Meghan Markle's One Annoying Habit Became the Final Nail in the Coffin for Netflix, Says Expert
Matt Donnelly, the correspondent behind the scathing Variety report claims Meghan Markle would switch off her camera to express displeasure.
Meghan Markle has had a rocky start to the year, topping the charts of unfavorable royal headlines. It first began with the collapse of her lifestyle brand's partnership with Netflix, followed by royal author Tom Bower's new book in March, alleging controversial activities in the Invictus Games. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was a scathing Variety report claiming unprofessional conduct in meetings. Now, reporter Matt Donnelly has added to the narrative, alleging Markle would switch off her Zoom camera during meetings to signal her displeasure.
In an interview with royal expert Tom Sykes on The Royalist Podcast, Donnelly, who wrote the damaging report, revealed inside details about Markle's alleged diva behavior during Netflix meetings. He said, "Multiple sources told me that, when Meghan would sit, especially in meetings regarding her brand As Ever, her lifestyle and homewares range, when she heard feedback she didn't like, or heard ideas that she didn't think were appropriate, she would turn her Zoom camera off to express her displeasure." He then quipped, "It's certainly an interesting way to provide feedback in Hollywood."
To add insult to injury, Sykes argued that Prince Harry and Markle routinely demanded that their staff call them 'sir' and 'ma'am.' Donnelly explained, "These are protocols they've [Harry and Markle] been used to...The idea that you're in the presence of what amounts to foreign dignitaries, if only they were still senior royals, which they're not." Calling the Sussexes 'tiresome,' after their Netflix collapse, he continued, "The sense seems to be that the brand [As Ever] actually hasn't worked out either because despite all these claims from their [Harry and Markle's] office that they've sold $60 million worth of jam and major jam manufacturers, the truth is it's hard to imagine that Netflix would have split from them."
Shortly after Variety published the bombshell report, which accused the Duchess of Sussex of having an unconventional relationship with virtual meetings, her lawyer, Michael J. Kump, issued a swift rebuttal. In a letter, he criticized, "Independent of being a parent who works from home, Meghan is also conscious of shielding her team from the distraction of children." He added, "Nearly all professionals can attest to needing to turn off the audio or camera during a virtual meeting at some point during many hours of virtual business calls."
Sources had also told the outlet that Markle would vanish for a long time during Zoom calls and that teams were later informed she had stepped away after allegedly taking offense to something. Moreover, she also "tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry's thoughts, sometimes while he is mid-sentence (usually preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh)." This particular revelation seemed to have infuriated the Sussexes, with Kump arguing that the description seemed calculated to play into the misogynistic characterization of her bossing her husband around.
