I like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex a lot, but even more than that, I root for them. I want them to be successful, I want them to be rich, safe and protected from the high-level campaign to hurt them and disrupt every part of their lives. Which is why I want them to make better decisions about how they communicate with the world and how they promote their work. This is turning into their Achilles, their bizarre and outdated communications strategies and their refusal to advocate on their own behalf when it comes to their business. They massively f–ked up last year when they went silent as Spotify dropped them and Bill Simmons called them “f–king grifters.” And they’re f–king up again this month by refusing to promote the Netflix Polo series. Meghan and Harry wouldn’t even do a couple of interviews in the trade papers, they wouldn’t even host a screening. So, obviously, the narrative of “Polo is a bomb, and the Sussexes don’t even want to acknowledge it” narrative has taken hold.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to be galloping away from any association with their new show about polo, after it was ridiculed by critics as a tin-eared foray into the “world’s stupidest sport.”
Notably, there has been no visible promotion for the show, entitled, imaginatively enough, Polo; no interviews or podcast episodes with Meghan or Harry have dropped, and records suggest there are no premieres or press events scheduled to support its launch earlier this week. It’s a grim turn of events for the couple, once heralded as Netflix’s golden duo. Their own lack of engagement with promotional efforts for the show, which they executive produced and have a cameo role in, suggests even they know it’s a dud.
Sean McNulty, a producer, writer, and Hollywood veteran who also created and wrote the Hollywood newsletter The Wakeup, told The Daily Beast: “This one hasn’t been on my radar at all this week, which maybe says it all right there.” McNulty noted the absence of coverage in the Hollywood trade papers and the apparent absence of any scheduled premiere or press activity for the series, saying: “The lack of a proper, visible press campaign for a series from Harry & Meghan raises an eyebrow to say the least.”
He said that Netflix has launched “other much higher profile content this week” such as Carry-On, Jamie Foxx and Sabrina Carpenter specials, which suggested Polo “could very well disappear in to the Netflix ether quite quickly.”
Harry and Meghan do not have official social media accounts but their friends who have often promoted things on their behalf have been eerily quiet too. Even Nacho Figueras, the player sometimes described as the David Beckham of polo, who is one of the stars of the show, only posted a few tweets and one Instagram story about the show earlier this week before moving on.
More shuffling away from the bad smell was evident in remarks attributed to a source reportedly quoted in Closer Magazine, who said the end result was “pretty much out of their control” because “the bosses wanted the series to appeal to the masses and push this reality TV angle.”
With a spokesperson for the couple declining to comment, it looks suspiciously like Harry and Meghan would rather we all quietly pretend this new show doesn’t exist. Critics, however, do not appear ready to extend that courtesy.
Even Harry’s arch-foe Prince William appeared to troll the couple earlier this week, revealing he has been enjoying Netflix—except he said he was watching the hit new show Black Doves.
As I said, I watched one episode of Polo and I’m going to finish the series this weekend. It’s enjoyable and actually well-done. Harry and Meghan should be proud of the finished product, and I cannot understand why they’re refusing to hype it or even remind people that it’s out now. Sussex fans will say “the British media gives them free promotion for whatever they do,” but that’s how the “Polo is a terrible show and it’s bombing” narrative came about in the first place. Even if H&M aren’t particularly proud of Polo – which, again, I think is a good show – they still have the responsibility as producers to hype their product and ask people to watch it.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Netflix.