We recently passed the one-year anniversary of the Mother’s Day frankenphoto fiasco. To recap, the Princess of Wales went missing for months, then on Mother’s Day weekend in the UK – which was Oscar weekend – Kensington Palace released a “new photo taken by Prince William” of Kate and their three children. Within minutes/hours of the photo’s release, people began analyzing the amateurish Photoshop, with many theorizing that the photo (released officially by KP, remember) was hacked together using several photos. By the time of the Oscar red carpet, Reuters, the AP, AFP and Getty had all issued “kill orders” on the image. We later learned that a few of those agencies had even contacted KP and asked for the original image before issuing the kill order, but KP refused to play ball. Early Monday morning, “Kate” took responsibility for the hacked-together image and “she” apologized for causing confusion.

As many pointed out, this wasn’t just some minor controversy – what was supposed to be a health update about the future queen consort turned out to have been a faked and manipulated image. As I wrote at the time, “There are enormous ‘political consequences,’ and now, with this f–k up, Kensington Palace has zero credibility if and when some bigger sh-t hits the fan.” Instead of acknowledging that, KP and Buckingham Palace put a different plan into action, where it was all “woe is me, people were so mean to Kate while she had cancer!” We were just supposed to forget that William and his advisors all tossed a cancer-stricken Kate under the bus and made her take the fall for the frankenphoto, remember? Anyway, I bring up this sordid history because this week’s People Magazine cover story includes some revisionist history:

Kate Middleton and Prince William were hurt by the fallout around the photo they released for Mother’s Day last year after the Princess of Wales admitted to editing the picture.

“There was a real sense then that they felt bruised by it,” royal author Robert Hardman tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story. “It was treated like some great fraud.”

After undergoing planned abdominal surgery on Jan. 16, 2024, Princess Kate, 43, largely retreated from public view, fueling online rumors. When she shared a Mother’s Day photo of herself with her children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, taken by William, on March 10, the image quickly became the center of controversy.

Online sleuths spotted irregularities, leading major picture agencies to pull it from circulation. The following day, Kate admitted to editing the picture, but by then, a firestorm of conspiracy theories had taken hold.

For Kate and her family, the experience was overwhelming.

“It was like being on a roller coaster for them… undergoing chemotherapy and trying to protect your children. It was like being in the middle of a tornado and not knowing when it was going to calm down,” says Ailsa Anderson, former press secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth.

Unbeknownst to the public at the time, Princess Kate had been undergoing treatment for cancer. She bravely shared her diagnosis on March 22, 2024, in an emotional video filmed at Windsor.

[From People]

“It was like being in the middle of a tornado and not knowing when it was going to calm down” – again, this was not something done TO them – they CHOSE to release a hacked-together photo and pass it off as an official portrait and a health update on a missing princess. William also chose to toss his wife under the bus regarding the photo. “It was treated like some great fraud” – it was a huge fraud? Jesus. As many said at the time, imagine the Sussexes released some hacked-together image as an official portrait. The reaction from these people would have been much different. And that comparison doesn’t even completely work – again, William and Kate are the future king and queen, as they’re so fond of saying. They should be held to a different standard of truthfulness and authenticity.

Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace. Cover courtesy of The Sun.

It’s been a minute since we’ve talked about Tracy Anderson. I can’t even believe she’s still around and people are still paying attention to her? Anderson is a longtime personal trainer and sort of disordered-eating advocate/goblin. Tracy’s whole deal is very dated, but then again, I have not paid attention to her in years so maybe she has changed up her gimmicks. Tracy is still aligned with Gwyneth Paltrow and they have various business dealings with each other, enough that Tracy films “recipe videos” for Gwyneth’s Goop brand. This week, Tracy filmed one of those “recipe videos” and she made a not-so-veiled crack about the Duchess of Sussex.

Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson has seemingly made a thinly veiled crack at Meghan Markle over her decision to film her newly released Netflix show, “With Love, Meghan,” in a rented Montecito, CA, home instead of at her own $14.65 million mansion.

Anderson, 50, made the apparent crack while filming a recipe video for her close friend Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness brand, Goop, beginning her video by stating: “Hi, I’m Tracy Anderson. Welcome to my actual kitchen.”

The introduction was deemed by many to have been a dig at Markle, 43, who filmed her own series of cooking videos in the kitchen of a property that was used by Netflix as the set of the former “Suits” star’s lifestyle series, despite the fact that the show was billed as an “at home” experience with the Duchess of Sussex.

Markle’s series was largely taped inside an $8 million dwelling that appears to have been leased to serve as a filming location, with many of the episodes focusing on her endeavors in the kitchen, where she is often joined by a celebrity friend. There are many parallels to be drawn between Markle’s series and the clip posted by Anderson, in which the fitness expert puts together a “green goddess crunch salad.”

[From Realtor.com]

I was genuinely surprised that Realtor.com had some tea, and I wanted to use them as a source as opposed to the Daily Mail screaming about Tracy’s “BRUTAL SWIPE!” Anyway, I’ve never understood why people have latched onto “Meghan films at a rented home” as some kind of criticism/gotcha/example-of-inauthenticity. It’s always made perfect sense to me – Meghan doesn’t want a film crew in her home, especially when her kids are small. It’s insanely stressful to film this kind of show inside your own home, and plenty of chefs do the same, the film somewhere else or create a set which looks like a personal kitchen. Besides, if you watch WLM closely, you can see that some scenes are filmed outdoors at Meghan’s home. In any case, Tracy has always been an a–hole. You can go through our archives or subscribe to our mailing list for the top 8 stories, there’s more than a decade of assy lore about Tracy.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Here are some more photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla in Northern Ireland this week. They were in Belfast on Wednesday, and on Thursday, they were in Limavady. They did a “walkabout” and there were some official-looking events, but the best photos were from their visit to Hunters Bakery. I would say that Charles and Camilla – much like William and Kate in Wales several weeks ago – made a point of handling food and doing a cooking “photo op” as some kind of message for/about the Duchess of Sussex and her show. But I have to admit that Charles and Camilla always do food-based photo-ops. It’s one of the few things I like about them – wherever they go, they stop by local bakeries, pubs and delis. Charles has always had a particular interest in what locals are baking, while Camilla has always had a particular interest in local spirits.

Charles also stopped by Ulster University’s Pharmacy and Pharmacology Department, where he met some fellow cancer patients. Charles quoted Winston Churchill, telling them “keep buggering on.” That was Churchill’s sign-off during WWII too, often abbreviated to “KBO.” Speaking of WWII, Donald Trump is “considering” giving up America’s long-standing position at the command of NATO. NATO is one of the strongest alliances in history, built in the wake of WWII, and America has maintained the American-only command position since the Eisenhower administration. Any day now, Trump will take the US out of NATO completely, I’m sure. All of which brings me to this ridiculous piece by the Mail’s Richard Eden – apparently, King Charles is going to invite the US into the British Commonwealth.

When Sir Keir Starmer personally delivered a letter from King Charles to Donald Trump at the White House last month, inviting him for an unprecedented second state visit, the American President said the monarch was a ‘beautiful man, a wonderful man’. It would, Trump added, be an ‘honour’ to visit the King’s ‘fantastic’ country.

Now, I hear that the monarch could make the president an offer he might find tempting.
And one which could help dampen down tensions between the White House and Canada, of which the King is head of state. Plans are being made for the USA to become the next ‘associate member’ of the Commonwealth.

The King shares his late mother’s deep affection and respect for the global ‘family of nations’, and sees it as particularly important at a time of international conflict and global uncertainty. The Commonwealth, whose nations have a total population of more than 2.7billion, is one of the world’s oldest political associations of states, with its roots in the British Empire.

Although America declared independence from Britain in 1776, this would be no impediment to its becoming the 57th member of the Commonwealth. The last four countries to join (Mozambique, Rwanda, Togo and Gabon) have no links with the British Empire, underlining the Commonwealth’s role as a voluntary organisation of independent and equal states.

The proposals were made by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), with the apparent backing of Queen Elizabeth, during Trump’s first term as president, but did not come to fruition. Now, the plans have been revived, with members of the society hopeful that the King will make the case to Trump when he meets him.

‘This is being discussed at the highest levels,’ a member claimed this week, telling me: ‘It would be a wonderful move that would symbolise Britain’s close relationship with the US. Donald Trump loves Britain and has great respect for the Royal Family, so we believe he would see the benefits of this. Associate membership could, hopefully, be followed by full membership, making the Commonwealth even more important as a global organisation.’

The source added: ‘The Commonwealth is also a great forum for resolving differences between nations, and the King has shown that he is a natural peacemaker.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Charles can offer, but as soon as Trump sees the list of Commonwealth member nations, he’ll say no. Because of woke. Global politics is a joke these days – Trump is seriously going to destroy NATO and then Charles will be like “hey, do you want to join our Former-Colony Group?” What’s even dumber is that the Commonwealth isn’t going to last much longer either – it will not survive past Charles, let’s be real.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Megan Stalter is an actress and comedian – she’s on Hacks and she’s part of LA’s alt-comedy scene, I think. Stalter is also plus-sized, especially for Hollywood’s achingly-thin standards. I’m positive that Stalter, like so many plus-sized women in Hollywood, has probably felt the pressure to go on Ozempic or Wegovy for weight-loss. But she has not given in to the pressure, probably because she’s been paying attention to one of the side effects of those drugs.

Megan Stalter says there is one reason why she has no intention of trying Ozempic, the type 2 diabetes drug that many have also used for weight loss.

While appearing on the March 13 episode of Grindr Presents: Who’s The A—–? with Katya podcast, the Hacks star, 34, spoke about a host of topics with RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Katya Zamolodchikova, including sexuality and sex toys, as well as the side effects of the popular injectable.

In a round of the podcast’s titular game, Katya, 42, asked Stalter what she thinks about people who “lie about using Ozempic,” which prompted the star to respond that she thinks people are fooling themselves if they think they can hide their use of the drug.

“Let’s just say the trips to the bathroom would say otherwise, okay? We know if you’re on it because you’re s——- your pants,” she said. “How is that hotter than being fat? That is insane to me. That is crazy.”

“I would rather be 500 lbs. than s——- all day. That’s so gross,” the comedian added.

[From People]

This reminds me of that blind item about someone having “Ozempic-induced diarrhea” at Gwyneth Paltrow’s Hamptons home. While Ozempic and the other diabetes/weight loss drugs have HUGE benefits (they even help calm an addict’s cravings, if not eliminate it completely), “diarrhea” seems to be a pretty consistent side effect too, and Angelenos like Stalter have probably seen a lot of newly-thin people running to the bathroom constantly. For some people, that trade-off isn’t worth it.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Parker Posey reveals if her White Lotus character even knows which country she is currently in (answer: Victoria does not care). [JustJared]
Michelle Monaghan wore a bold coat. [LaineyGossip]
Alicia Vikander wore Self Portrait (and not LV??). [RCFA]
Midwives are being targeted by various states. [Jezebel]
It feels weird to say this about an Oscar-winner, but Sam Rockwell should have had a different and better career. I think he enjoys being an oddball though. [Pajiba]
Amanda Seyfried showed off her eczema. [Buzzfeed]
Why is Orville Peck a thing? [Socialite Life]
Why were those poor astronauts stuck in space for nine months? [Hollywood Life]
Carl’s Jr definitely knows their customer. [Seriously OMG]
Ava Max has new music. [OMG Blog]

pic.twitter.com/3sfJd0tn8E

— out of context the white lotus (@oocwhitelotus) March 17, 2025

In 2017, I was really concerned that Donald Trump was going to destroy Michelle Obama’s White House vegetable gardens out of spite. Remember that? He made some noise about it, but reportedly, Melania Trump stopped him, and Mel even did a couple of photo-ops in Michelle’s veggie gardens too. While Melania didn’t touch Michelle’s gardens, Melania redid the White House Rose Garden, which was originally planned out by Jackie Kennedy. Jackie wanted the rose garden to be bright and colorful, and while there were minor edits by other First Ladies, Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden stayed put until the first Trump administration. That’s when Melania made it into a sad “White Power” garden, taking out all of the colorful blooms and replacing everything with all-white flowers. Melania also ripped out the crab-apple and cherry trees. It was disgusting. Well, it’s about to get even worse – Donald Trump plans to rip out Melania’s white-power garden and pave the whole thing.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he plans to pave over the White House Rose Garden because “grass, it just doesn’t work.” Trump talked about the changes during an interview with Fox News that aired Wednesday night.

Trump and Fox News host Laura Ingraham walked the grounds of the White House, and then he showed off changes in the Oval Office, including the addition of diminutive gold cherubs.

He said the Rose Garden is “supposed to have events — every event you have, it’s soaking wet, it’s soaking wet, and people can’t, and the women with the high heels, it just didn’t work. And we have a gorgeous stone and everything else, but, you know, we use it for press conferences, and it doesn’t work, because the people fall into the wet [grass]. The roses stay, no, it’s the Rose Garden, all of this stays. It’s just the center section.”

Trump personally reviewed the plans for the Rose Garden recently with White House curators.

Last weekend, CNN reported that Trump plans to transform the garden into a patio-style seating area, much like the one at Mar-a-Lago, his private estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

[From Yahoo]

Patio-style seating? That makes no sense for the Rose Garden, which is directly adjacent to the Oval Office and the breezeway. That’s where outdoor press conferences and signing ceremonies are held. That’s also where they do some of the WH Easter festivities too, right? Between this and Trump putting gold-plated sh-t everywhere in the White House, this is all just tacky as hell. Granted, there are much bigger concerns and we’re talking about literal fascism here. But I’m just offended in general that they’re turning the White House Rose Garden into a place where Trump can slump in a deck chair and sip a Coke. Also: there are already patios and private balconies in the White House!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.

On Tuesday, a federal judge “released” information about Prince Harry’s visa records. The information was a document dump of almost entirely redacted/blacked-out text. The British and American media had spent years sharpening their knives and screaming “cocaine, deportation, Harry lied” over and over and then the court was like, lol, nah. Yes, I’ve seen Nile Gardiner’s spectacular crashout too – he’s the Heritage Foundation douche who has made it his mission in life to get Harry deported from America. Gardiner’s likely alt account just got exposed this week, but we don’t need to get into the weeds on that one. Meanwhile, I read through the Times of London’s coverage, which was surprisingly not written by a royalist wingnut. I thought some of you might enjoy these highlights:

The department of immigration and citizenship said that releasing “[Harry’s] exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others”. Jarrod Panter, the chief freedom of information officer at the DHS, said the department “routinely protects from disclosure the non-immigrant/immigrant status sought by third parties who do not have permission from the beneficiary to receive this information”.

Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney based in Georgia, told The Times there was nothing unusual in the judge’s decision to withhold the documents.

“Not only would it be illegal for them to release this information, it would be a federal crime for them to do so,” he said. “I’m surprised a federal judge was convinced to take it this far. I guess I’m going to ask for Elon’s (Musk) file now and Melania’s (Trump) file because isn’t it in the public interest there as well?”

Experts have speculated that Harry could have used an A-1 Head of State visa, which entails less stringent security checks and would have allowed Harry to come and go from the US frequently with no limit on the duration of his stay. Residing in the US on an A-1 visa would make Harry both immune from prosecution and exempt from paying tax to the US Internal Revenue Service.

“Prince Harry, if he is on an A-1 Head of State visa, will remain US tax nonresident regardless of his presence in the United States,” said Clayton Cartwright, managing member of The Cartwright Law Firm. “It keeps private to Great Britain not just the foreign assets Prince Harry owns, but also other assets of the royal family on which he is listed. It is good diplomatic practice,” he said. Cartwright noted that it would, however, mean Harry was not on a path to citizenship as he could be with a green card, making him more vulnerable in the longer term to possible deportation.

[From The Times]

I mostly avoid speculating about what kind of visa Harry has because it’s not any of my business and it’s not the Heritage Foundation’s business either. But given how thoroughly Heritage’s attempts have been shut down over and over, I do think it’s probably pretty likely that Harry does have one of the more elite visas like an A-1. It would make sense if it was one of the rare ones, because the few people who have looked at Harry’s (unredacted) records are immediately like “wow, nothing to see here, folks!” As for Charles Kuck’s comments… I’m shocked that the Times even published them. What’s that? If Heritage got their way, Harry could sue the sh-t out of them and the DHS? You mean Heritage has been demanding that DHS commit a federal crime by releasing Harry’s records?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The Princess of Wales surprised a lot of people in January when she went solo to the Royal Marsden Hospital and announced that she had been treated for cancer there in 2024, and that she was now in remission. What was also surprising was the timing – Kate went to the hospital on January 14th, the day before With Love, Meghan was originally supposed to be released. As we’ve noted many times, it does feel like Kate has been out and about more than planned this year specifically because the Duchess of Sussex has been much more visible too. In recent months, there definitely seemed to be a thrown-together plan from the Windsors to attack Meghan, even sending Jason Knauf out to give an on-camera interview for no specific reason other than bringing up the stupid “bullying” narrative again.

What was so bizarre to me is that the royal/royalist effort to “derail” or harm Meghan came when she was promoting an easy-breezy cooking/lifestyle show. That’s it – she wasn’t spilling all about the Windsors, she wasn’t throwing Molotov cocktails at Buckingham Palace. She was just cooking for friends on camera, and the Windsors and their media allies were launching a full-scale assault like it was The Oprah Interview Part II. Well, In Touch Weekly claims that the Princess of Wales in particular now realizes that WLM is just harmless fluff and no one should be worried about it.

Is everyone at the palace bingeing Netflix? A source exclusively reveals to In Touch that the royal family is divided over Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show, With Love, Meghan.

While some members of the Firm, like King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William, “aren’t watching,” says a source, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who have maintained friendships with their cousin Prince Harry, and Meghan, 43, “have been very complimentary and supportive.”

But the most surprising reaction came from Princess Kate Middleton, says the source. “She isn’t making a fuss about it, but there’s a sense of relief that Meghan is putting her energy into something that steers far away from speaking about the family or stirring up controversy,” the source reveals of the princess, who was infamously implicated in an early copy of the Dutch edition of the 2023 book Endgame as one of the royals to allegedly make “racist” comments toward Meghan.

Kate, 43, shares her sister-in-law’s interests in gardening, baking and beekeeping, notes the source, and “from her view this show is harmless and should be seen as a positive thing.”

[From In Touch Weekly]

I said before that I believe King Charles will skip WLM, but Camilla will probably watch it with a stiff drink and a smirk. I also believe William and Kate have already watched the whole series, separately of course, and for completely different reasons. Kate watched it for ideas, fashion inspo and event-planning inspo – I guarantee that Kate will be copy-keening parts of WLM in future engagements. William watched it for other reasons.

As for Kate reportedly thinking that the whole thing was harmless… again, I have to wonder if the Windsors and their media allies understand that they look absolutely bonkers when they launch these attacks on Meghan for a peaceful little entertaining show. If you treat “Meghan cooking crepes” as an existential threat to the monarchy, what does that say about the MONARCHY?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

This week, Jimmy Fallon made an extremely mild joke about the Duchess of Sussex transferring Trader Joe pretzels into a smaller bag for a guest on With Love, Meghan. I said that I hoped Meghan and her fans would understand that this was a compliment, that it means people are watching WLM and the show is culturally relevant enough to get a joke on the Tonight Show. I also said that it would be smart/funny for Meghan to give Fallon a bag of pretzels, or show (in some way) that she has a sense of humor about all of the insanity around WLM. Well, it looks like that is the plan in some way. Meghan sent a handwritten note to a podcaster who expressed “concerns” about WLM – a small sign that Meghan is paying attention to what’s being said, by certain people at least.

Meghan Markle is showing she can roll with the jokes when it comes to her new Netflix show — and she’s got the pen game to match. Two weeks after With Love, Meghan premiered on March 4, Meghan, 43, sent a witty response to Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast host Amanda Hirsch, who voiced concerns over the lifestyle show’s reception before it was released.

Hirsh proudly shared a letter she got from the Duchess of Sussex in an Instagram post on Wednesday, March 19, which PEOPLE can confirm is real.

Hirsch’s post began with a screenshot of her comment on Meghan’s Instagram post featuring the With Love, Meghan trailer. “You guys I’m scared for Meghan,” Hirsch wrote.

In response, Meghan wrote to Hirsch: “Dear Amanda, I heard you were feeling scared. Don’t be! This is the fun part — let’s enjoy it.”

Hirsch was seemingly surprised by the letter, captioning the post, “OH MY DUCHESS.”

The podcaster shared more about the meaning of her original comment in her Instagram Stories. “Remember I said I was scared for Meghan’s new show and the possible hate she would get bc for some reason ppl wanna hate on her about everything?” she asked her followers.

In a follow-up Story showing the letter, Hirsch said Meghan now has a new “fan for life.”

“Like, obviously framing this,” Hirsch wrote. “Beyond shook. Beyond spiraling. Did I smell the paper? Yes! Do I want my own monogram? Yes. Am I absolutely flabbergasted and obsessed. F—. YES.”

[From People]

This might end up being something like the jam-baskets last year – a piece of cultural cachet, if you get a note or card from Meghan. I certainly hope she’s sending out more of those! As for Hirsch… I don’t follow or listen to her pod, but it’s pretty popular and she gets major guests. That could be a piece of the larger puzzle too, as Meghan reenters the podcast world – making an effort to befriend some fellow female podcasters. I obviously didn’t follow what Hirsch said about WLM initially, but the Mail had a summary – Hirsch was worried that people were going to “pile on” Meghan for being “inauthentic.” Hirsch didn’t seem like a hater, but she was expressing concern that the hate machine against Meghan would get stronger with the show.

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Photos courtesy of Netflix, Instagram.

Ted Sarandos covers this week’s Variety. He’s celebrating 25 years at Netflix, a time period in which he’s turned a DVD-by-mail service into a $410 billion streaming juggernaut. Netflix pioneered all of this, and Sarandos watches Netflix’s imitators carefully. I came away from this interview sort of fascinated by him and his vision. So many people in Hollywood consider him to be the guy who will single-handedly ruin the theatrical movie experience, but Sarandos actually loves going to the movie theater (and Netflix owns a theater too). He dished about Netflix’s upcoming year, which includes new seasons of Squid Game, Wednesday and Stranger Things, plus new movies from Guillermo del Toro and Noah Baumbach. And a new Knives Out! One of the biggest headlines from this piece is when Variety asked him about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Some highlights:

In 2017, he said he didn’t understand Amazon’s original content strategy. “This is just me as an observer. Sports has been very effective. And I don’t know if that’s their entire strategy.”

Whether he thinks Amazon will be able to compete with Netflix longterm: “I don’t. It’s hard for me to say. I don’t know what their long-term plans are. They’ve been streaming exactly as long as we have. They’ve been making original content exactly as long as we have.

What he thinks of AppleTV’s original content: “I don’t understand it beyond a marketing play, but they’re really smart people. Maybe they see something we don’t.”

Whether Netflix will renew its partnership with the Obamas: “I don’t want to comment on anyone’s renewals. In general, the ones that we’ve had are bespoke and rationalized around output. I think of them as “show-verall” deals. We outline what we’re going to do together over the next five years and package it in a deal.

Netflix’s investment in the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever line: “We’re a passive partner in Meghan’s company, and it’s a big discovery model for us right now.

Whether Meghan is the right person for Netflix to bet on: “I think Meghan is underestimated in terms of her influence on culture. When we dropped the trailer for the “Harry & Meghan” doc series [in 2022], everything on-screen was dissected in the press for days. The shoes she was wearing sold out all over the world. The Hermès blanket that was on the chair behind her sold out everywhere in the world. People are fascinated with Meghan Markle. She and Harry are overly dismissed.”

Whether the investment in the Sussexes is anything beyond a marketing play: “It’s good for marketing and branding. This is all expressions of fandom. I don’t really see us having theme parks, but I do see us having a lot of touch points with consumers like this. I admire the Topgolf model versus the Disneyland model, where people go more frequently through the year and you come back to check things out. We’re going to be much more part of our fans’ lives than going into Disneyland once every couple of years. And I’m not sh-tting on Disneyland.”

[From Variety]

This is not the first time someone in the Netflix C-suite has stood up for the Sussexes and maintained that Netflix is absolutely on good terms with Harry and Meghan. Maybe the British media will finally believe it when it comes out of Ted Sarandos’ mouth, you know? Clearly, Sarandos sees something there, and he knows that there’s an especially rabid fascination with everything Meghan does, says and wears. And he wants to be part of that, and he wants to profit from it and he wants to find the best way to monetize that fascination.

I’d just like to point out something else though – while Sarandos is defending Meghan and standing by WLM and As Ever, he’s also making it clear that it’s not like Netflix is laying out a fortune on this experiment. That’s what I said when I saw WLM – it will be so easy for Netflix to greenlight a dozen seasons, because it’s so inexpensive to produce. It’s the same with As Ever – the money Netflix is putting into As Ever is basically a rounding error for a $410 billion company. That, more than anything else, is why it’s easy for Sarandos to support the Sussexes. Because it really doesn’t cost him that much to do so. Plus, I think he genuinely likes Meghan.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, cover courtesy of Variety.