Movie bosses are “weary” of Team Sussex… but there is some hope of a “seismic” recovery for the royal couple’s image which is currently “clearly not working” say insiders.
PR guru and crisis management specialist Mark Borkowski declared: “Showbusiness is attracted to success and financial gains. Turkeys are only acceptable for Thanksgiving.
“There’s speculation that the industry might be growing weary of their presence.” He added: “Something is beginning to unwind at the heart of Meghan and Harry.”
And he predicted: “I think 2024 is going to be seismic, either because they are going to do something to recover and find a new positive tactic – or it’s going to be the undoing of the brand.
“The ongoing scrutiny surrounding the Sussexes isn’t beneficial – it’s a black hole. In Tinseltown, negativity isn’t embraced.”
Former BBC Royal Correspondent Michael Cole said: “Americans have grown weary of them for bringing nothing but negativity to everything they touch.
“Over the past year, they have achieved little more than alienating themselves from the US public and the powerful media companies that employ them.”
His comments come in the wake of opinion polls that show William and Kate are far more popular on both sides of the Atlantic – with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex being named among “Hollywood’s biggest losers” of 2023.
That stinging title was bestowed on them by widely respected “industry bible” the Hollywood Reporter. It excoriated them for their “whiny” Netflix series, Harry’s “whiny” memoir Spare.
Their “inert” podcast Archetypes, ended with Spotify ditching a £15.8million contract and the pair being branded “******* grifters” by one of the audio giant’s bosses.
Ironically, 2023 began with a gold rush for the couple as their Netflix docu-series Harry & Meghan attracted huge audiences worldwide, and Spare becoming the fastest-selling non-fiction book in history.
Their popularity dipped in May when they claimed to have been chased through the streets of New York by paparazzi in a pursuit reminiscent of the one that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
The NYPD denied any knowledge and many pointed out even at night, Manhattan’s streets are largely gridlocked. The bubble burst just weeks later with Spotify’s shock termination. And last month, the Sunday Express reported how Meghan’s new handlers at WME are said to be “exasperated” over the couple’s missteps since she signed.
This includes the release of their “friend” Omid Scobie’s explosive book Endgame. A rogue Dutch translation named two senior Royal Family members as “racists” who questioned the skin colour of then-unborn Prince Archie, who is now four.
Harry and Meghan refused to condemn the book, in which they claim to have taken no part.
Mr Cole said of their plunging popularity: “America loves winners, not whiners and, through hard work and endeavour, William and Kate, especially, are making their mark.
“Meghan, meanwhile, seems to be lost in no-man’s-land while Harry is thought of as the little boy who is constantly sticking his tongue out at his family.”
Mr Cole added: “I can only see a bleak outlook for them both if they continue to behave as they do.”
