Telegram Games, Celebrity Fashion Fantasies, Trump’s Hollywood Treatment

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

First up today, Dylan Byers rounds up the latest dish emanating from CNN, from Brian Stelter’s reclamation of his Reliable Sources mantle to the irrepressible murmurs surrounding the potential arrival of former wunderkind Josh Tyrangiel.

Plus, below the fold: Julia Ioffe scrutinizes the free speech bona fides of Telegram founder Pavel Durov. William D. Cohan reveals a head-spinning $500 million Wall Street comp war. Rachel Strugatz digs into the latest obsessions consuming the celebrity beauty industry. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and Liz Plank investigate the yawning gender gap between likely ’24 voters. On The Varsity, John Ourand and Jon Kelly engage in a spirited discussion about the Disney-DirecTV grudge match. And on The Powers That Be, Matt Belloni and Peter Hamby divulge what Hollywood insiders are saying about the controversial Trump biopic.

DYLAN BYERS

The backstory on Brian Stelter’s return, and the real drama inside CNN: the potential arrival of former wunderkind Josh Tyrangiel.

JULIA IOFFE

Ever since his arrest in Paris, Telegram founder Pavel Durov has become an unlikely free-speech martyr, somehow uniting both Navalny supporters and the Kremlin in their praise of him. And yet, the truth about Durov’s actions appears to be at odds with the legend.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

A cohort of former AIG Financial Products executives—the same guys who helped precipitate the 2008 financial collapse—have come to collect the hundreds of millions they claim they’re owed. Only on Wall Street…

RACHEL STRUGATZ

News, notes, and dish from the evolving front lines of the celebrity beauty sub-industry: Blake Lively’s drama-filled debut, Lady Gaga’s surprise comeback, and Gwen Stefani’s doubtful shelf-life.