-15 player in California. On3 ranks Huhn highest among the major recruiting services, slotting him at No. 60 nationally and sixth at quarterback.
Huhn, who committed to Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien, spent time with head coach James Franklin during his unofficial visit. He told Sean Fitz of Blue-White Illustrated that Franklin made an impression.
“Coach O’Brien was great, but really my main thing when I was getting out there was to have more time with coach Franklin. They definitely gave that to me,” Huhn said in his interview with Blue-White Illustrated. “I really felt the love from coach Franklin. He’s very business, he’s awesome, he’s a funny guy. My mom loves him, he loves my mom. That relationship with him is now a lot better and I’m glad I got to spend that time with him.”
Huhn joins Harrisburg athlete Messiah Mickens on the ground floor of Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class. Mickens committed to Penn State in August 2023. Penn State had been recruiting several 2026 quarterbacks alongside Huhn. One of their targets, Dia Bell, recently committed to Texas.
Huhn’s commitment continued a prolific stretch for the Nittany Lions. Franklin and his staff have received commitments from five players in a four-day stretch. Four of them committed to Penn State’s 2025 recruiting class.
The most recent 2025 commitment belonged to Max Granville, a 4-star prospect from Texas and first-team all-state honoree as a junior. Granville, who will be a senior at Fort Bend Christian Academy, is rated as a 4-star linebacker according to the 247Sports Composite. However, the 6-3, 220-pound Granville projects at defensive end and was recruited by Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes. Granville chose Penn State after making an official visit to State College earlier in June. He also visited USC, Texas A&M and Oklahoma in June and took an official visit to Baylor in April.
Penn State opens the 2024 football season Aug. 31 at West Virginia. The game is scheduled for a noon kickoff on FOX.
BREAKING: Four-Star QB Troy Huhn (2026) has Committed to Penn State, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’4 205 QB from San Marcos, CA chose the Nittany Lions over Ohio State and Auburn
Ranked as the No. 6 QB in ‘26 (per On3)
“I’m Home #WEARE”https://t.co/lKvct8u4a2 pic.twitter.com/VtLZZ6xH1I
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 25, 2024
More Penn State Football Recruiting
Penn State receives commitment from 4-star Maryland prospect
Versatile New Jersey prospect commits to the Nittany Lions
Former Penn State linebacker commit switches to Rutgers
AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.
(FOX40.COM) — An evacuation order is in effect for areas of Butte County amid a wildfire, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, BCSO issued an evacuation order for the Apache Fire on the south side of Grubbs Road between Crossa Country Road and Alta Arosa Drive in zones 884 and 885. Shortly after, evacuation orders were also issued for all of zone 884, 865, 866, 868, and 869. For information about zone locations click or tap here.
An evacuation warning was also issued for zones 867 and 883.
At 9:45 p.m., the Apache Fire has burned through 466 acres, according to Cal Fire. By 10:30 p.m. it reached more than 650 acres.
For more information visit www.buttecounty.net, or call (833) 512-5378.
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