TGIF! Here's the latest on TikTok, Pamela Paul, Charles Blow, Unrivaled, "Beast Games," and more. We're going to start with three entertainment world stories...
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The drama stemming from "It Ends with Us" may never end. This is, as CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister said on air, "ALL-OUT WAR by Hollywood standards."
Yesterday, director Justin Baldoni sued his co-star Blake Lively, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy, weeks after Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassing her and orchestrating a smear campaign against her. Lively's legal team responded last night by saying, "this is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim."
Every new legal filing reads like a spec script, complete with backstabbing text messages and email receipts and other dramatic flourishes. Spouses and publicists and production companies are all entangled. Even Taylor Swift is name-checked in the newest suit. Check out Wagmeister's story for details. I also highly recommend reading the PDF's of the suits – here is Lively's Dec. 31 complaint against Baldoni, and here is Baldoni's new complaint against her.
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The FireAid benefit concert for Los Angeles wildfire victims is coming together quickly. Native Angelenos Billie Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gracie Abrams are among the performers, along with a huge list of other stars. "The performances will take place on January 30 at two venues, the Kia Forum and the new Intuit Dome," CNN's Alli Rosenbloom reports. All the major streamers have committed to showing the concert, along with iHeartRadio stations and other platforms. As Alex Weprin observed, it's a "sign of the times that benefit concerts are now focused on getting on all the streaming services..."
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Inside the control room on 'September 5' |
"September 5" opens wide today. Rotten Tomatoes sums up the critical praise for the film this way: "Capturing the compromises, dedication, and human fallibility of the newsroom, 'September 5' is a worthy chronicle of a tragic flashpoint in broadcast media history." Portraying ABC's close-up coverage of the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics, it's "a media movie for media junkies," Drew Lerner of Awful Announcing writes. "But even those with no background or interest in media will find the film compelling." CNN's David Daniel has a video sneak peek here.
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Three more big showbiz stories |
>> Season two of "Severance" premieres today, almost three years after the first season left us spellbound. Creators Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller sat down with Kayla Cobb to explain why it took so long to make... (TheWrap)
>> On Saturday, Dave Chappelle will host the first "SNL" of the year... (Beast)
>> Matt Belloni's overnight scoop: He says "Greta Gerwig broke Netflix and its no-theaters rule. She's getting a unique release for 'Narnia' and a pretty long window of exclusivity." It's a "major, precedent-setting deal months in the making..." (Puck)
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As first reported by NYMag's Charlotte Klein this morning, Kathleen Kingsbury is making some changes to the NYT's Opinion section. Two columnists, Pamela Paul and Charles Blow, "are winding down their tenure in Opinion over the next several weeks," Kingsbury said in an internal memo. Newsletter writer Peter Coy and Op-Docs senior editor Christine Kecher are also departing...
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Time for the TikTok ruling |
Chief Justice John Roberts asked the pivotal question last week: "Are we supposed to ignore the fact" that TikTok's parent company "is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?"
Many lawmakers and officials are trying to ignore that right now. (Yesterday Trump's incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Fox that "we will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark.") But the SCOTUS ruling about TikTok – which is expected at 10 a.m. ET today – will put the national security concerns front and center once again.
As I discussed with Kasie Hunt this morning, users will gravitate to other apps if they have to, but there is no perfect TikTok clone. Other Chinese-owned apps continue to top the American charts; Xiaohongshu a/k/a RedNote is looking to sell shares "at a valuation of at least $20 billion," taking advantage of the recent surge of interest, Bloomberg's
Lulu Yilun Chen and Dong Cao report...
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For tech moguls and Trump, it's time to celebrate |
"The elite of Silicon Valley are set to revel in their new clout during a long weekend of inaugural parties," the NYT's Theodore Schleifer and Kenneth P. Vogel write, previewing a party hosted by the "All-In" podcasters and a Spotify brunch "featuring Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly and Ben Shapiro..."
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A rare walk-back by Apple |
Liam Reilly writes: Apple is temporarily pulling its newly introduced artificial intelligence feature that summarizes news notifications after it repeatedly sent users error-filled headlines, sparking backlash from a news organization and press freedom groups. The company plans to re-enable the feature in a future update. Details here...
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>> Two independent journalists "who are outspoken critics of U.S. support for Israel" interrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken's final press conference yesterday. (Reuters)
>> Yona TR Golding chronicles how journalists in Israel and Gaza responded to the initial news of a ceasefire. (CJR)
>> Sharif Abdel Kouddous compiled reactions and reflections from five journalists in different parts of Gaza. (Drop Site)
>> SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein has been indicted on federal tax evasion charges. Goldstein's attorneys say he'll "vigorously contest these charges." (NBC)
>> The NYT "is continuing to reconsider its future endorsements of political candidates,"
Max Tani writes. (Semafor)
>> Dotdash Meredith laid off 143 people yesterday. (Axios)
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President Biden brought up the media/tech revolution in his answer to Lawrence O'Donnell's very first question yesterday. Biden referenced a "concentration of enormous wealth and power at a time when "everything's changing," and said "the biggest thing that's changing is how we communicate with one another."
He repeated his line about a dearth of editors in modern media and said, "Who's out there saying, no, you can't print that, you can't say – it's not true?" Of course, that complaint has more to do with the internet, not institutional newsrooms...
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Trump's new FCC appointee |
Trump has nominated Senate aide Olivia Trusty to the FCC. "She would serve as the key fifth vote on the commission that would hand Republicans full control of the agency," Reuters notes. Incoming chair Brendan Carr congratulated her on the appointment. He also responded to outgoing chair Jessica Rosenworcel's one-fell-swoop action dismissing several TV license complaints by telling me that "any partisan, midnight action here can be reversed by new agency leadership."
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Wash Post for 'All of America' |
Here are four of the scooplets in Ben Mullin's new NYT story about the Washington Post trying to find its footing:
>> This week, the Post debuted a mission statement internally: "Riveting Storytelling for All of America." It's "meant to be an internal rallying point for employees."
>> Owner Jeff Bezos "has made comments in line with the new mission statement." He "has expressed hopes that The Post would be read by more blue-collar Americans who live outside coastal cities, mentioning people like firefighters in Cleveland."
>> The Post is considering ways "to sharply increase the amount of opinion commentary published on its website."
>> A slide deck by chief strategy officer Suzi Watford describes The Post as "an A.I.-fueled platform for news" that delivers "vital news, ideas and insights for all Americans where, how and when they want it."
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"Google has told the EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite the requirements of a new EU law," Sara Fischer scooped yesterday. Details here...
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'Special Envoys' to Hollywood |
Imagine finding out from a Truth Social post that the president-elect has named you a "Special Ambassador" to... of all places... Hollywood. That's what happened to Mel Gibson yesterday. Trump said that Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone "will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!"
Gibson said in a statement that "I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call." The actor, whose home in Malibu burned down last week, added, "Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador's residence?"
The motivation for Trump's post was unclear, the NYT's Brooks Barnes writes, "but he was probably referring to what is known as runaway production. Because of costs, major movies are increasingly being shot in other countries. Britain, Hungary, Australia and Canada, for instance, offer studios generous tax incentives..."
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Sports + entertainment talkers |
>> Unrivaled is debuting today. The "new 3-on-3 women's professional basketball league" will air on TNT and truTV and stream on Max... (AP)
>> Earlier this week, "Maverick Carter, LeBron's longtime wingman and business partner, shocked the sports world with the news that he was attempting to raise $5 billion to take on the NBA. Is this a new LIV or a basketball F1, or something more quixotic?" Unclear, but John Ourand is intrigued... (Puck)
>> Tom Brady is squashing speculation about giving up his broadcast booth gig: He has "nine seasons left on his contract with Fox Sports, and he isn't going anywhere, his agent told SBJ..." (Sports Biz Journal)
>> Universal's "Wicked" has now "topped the $700-million mark globally," and it's still going... (Deadline)
>> "Beast Games" is "the most-watched unscripted series in the history of Amazon's Prime Video..." (TheWrap)
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David Lynch's death yesterday, at age 78, prompted an incredible array of tributes from actors, producers and fellow directors. "He was, in actuality, a one of a kind artist," Mulholland Drive star Lee Grant said. He was "a masterful genius but more importantly, a simply wonderful guy, Twin Peaks star Mädchen Amick said.
"You inspired so many of us," James Gunn wrote to Lynch on X. Ron Howard called Lynch a "fearless artist who followed his heart and soul and proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema." And Steven Spielberg said "his films have already stood the test of time and they always will." Check out the stories and tributes via THR and Deadline...
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Today there was so much news that we ran out of space for weekend reads. So we might pop back up in your inbox tomorrow morning 😊 As always, this newsletter was produced with Liam Reilly and edited by Jon Passantino. Please email us your feedback and tips here.
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