More Baldoni-Blake Beef, WaPo Tremors & L.A. Tragedy Aftershocks

Jon Kelly

Good morning, Despite the harrowing national disaster, it was an otherwise remarkable week at Puck: Matt Belloni broke the news of an NBCU exit; Eriq Gardner analyzed the latest theater of Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni warfare while Rachel Strugatz contemplated the business implications; Dylan Byers reported on a game of D.C. media musical chairs; Lauren Sherman scooped Hermès’s plan to move ever further upmarket; Sarah Shapiro dug into the fashion commerce wars; Bill Cohan previewed a year of dealmaking; John Ourand investigated Jim Dolan’s latest headache; and Marion Maneker pondered the impact of the art lost to the fires. Meanwhile, Peter Hamby presaged Trump’s lame-duckitis, and Tara Palmeri got the latest readout from Mar-a-Lago. Check out these stories, and others, via the links below. And stick around for the backstory on how it all came together.

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INNER CIRCLE

Lauren Sherman has the exclusive on Hermès’s couture ambitions. and… Marion Maneker combs through proprietary data to entirely reframe the past six months of auction activity.

FASHION

Lauren captures the state of Kylie’s shmata enterprise. and… Rachel Strugatz examines the descent of Blake Lively’s haircare line. meanwhile… Sarah Shapiro explores the latest theater of the $24 billion creator marketing wars.

ART

Marion Maneker postulates the forthcoming art insurance negotiations in L.A.

HOLLYWOOD

Matt Belloni predicts Biden’s new agent and relays a big change atop Peacock. and… Eriq Gardner offers a new reading of Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit.

WALL STREET

Bill Cohan foreshadows the tectonic shifts coming to the M&A market.

MEDIA

Dylan Byers digests the latest hunger wails from The Washington Post. and… John Ourand imagines the Norby Williamson reinvention and hypothesizes about the future of a Knicks-adjacent negotiation.

WASHINGTON

Tara Palmeri identifies the voices in Trump’s ear regarding a TikTok deal. and… Peter Hamby explains the president-elect’s time crunch.

PODCASTS

EverWonder’s Ian Orefice brings Dylan behind the scenes of Netflix’s Christmas NFL games on The Grill Room.

John and CFP executive director Rich Clark discuss year one of the new 12-team tournament on The Varsity.

John Heilemann and James Fallows assess Jimmy Carter’s place in history on Impolitic.

Matt and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw review the new, for-profit Golden Globes on The Town.

Tara and former Trump appointee Matthew Bartlett parse the Greenland of it all on Somebody’s Gotta Win.

Uber-designer Christopher Kane charts his next act with Lauren on Fashion People.

Peter and Dylan praise the local media’s coverage of the horrendous fires on The Powers That Be.

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Sunset Boulevard

A hallmark of tragedies is that you almost certainly recall where you were—what you were doing, or thinking, or some meaningless gesture that you were performing—when you suddenly and irrevocably realized that the world had changed. Perhaps you were watching Katie Couric on Today on the morning of 9/11, as I was, or sitting on your sofa chatting about quotidian details with your spouse when you learned that Tom Hanks had contracted a bizarre new illness, Covid-19, while filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis in Australia. I could tell you my whereabouts during the onslaught of Katrina, the financial crisis, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Deepwater Horizon, or Fukushima. And that’s what I was thinking, in part, when I began following the dystopian surge of the Los Angeles fires on Tuesday evening from my office. It was about the scariest natural disaster imaginable, and yet it was somehow occurring on familiar terrain, in proximity to so many loved ones, partners, colleagues, and friends. I know that I’m given to occasional bouts of hyperbole, but rarely are they so justified. This week, my partners throughout Los Angeles were forced to evacuate, shelter in place, bring in loved ones, and reassure friends and children that the city would get through this. What’s more: miraculously, and undeterred, they produced some of the best work imaginable, both about the tragedy at hand and not. And it’s worth resurfacing their incredible contributions, composed so heroically, because it is a testament to their craft and determination.

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In his two-part 25 Surefire, 100 Percent Probable Hollywood Predictions for 2025, Matt Belloni offered his searing analysis on topics as varied as the future of NBCU to potential Murdoch M&A. While expanding her industry-leading Line Sheet franchise to five days a week (sign up here, if you haven’t already), Lauren Sherman broke the news of Hermès’s surprisingly retro, but certainly calculated, decision to move into couture. Hermès Goes Up, Up, Up Market is precisely the sort of market-making fashion industry intelligence that only Lauren can deliver. Briefly in town at an inopportune moment, Tara Palmeri escaped to San Diego and filed a brilliant dispatch, Trump’s TikTok Buyers Club, on the latest rumblings from Mar-a-Lago—in particular, the new svengalis in Trump’s ear advising him to rescue the social media platform from its imminent ban. Dylan Byers filed a dispatch on the ongoing saga at The Washington Post before packing up his family and hitting the road. A Matter of Life & Jeff is just his latest entry in the canon. None of it would have ever seen the light of day without the dedication of Gaby Grossman, Puck’s director of editorial operations, and a born-and-bred Angeleno who spent the week caring for friends and family. Or Pete Keeley, who copy edited every piece from inside the city, providing useful information for his colleagues. Ditto Danny Karel, our unflappable deputy editor. And Bellinda Alvarez, who runs our West Coast sales operation. Meanwhile, Dylan joined our partner Peter Hamby on an unforgettable episode of The Powers That Be to discuss the media’s coverage of the fire and the various second-order effects. (Peter and I will wade even deeper into the topic on a special PTB: Media Monday episode on Monday.) And in Art in the Apocalypse, Marion Maneker delicately explored some of the consequences in his market. Normally, I conclude this weekly note by imploring you to make time for at least one piece of my peerless colleagues’ work. In addition to that, this hazy Saturday, I behoove you to take a moment to donate to those who are living through this biblical horror. I suggest this option, but there are many worthy options. Indeed, the fires and their aftermath—the heartache, investigations, lawsuits, political implications, and environmental imprint—are the true story of our time. Let’s help the people who need it most.

Have a safe weekend, Jon

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