Good morning. Here's the latest on Elon Musk, Emily Gould, NPR, Keith Poole, Hoda Kotb, "Hacks," Mike White, Barack Obama, and more... |
Hollywood studios and streamers aren't exactly craving politically provocative shows and movies right now. Producers are "toning down liberal themes in response to the new political climate," Business Insider's Lucia Moses wrote back in March. And that's not all. Media companies are downplaying diversity initiatives. And remember how "The Apprentice" film struggled to gain distribution?
That's what makes the timing of "The Handmaid's Tale" finale all the more remarkable.
The acclaimed Hulu drama, which streamed its final episode yesterday, was unavoidably and unapologetically political with its portrayal of a totalitarian patriarchal society.
The show's producers and stars started work on season one in 2016 with the belief that Hillary Clinton would be the first woman president. Instead, President Trump took office just a few months before "Handmaid's" launched, so the show spawned a thousand think pieces. Some anti-Trump protesters even donned red robes and white bonnets inspired by the show.
The show's producers leaned in. They didn't hesitate when asked about real-world comparisons to the radicalism portrayed on screen. "We're on a very, very slippery slope toward Gilead," executive producer Warren Littlefield told me back in 2019.
I checked back in with Littlefield while awaiting the finale this week. "In early Handmaid's days," he said, "we present a world that was too preoccupied staring into their phones to see Gilead coming until it's upon our characters and taken over their lives."
As for that slippery slope, Littlefield perceives that it's even more treacherous today. "Our America is getting harder to recognize each and every day," he said, as Margaret Atwood's "speculative fiction written 40 years ago on a rented typewriter in Berlin becomes closer to reality."
Littlefield said "our message this year, in hopefully a compelling dramatic way, continues to be — like June, don't give up the fight."
Elisabeth Moss, who played June, is on the cover of this week's Variety. When asked if "the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade [created] a new urgency on set," she said it was already pretty urgent: "The only way we've ever made this show was to have this sense of immediacy and relevancy that is not pleasant but is definitely galvanizing."
By the way, our title, "Slouching toward Gilead," was coined by The Atlantic's Megan Garber back in 2021, when she wrote that the series "showed the ease with which the unthinkable can become ordinary—a lesson crucial in the age of the Big Lie."
Maybe the political overtones turned off some would-be viewers. But the show didn't meaningfully suffer in this polarized media climate. Instead it benefited — because it evoked meaningful emotions and was elevated by current events. "Handmaid's" had something to say, and a unique time to say it, and isn't that every artist wants?
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Some of the "Handmaid's" stars have said they're happy to be finished. "I don't need for the show that I'm on to be mirroring what is happening nationally and globally," Samira Wiley, who played Moira, told The Hollywood Reporter.
But as showrunner
Yahlin Chang pointed out in the same oral history, "one of the best things about the show is we're telling stories about refugees and displaced people. You can't just walk into a Hollywood studio and pitch that. The fact that we're able to give voice to have our characters as Americans go through what, unfortunately, people all throughout the world go through and where we can really empathize with them fills me with hope for humanity."
Conversely, Chang said in an interview with TheWrap that the show "kind of failed" to serve as a cautionary tale: "It's shocking to me, when I think about when I joined the show, I had more rights as a woman than I have now."
Many of the "Handmaid's" producers are now working on a sequel series called
"The Testaments." And as for the final scene of the original series, I thought it was pitch-perfect. If you've watched, lemme know what you thought.
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Elon Musk's new interviews |
The Drudge Report's banner right now: "MUSK DOWNLOADS ON THE DON." For all his "you are the media" talk, Elon Musk is doing a lot of talking to the media, Hadas Gold points out. Last week Musk sat with journalists from CNBC and Bloomberg. Yesterday he talked with Ars Technica and The Washington Post. "I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," Musk told Ars Technica's Eric Berger.
He also taped an interview with David Pogue for this weekend's "CBS Sunday Morning," and in a preview clip released by CBS, Musk said "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing." Sam Stein's takeaway: "A top White House aide says the president's main piece of domestic legislation is a disappointment and that it hurts the deficit (as opposed to the public talking points, which holds that it helps with it.)"
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'The attack on knowledge' |
Universities like Harvard are being squeezed. Libraries are losing funding. The "engines of American scientific inquiry and ingenuity" like NIH "are under sustained attack." Artistic institutions like the Kennedy Center "are being converted into homes for MAGA ideology rather than historical fact and free expression." Educators "are being cowed into silence, and researchers are being warned not to broach forbidden subjects."
This all amounts to "an attack on knowledge," The Atlantic's Adam Serwer writes. "By destroying knowledge, Trumpists seek to make the country more amenable to their political domination, and to prevent meaningful democratic checks on their behavior." After all, "accountability requires information. The public must know what is happening if it is ever going to demand change."
Right now Serwer's essay is the most-read item on The Atlantic's website... |
'Pure viewpoint discrimination' |
Yesterday MAGA loyalists and other conservatives ridiculed NPR's decision to sue Trump. So what exactly makes Trump's defunding demand a First Amendment violation, according to NPR's lawyers? I called up Theodore Boutrous, one of the veteran attorneys representing NPR, and he said the two key words are "viewpoint discrimination."
Trump keeps claiming NPR is biased and keeps linking that belief to his defunding demand. NPR rejects Trump's charges, but the charges are what potentially expose him in court. The suit says Trump's executive order against public media is "textbook retaliation" for what he perceives to be NPR's POV. In the realm of First Amendment law, this is known as viewpoint-based discrimination.
>> NPR's case has been assigned to Judge Randolph D. Moss, whom Scott Nover points out is already overseeing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's suit...
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NY Post 'catch and kill' case? |
Over the weekend when Trump realized that a pool reporter asking him questions was from the New York Post, he suddenly lit up. "I like Keith Poole," Trump said, naming the Post's editor out of nowhere.
That seems like relevant context for this next story. Post reporter Josh Kosman was suspended from the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper yesterday after speaking with Lachlan Cartwright and accusing Poole of spiking a story about Trump's DEA boss pick Terry Cole. The paper said Kosman's claim was "categorically untrue," but the story in question never ran. (CNN ultimately reported on some of the same incidents Kosman had looked into.)
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Smartmatic seeks sunlight |
Marshall Cohen reports: Smartmatic is asking a NY judge to unseal recent court filings that potentially contain highly damaging revelations about Fox News, Rupert Murdoch and the 2020 election. "Smartmatic does not own a media empire," the voting company wrote, arguing that "the public has a right to access the evidence" in the defamation lawsuit. Fox denies wrongdoing and says the litigation is essentially an attempted shakedown that threatens First Amendment press freedoms.
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Trump revoking Harvard's ability to host international students "could affect noncitizens accepted into the university's prestigious fellowship for professional journalists," the Nieman Fellowship, Angela Fu reports. (Poynter)
>> As Kaitlan Collins put it last night, Trump granted a "get-out-of-jail-free card to two fellow reality TV stars" by pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley. (CNN)
>> Two Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Van Hollen, are urging Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem to "protect and prioritize the safety of journalists affiliated with U.S. government-funded international broadcasters." There are no indications that's happening, however. (Axios)
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Post's 'are you in or out?' moment |
The Washington Post is offering voluntary buyouts to a wide array of newsroom and opinion section employees. Matt Murray said the buyouts are part of an initiative to reshape and modernize the newsroom, providing "an opportunity to colleagues who may want to pursue alternatives" the chance to do so. But, as the NYT's Ben Mullin pointed out, the move feels like "a big 'are you in or out?' moment" for staffers.
The decision to offer buyouts to opinion staffers also comes as the Post has yet to identify the section's new editor. It's hard to know whether to stay when you don't know who your boss will be, though Jeff Bezos has been crystal clear about his vision for the section…
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>> Hoda Kotb is returning to the fourth hour of the "Today" show this morning for one day to promote her new wellness brand. (Newscast Studio)
>> One of MSNBC's highest-rated hosts, Ari Melber, "has held meetings with rival networks," and is also "weighing whether to start his own media company." (Breaker)
>> Emily Gould is taking over NYMag's flagship daily newsletter, Dinner Party, following Choire Sicha's move to CNN. (NYMag)
>> "The co-founder and executive chair of Food52, Amanda Hesser, is stepping away from the influential food media publisher she started alongside Merrill Stubbs 16 years ago." (Adweek)
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>> "Meta is restructuring its AI teams to speed up the rollout of new products and features," Ina Fried reports. (Axios)
>> Apple "is planning a dedicated app for video games on its devices," Mark Gurman scoops. The app "will serve as a launcher for titles and centralize in-game achievements, leaderboards, communications and other activity." (Bloomberg)
>> "AI chatbots have made scam emails harder to spot and the tells we've all been trained to look for — clunky grammar, weird phrasing — utterly useless," Sam Sabin writes. (Axios)
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YouTube's growing share of your time |
Liam Reilly writes: In April YouTube accounted for 12.4% of consumers' time spent watching TV. Nielsen said "this marks YouTube's third consecutive month atop the Media Distributor Gauge, as well as its largest share of TV to date." Disney and Paramount came in second and third. Also noteworthy: April was the first time since Nielsen began producing this gauge in November 2023 that the rankings "have stayed exactly the same month over month."
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> Just announced: "The White Lotus" creator Mike White will compete in "Survivor" season 50. (CBS Mornings)
>> Ahead of tomorrow's season four finale of "Hacks," Max has renewed the show for a fifth season. (Deadline)
>> HBO has cast the leading trio for the upcoming "Harry Potter" TV series. (CNN)
>> "Morgan Wallen's 'What I Want,' featuring Tate McRae, blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100" this week. (Billboard)
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'Good Night' for the Obamas |
A Reliable reader tells us that last night's performance of "Good Night, and Good Luck" had a high-profile couple in attendance: Barack and Michelle Obama, who were met with a standing ovation upon entering the Winter Garden Theatre. After the show, George Clooney called attention to his mother, his wife, and the Obamas — describing the latter as "Michelle Obama and her husband," our tipster says.
🔌: The play will be shown live on CNN ten days from now, on Saturday, June 7 at 7pm ET.
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