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 writes 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.”
Tony Case, a marketing expert and writer, told The Daily Beast: “The critics have universally slammed the show. Harry and Meghan are box office poison. Of course everyone is running away from it, in every direction, so to as to not pick up the stench of this colossal bomb. From a brand perspective, I’m not really sure anything can be done at this point to reverse consumers’ obvious apathy toward the Sussexes. They set out to conquer America, but nobody here, it turned out, found them or what they’re peddling to be particularly compelling.”
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.
The Daily Telegraph called Polo a “tedious inside look” at the sport and a “dull indulgence,” while the Guardian, declared polo “the stupidest, most obnoxious sport known to humanity.” One reviewer suggested the series felt like something designed to play in the background of Succession episodes.
It is all a far cry from the lofty ambitions Harry and Meghan had when they signed their much-publicized $100 million Netflix deal. Back then, the couple promised “content that informs but also gives hope” through a “truthful and relatable lens.” Fast-forward to today, and they’ve apparently delivered a reality TV-style take on polo that’s been compared to Selling Sunset and The Real Housewives franchise, just without the ratings.
So, not quite the hope-filled masterpiece we were expecting.
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.
