Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know… and stick around for more on Amazon’s OpenAI moviedrama.

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Meanwhile, on the pods…

And now, a little more on Hollywood’s Big Tech conundrum…

HOLLYWOOD

Over the past week, three seismic events have illustrated how thoroughly Big Tech and political anxiety have infiltrated Hollywood: Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson fled Warner Bros. Television for Disney, reportedly over the Bari Weiss-ification of CBS News; Amazon dumped Artificial, Luca Guadagnino’s buzzy film about OpenAI founder Sam Altman, several months after Amazon pledged to invest $50 billion in the company; and Google threw $75 million at A24, the independent production company.

As Kim reports, the Artificial saga is the most explosive. The film wrapped last October, went through test screening, and had lofty awards ambitions. By dumping the movie at this stage, Mike Hopkins—who runs Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios—effectively undercut Courtenay Valenti, the studio’s head of film, and might give other directors pause about bringing her edgy material. At this point, Kim writes, Disney is one of the last studios with a backbone: Still-new C.E.O. Josh D’Amaro just put his lawyers on offense against the F.C.C.’s review of the company’s broadcast licenses.

Click here to read Kim’s full story.

SPORTS

An apparently massive cybersecurity breach at Madison Square Garden was all but lost in the chatter surrounding the Knicks’ NBA Finals win. But as the confetti is swept up and the offseason begins, here come the inevitable lawsuits.

FASHION

With his one-and-done season for Versace quickly gathering its own legend, Dario Vitale is enjoying life as fashion’s premier free agent. But with few openings to fit his stature, could he really wind up at Emporio Armani?

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MEDIA

Amid all the sturm und drang at CNN as it shifts under the purview of the Ellisons, everyone inside the WarnerMount mothership seems to agree on one thing: Alex MacCallum, the C.O.O. of CNN, may be the one person with a vision for how to drag the global news network into the future.

MEDIA

Lulu Cheng Meservey, the communications guru and founder of Rostra, joins Dylan to make the case that traditional media and P.R. are dead, and that founders are better off talking directly to their audiences than waiting for others to tell their story. She breaks down how to balance the demands of publicity with actually building a worthwhile product, and suggests why founders who show up, build trust, and align their incentives tend to win in the long run.

FASHION

Lauren’s guest is i-D magazine’s Steff Yotka. They discuss Simone Rocha at Pitti Uomo, the men’s shows in Milan from Ralph Lauren to Prada, and why Dua Lipa is the perfect celebrity. They also weigh former Versace designer Dario Vitale’s options.

WASHINGTON

Julia Ioffe and Peter untangle the framework of a peace deal between the United States and Iran, which seems to shift by the hour as Israel, Tehran, and Washington trade competing details. They also explain why J.D. Vance has emerged as the deal’s most visible champion, using the moment to cement his standing with Trump.

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