Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon medley of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Kim Masters has the inside scoop on the hard realities blowing up Trump’s fantasy of hosting 100,000 spectators at the White House for a UFC fight. As Kim reports, there’s no way the South Lawn can accommodate even a tenth of the number that Trump cited. TKO C.E.O. Ari Emanuel says the event could seat 3,000 to 4,000, but sources close to the planning are worried about security risks—not to mention the $60 million price tag…

Plus, below the fold: John Ourand considers the inconvenient truth for the NHL after the U.S. men’s hockey team won Olympic gold. Lauren Sherman previews the celebrity brand ambassador wars coming for the Oscars red carpet. Kim dishes on a head-scratching, Lara Trump–produced docuseries and the bizarre Hollywood link between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein. And Abby Livingston reveals a crypto super PAC’s “search-and-destroy” mission in the 2026 Dem primaries.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Lauren rings up Bernstein luxury analyst Luca Solca on Fashion People to decode the latest round of earnings at LVMH, Kering, and Hermès. On The Grill Room, Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander huddle with Night Media’s Reed Duchscher to discuss the post-MrBeast creator economy. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Sony film chairman Tom Rothman assess how tech companies have disrupted Hollywood. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Leigh Ann Caldwell run through all the dramas surrounding Trump’s State of the Union address.

HOLLYWOOD

The president’s promise of a stadium-sized crowd for a July Fourth UFC match on the South Lawn is running into some significant logistical hurdles. Plus a Castle Rock cease-and-desist and the Hollywood link between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein.

SPORTS

The U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team’s exhilarating gold medal victory may be shadowed by an inconvenient truth for the NHL: Olympic success hasn’t usually translated into ratings and attendance gains.

FASHION

The big three players in luxury fashion dominate the celebrity ambassador market—and gain more power with every awards season. That means the rest are left to play moneyball with their rosters.

WASHINGTON

The crypto-backed super PAC Fairshake is on a bipartisan search-and-destroy mission to take out congressional critics this cycle, starting in the Democratic primaries. “They are becoming really, really organized,” one strategist said. And they’ve got nearly $200 million in cash on hand.

FASHION

Lauren is joined by Bernstein luxury analyst Luca Solca to decode the latest earnings gauntlet across luxury—from LVMH and Kering to Richemont and Hermès, and beyond—and what the numbers reveal about the industry’s true health. They also weigh in on the future of LVMH’s wine and spirits division, the reawakening Chinese middle class, the forthcoming Capital Markets Day, and much more.

MEDIA

Reed Duchscher, C.E.O. of Night Media, joins Dylan and Julia to discuss his management firm’s recent $70 million raise—and what it signals about the next phase of his company and the creator economy writ large. A former manager of MrBeast, Duchscher explains why we’re unlikely to see another YouTube star of that scale, weighs the tension between volume and scarcity, evaluates the rise of platforms like TikTok and Roblox and the future of independent political commentary, and more.

HOLLYWOOD

Live from the American Film Institute, Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw and Sony film chairman Tom Rothman to discuss why now is the fifth moment of crisis in the history of the movie industry, how large-scale tech companies have disrupted Hollywood, reasons for optimism, legacy studios vs. streamers, and the future of the Spider-Man franchise.

WASHINGTON

Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter to discuss the political crosscurrents heading into Trump’s State of the Union, with Democrats split over whether to protest the speech entirely and Republicans managing internal tensions. She also shares an inside look at the combustible National Governors Association meeting from this past weekend, where Republican governors expressed concerns about the Trump administration and some Democratic governors started plotting their run for president in 2028.

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