| | | | | TGIF! Scroll down for the latest on AT&T and the DOJ... But first, our coverage of the sexual harassment tipping point... and how it's impacting everyone from Louis C.K. to Roy Moore, everywhere from Tinseltown to the Deep South... | | | USA Today's Gregory Korte screengrabbed the USAToday.com home page to point out that eight of the top stories "are about allegations of sexual misconduct involving eight different men:" | | | Until now, Louis C.K. has dismissed the allegations against him as rumors. "Just rumors." He avoided the subject until the NYT published accounts from five women, four of them on the record. "These stories are true," he admitted in a statement on Friday afternoon... | | | -- Shortly after the statement was released, C.K.'s publicist Lewis Kay said he's no longer working with the comedian... 3 Arts Management has also dropped him, according to Deadline... | | What was missing from the statement: "I'm sorry" | | Lisa Respers France emails: Yes, Louis C.K. did earn some kudos for being one of the few celebs to ever own up to their misdeeds, but that doesn't mean people are rushing to forgive him. Some questioned the timing, and a few pointed out that C.K. never actually apologized in his apology...
-- Related: Ben Tinker's CNN.com piece on "the right (and wrong) way to apologize..." | | His business deals evaporated on Friday | | | The release of C.K.'s new movie "I Love You, Daddy" has been put on hold... Netflix said it has decided "not to produce a second stand up special" with him... FX said "we are cancelling the overall deal between FX Productions and his production company..." TBS "suspended production" on "The Cops," the animated comedy series he co-created... And Universal Pictures and Illumination said he'll no longer be a part of "The Secret Life of Pets 2..." | | | --> Brian Lowry watched "I Love You, Daddy" in the wake of C.K.'s admission... Here's his column... | | Friday's other developments, part one | | -- In a powerful Facebook post, actress Ellen Page accused Brett Ratner of homophobic behavior and harassment, including "outing" her publicly "with no regard for my well-being..."
-- Recommended: Matt Zoller Seitz says "these stories change our perception of their art, whether we would like them to or not. This is not just unavoidable, it's a necessary part of processing art and coming to terms with it..."
-- Lisa Bloom appeared on "The View" and admitted that her pact with Harvey Weinstein for a documentary based on her book clouded her judgment...
-- Bloom is now representing a man who's being sued by Bill O'Reilly. Speaking of O'Reilly... | | O'Reilly bemoans "trial by media" | | | Umm, Bill O'Reilly had this to say on Twitter on Friday night: "It is simply impossible to know the truth about all the allegations flying around the country involving famous people... In America, we now have trial by media. There is no going back to innocent until proven guilty. All allegations will be treated as facts. And the country will pay a huge price for that..." | | "Hollywood is frightened and lost..." | | "Week five of the great reckoning and Hollywood is frightened and lost, drifting deeper into unchartered waters with no script, no direction and no sense how it will end," The Guardian's Rory Carroll writes from L.A.
He says "there is fear even of acknowledging the fear:" "Several industry figures compared the climate to a witch-hunt, another called it Robespierre-style terror, but they declined to be named lest they be seen as insufficiently sympathetic to victims." More... | | "House of Cards" cliffhanger: What's the future of the show? | | | Chloe Melas emails her latest story, a co-production with Sandra Gonzalez: "House of Cards" writers are racing against the clock, according to insiders close to the production. They spent eight months writing season six and now only have a few weeks to complete it in the wake of the Spacey scandal. We've been told everyone is being paid in full during this hiatus and that an answer will be given to cast, crew and press before Thanksgiving as to the future of the show... but that a cancellation is "unlikely..." Read the full story here... | | Aly Raisman speaks to "60 Minutes" | | | Aly Raisman "says she was sexually abused by Dr. Larry Nassar." Raisman taped an interview with Dr. Jon LaPook that will air on Sunday's "60 Minutes." CBS notes that "more than 130 women, many of them former athletes, have filed civil lawsuits alleging that Nassar sexually abused them... Raisman is the most prominent athlete to come forward so far..." | | Friday's other developments, part two | | -- BuzzFeed published an on-the-record allegation against Jann Wenner...
-- And BF also ran this: "At least two female employees at the publishing giant DC Comics accused a top editor of trying to forcibly kiss or grope them. He was promoted anyway. Two years later, he was accused of doing it again..."
-- "U.S. soccer star Hope Solo says former FIFA president Sepp Blatter grabbed her buttocks as they prepared to take the stage at an awards ceremony in 2013, the Portuguese newspaper Expresso reported..." | | -- This week's "Reliable" podcast guest is Jesse Drucker of the NYT. We talked about the "Paradise Papers..." Listen via iTunes or read Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman's recap... (CNN)
-- Disney closed up 2% on Friday, despite Thursday afternoon's lackluster earnings... Frank Pallotta and I talked about it on CNNI... Here's the video...
-- Google says YouTube is trying to clean up its kids' app... (CNN)
-- The New York Times is suing this Queens woman, "saying she posed as one of its reporters for at least two years..." (NYDN) | | | The chyron on "AC360" at the minute I'm typing this: "Roy Moore denies ever meeting the woman accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 14 and he was 32." | | That denial came during Moore's interview with Sean Hannity on the radio Friday afternoon. Hannity was credited with challenging Moore, as Mediaite notes here...
-- From an emailer who used to work with Hannity: "I'm stunned Hannity is actually asking questions for once of Roy Moore on the radio now. It's no Jake Tapper interview, but for Sean this at least resembles an interview." | | This is the part of the interview that stood out to me: "I'm sure in the next four weeks they're going to come out with another article..."
-- CNN's Amanda Carpenter tweeted: "The Washington Post story about Roy Moore is a classic 'he said, she said, she said, she said, she said.'"
-- My 2 cents on "New Day:" Moore's defenders would much rather talk about the media than the alleged misconduct... | | Lemon: "Why would any of these women make up these stories?" | | On "CNN Tonight," Don Lemon cited his "personal experience" to say "I know how hard it is for people to come forward."
"Knowing, as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I did not tell my mother until I was 30," Lemon asked a friend of Moore's, "Why would any of these women make up these stories?" The guest, Trenton Garmon, sidestepped the Q... Cast doubt about the molestation allegation... And kinda-sorta threatened to sue the WashPost on Moore's behalf. (Moore's wife has made a similar threat.) "We have asked news outlets to represent both sides of the story," Garmon said, which is what news outlets are doing... | | GOP plotting ways to remove Moore | | | "Senate Republicans scrambled on Friday to find a way to block Roy S. Moore's path to the Senate, exploring extraordinary measures to rid themselves of their own nominee in Alabama," NYT's Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns reported Friday night... | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | We're still adding guests and working on the lineup. I'll be joined by John Avlon, Bethany Mandel, David Zurawik, Jeff Greenfield, and more... Plus Chris Hurst, the WDBJ anchor turned delegate-elect in Virginia... Join us Sunday, 11am ET, CNN... | | -- The director of CBS's Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase resigned last month "over accusations of sexual harassment." Vulture's Maria Elena Fernandez says the project's problems go deeper than that... (Vulture)
-- How's TrustX doing? Wait, what IS TrustX? Mike Shields answers both Q's here... (BI)
-- Marc Lieberman "has been named studio president at Above Average..." (Deadline) | | No new updates on the AT&T-DOJ dispute today... But...
DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim was at USC for a speech on Friday, and he answered Q's from attendees afterward. The deal review came up a couple of times: "Have you had any discussions about the AT&T-Time Warner merger with the White House or Jeff Sessions?" "No." "No contact about the merger at all?" "No, I can't get any more clear than that. Despite what some people may say who like to inject politics into our review of the merger -- that's their right -- I don't have the resources to fight those -- I gotta keep my nose down and be a law enforcer..." | | AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was very clear this week: He's not going to sell CNN. But multiple media moguls put out feelers about possibly buying CNN earlier this year. "There have been a lot of people" who have "expressed interest in CNN," Stephenson said at the Dealbook conference on Thursday.
According to Reuters' scoop machine Jessica Toonkel, Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch was one of them. She reported on Friday that Murdoch phoned Stephenson "twice in the last six months and talked about cable network CNN."
Two sources with knowledge of the calls confirmed this to me. The calls took place in May and in August. But there is disagreement about what exactly was said. One side says Murdoch was interested in buying CNN... the other side says that's not true... But it's clear that the two men spoke, which is intriguing in and of itself. Here's my full story... | | Hours before the Reuters report came out, Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman published a story about Murdoch's opposition to the AT&T-Time Warner deal. The story noted that Murdoch and Trump speak frequently and said that some Time Warner executives see Murdoch's "hidden hand" at work. A Murdoch spokesperson called that "laughable and categorically untrue," and told VF, "if Trump is doing this to punish CNN we have nothing whatsoever to do with it."
-- Reminder: Sinclair-Tribune is the "other major media merger in limbo," Tom Kludt reports... | | | Arol Sharma has a story in Saturday's WSJ about the "Trump-CNN feud" and whether it factors into the deal review. The opening anecdote is from February, when Jared Kushner complained to Time Warner comms chief Gary Ginsberg about CNN's coverage... Kushner said "that CNN should fire 20% of its staff because they were so wrong in their analysis of the election and how it would turn out, people familiar with the matter say. A White House official said Mr. Kushner didn't intend the comment to be taken seriously, and was simply trying to make a point. Inside Time Warner, it wasn't taken lightly..." | | | On Friday seven Democratic senators, led by Amy Klobuchar, pressed the administration for more info about the deal review -- and specifically asked about any attempted interference by Trump. There are two new letters... one directed at Delrahim... the other sent to President Trump. Here's the press release from Klobuchar's office... | | | Just a reminder of how time is FLYING right now: "Way back on Monday, word emerged of talks between 21st Century Fox and Disney about Fox selling most of its film and TV assets. While the negotiations hit a snag, reportedly over price, they could resume as both companies seek greater scale in order to stay competitive in a sector increasingly defined by tech giants," Deadline's Dade Hayes writes. THEN came the AT&T-Time Warner news. "It all adds up to one giant cliffhanger..." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Jeannette Lee Falsey, a former business reporter for Alaska Dispatch News, writes about how the paper -- the largest in the state -- went bankrupt... (CJR)
-- Also at CJR, Mathew Ingram unpacks why free speech advocates are concerned about the passing of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (aka SESTA), which would amend the so called "safe harbor clause," the clause that says platforms are not legally liable for speech they host... (CJR)
-- Philip Bump analyzes The Drudge Report's regular links to sites like InfoWars and the Kremlin-linked RT and Sputnik... (WashPost)
-- Julia Angwin describes what it's like to be "email bombed" and Twitter trolled by hackers... (ProPublica) | | Russian trolls pushed pro-Brexit spin on day of referendum | | | Donie O'Sullivan emails: The same Russian troll group that meddled in U.S. politics sent pro-Brexit tweets on the morning of the U.K. referendum on E.U. membership last year. A CNN investigation found a handful of accounts, however more may emerge in the coming weeks -- a U.K. parliamentary committee looking into fake news and online misinformation has asked Twitter and Facebook to provide evidence of any attempted meddling in British politics by the Russian troll group... | | President Trump's "pillow fights" | | James Poniewozik's latest column is a reminder that "for nearly half a year Mr. Trump has given interviews almost exclusively to friendly opinion hosts and conservative media outlets." He says POTUS "plays the pugilist on Twitter," but "when it comes to TV sit-downs, the battler in chief now prefers pillow fights..."
-- Key point: The softball Q's aren't simply "to avoid challenging the president. It's to avoid challenging the audience. These interviews are a reciprocal exchange for a closed circle. The base gets to cheer its leader and boo the haters. The interviewers get to prove their loyalty, presenting themselves as official Trump-endorsed products..." | | | Four the record, part four | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Digiday sums up "the state of subscription video" -- including original content and "must-have" cable channels -- in five handy charts... (Digiday)
-- Instagram is testing out a new feature that lets you search for, and follow, hashtags... (TechCrunch)
-- How much "Money in the World" does it take to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer? Here's the answer... (Variety) | | Lowry's weekend movie reviews | | Brian Lowry emails: "Thor: Ragnarok" will shake the world again this weekend at the box-office, with two new arrivals vying for second place. "Murder on the Orient Express" does a reasonably effective job of retelling Agatha Christie's mystery, while "Daddy's Home 2" uncomfortably adds Mel Gibson to the cast, given his offscreen history, in what feels like a cry for attention.
They precede a wave of award-seeking films that will begin rolling out around Thanksgiving, along with another superhero blockbuster, "Justice League," which should go a long way in determining just how merry Christmas is for CNN's corporate sibling Warner Bros.
>> Full reviews: "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Daddy's Home 2" | | Lisa Respers France writes: Friday belonged to Taylor Swift as she dropped her eagerly awaited sixth studio album "Reputation." The superstar singer maintained hers as one of the industry's biggest hit makers. Fans spent the day deciphering lyrics and exclaiming over Swift dropping a curse word in one of her songs... Read more here...
--> Oh, and Frank Pallotta reviewed every track on his Twitter feed... check it out... | | TV reheating cold cases to feed true-crime wave | | | Brian Lowry emails: Blame it on "The Jinx" and "Making a Murderer," but this month features a dizzying onslaught of true-crime reality shows, several of which try to "solve" cold cases. But the only one I'd really recommend is a four-hour documentary on the story behind Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," "Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders," on SundanceTV, which not only recounts the grisly case, but also how Capote wrote the book and the toll that exacted upon him. Read Lowry's full review here... | | | For the record, part five | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Be prepared to lose yourself the moment you hear it and never let it go. Eminem dropped a song with Beyonce on Friday -- and it's a ballad!
-- Miranda Lambert's beau, singer-songwriter Anderson East, slammed her buddy Garth Brooks for lip-syncing during Wednesday night's CMAs... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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