Celebrities

Sussexes did not expect Spotify to turn down so many ideas
Couple rushed to sign lucrative deals after Royal family cut financial ties, Omid Scobie claims in new book, Endgame

The Crown is perpetuating negative stereotypes about private schools, the head of an education group has said.

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, suggested that the portrayal of elite schools attended by Royals in the Netflix series is damaging the public’s perception of the sector.

The new series six of the fictional show about the monarchy portrays Prince William and Prince Harry’s school days at Eton College, the £50,000-a-year boarding school in Windsor, Berkshire.

In series two of The Crown, King Charles is shown having an unhappy school experience at Gordonstoun near Elgin in Scotland.

One episode shows rain flooding in through a broken dormitory window, soaking the future King’s sheets as he lay shivering in bed.

Could be that Fritz – as all knew Peter Morgan – just didn’t like Downside and so disses all such schools. Or perhaps he really liked it, therefore all others are second and third rate?

“Each time that she heard about Meghan, Kate shook with giggles.”

Sadness at seeing another Windsor brought low by a scheming American bird?

Duchess of Sussex teases new TV and film projects at ‘Power of Women’ gala
Meghan says she and Prince Harry are having fun working on content that ‘make people feel something’ at Hollywood women’s gala

What is it that people are supposed to be feeling here, Hon?

Russell Brand has denied unspecified “very, very serious criminal allegations” he said had been put to him by a television company and newspaper.

The former actor and broadcaster, 48, posted a video to his YouTube channel on Friday night addressing claims he said had been made about him in private letters by journalists.

Mr Brand said he had received “two extremely disturbing letters” detailing “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks” from a “mainstream media TV company and a newspaper”.

Apparently the S Times is running a big, big, all hands on deck, story this weekend.

Is this it?

Probably not. Brand would have to be the father of Katherine’s little princes for him to make a big big story these days…

Mr Scobie’s focus on the Prince of Wales is unlikely to be favourable. He has positioned himself as one of the Sussexes’ biggest cheerleaders in recent years and it is well known that Prince Harry and his brother have not spoken for many months.

Harry described in his memoir how his relationship with the Waleses fell apart over Meghan, a dispute that prompted a physical fight at his Kensington Palace home.

He claimed that William called his wife “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, and warned him that the relationship was moving too fast.

That’s one up for the perceptiveness of Oor Wullie then, no?

Humza Yousaf labelled a ‘Sturgeon tribute act’ with plan to spend extra £1bn on benefits

Isn’t the point of a tribute act that you get to ride on the coattails of the successful performer who came before?

Prince Harry and Meghan have reportedly signed a multi-million-pound deal for the rights to turn a best-selling book about a couple who find love in their 30s into a Netflix film.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to have bought the rights to the romance novel, Meet Me At The Lake, by Canadian journalist and author Carley Fortune.

The novel, which sold 37,000 copies in the first week after its publication in May, centres on a love story about a couple who meet in their 30s, one of whom lost a parent in a car crash and went on to struggle with alcohol and drug use.

Presumably someone has checked that Ms. Fortune wasn’t tipped off to the plot by Harry and or Meghan then?

Jeremy Zimmer, chief executive of the Hollywood powerhouse United Talent Agency, gave his damning verdict after Spotify and the Sussexes announced their $20 million podcasting deal had come to a premature end.

Mr Zimmer, whose global talent business has represented Harrison Ford, Benedict Cumberbatch and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, reportedly said he was not surprised the streaming giant’s deal with the Sussexes came to an end.

The talent scout was discussing the deal during a discussion on podcasting and the role of celebrities at an event in Cannes, France, according to the website Semafor.

“Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” Semafor reported Mr Zimmer as saying during an interview at La Majestic during the Cannes Lions advertising festival.

Supposedly informed gossip says she does have talent – able to take the chrome off a tail-hitch…..

Taylor Swift ‘snubbed invite’ to Duchess of Sussex’s podcast
Reports claim Meghan wrote a personal letter asking her to appear on the Archetypes show but the singer declined through a representative

Gotta keep those standards up you know….

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been called “f—ing grifters” by a Spotify boss after their reputed £15.5 million podcast deal was dropped after one series.

I’ve no problem with grifters. I do have a problem with people incompetent at it…..

Meghan’s Spotify podcast dropped after just one series
The Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes series – part of a $20 million deal with the streaming giant – will not be renewed

Gosh. No doubt society’s racism over ginger afros or summat.

‘Jodie Comer had me in the palm of her hand’
Brilliant and bankable, the actress, who has just won a Tony award for a performance that blew Dominic Maxwell away,

Then again there was that bird a few weeks back who boasted of shagging all her interview subjects for a music mag, wasn’t there.

£300,000 a post? How Meghan could become a super-influencer
Reports that she is reviving her lifestyle blog, The Tig, have prompted insiders to predict that the duchess could become a social media force to be reckoned with

Back to blogging like a mere mortal.

Phillip Schofield has admitted having an affair with a much younger man who worked with him on This Morning and resigned from ITV over his lies about the relationship.

The television presenter, 61, issued a statement on Friday night in which he admitted the relationship was “unwise” but then stressed it was “not illegal”. The career of one of ITV’s most bankable stars may now be over, 38 years after he first appeared on British TV screens.

Schofield dramatically stepped down as presenter of ITV’s flagship daytime programme last week amid reports of a feud with his co-star Holly Willoughby.

On Friday night, he said he was “deeply sorry” for having lied to his wife and to ITV about his relationship with a young man reportedly 30 years his junior and who he first met as a teenager.

But he said the affair – which he described as “on-off” – had only begun once the young man began working on the ITV daytime show.

“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship,” said Schofield, adding: “That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”

I’m sure I recall reading about this back when we had that shreiking perfomance over “I’m gay!”.

Given the way the reporting works here it’s difficult to work out what the fuss is. Obvs, it’s not the gay bit. Which leaves us between the modern sins of either shagging the staff or lying about it.

Some work I’ve got to do. So, I need a list of – known to Americans so Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona whasshername is fine – ‘slebs likely to say silly things that I can follow on Twitter.

Yes, yes, I know. But the older dbase of people saying silly things – Vox, Huffpost, Salon etc – has become too much like shooting fish in barrels for my employers. So, I need a new sourcing of stories that are so stupid that they’re likely to mislead American teens and da youf.

So, your nominations. Must be a Twitter account, must be a sleb known to ‘Murican youf. With a propensity for saying stup0id things on mainstream subjects – yellow nails are in this week doesn’t count. Capitalism is to blame for climate change does.

So, your nominations?

No, not those ones, these ones:

Backgrid told the BBC the letter stated: “We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours.”

The agency told the broadcaster it had replied: “In America, as I’m sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps kings can do.

“Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the crown were rejected by this country long ago.

“We stand by our founding fathers.”

Myself, if I was doing the PR here, I would have ended the letter at:

“third parties cannot just demand it be given to them.”

I’d have left all the rest, including the implicit “Your Move, Honey” to be implicit.

Meghan Markle Shows Her Take on Hiking Attire in Rare Photographed Outing After King Charles’ Coronation
She’s seldom photographed by paparazzi, but the morning after Charles’ coronation marked an exception.

My word, who could have seen that one coming?

The Duchess of Sussex has reportedly signed with a powerhouse talent agency that represents some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities.

She will be represented at WME by a team that includes Hollywood power agent Ari Emanuel and agents already representing Serena Williams and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Variety and other media reported.

The industry publication said WME beat rival agencies who had been trying to sign the Duchess since she and the Duke of Sussex arrived in California in 2020.

Presumably she’ll now start being in road movies – being outacted by the cars like everyone else.

Still, beats the previous career of being outacted by the furniture (yes, I know, the traditional insult is being outacted by the scenery flats, but that’s not good enough for Our Duchess now, is it?)

Grammy-winning singer Lizzo protests Tennessee law restricting drag shows

I’d not thought Lizzo was a drag act.

Oh well.