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TikTok’s MAGAfication, Putin’s Unholy Coronation, A Fashion Micro-Scandal
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The Daily Courant

TikTok’s MAGAfication, Putin’s Unholy Coronation, A Fashion Micro-Scandal

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon digest of Puck’s freshest reporting.

First up today, William D. Cohan presents his exclusive chat with Sam Bankman-Fried from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, in which America’s most famous prisoner recounts his regrets about the demise of FTX, the travails of his new life, and his forthcoming appeal.

Plus, below the fold: Matt Belloni foreshadows the next chapter in Hollywood’s talent compensation wars. Tara Palmeri digs into the MAGAfication of TikTok. Lauren Sherman teases out a fashion industry micro-scandal. John Ourand chronicles Netflix’s NFL Christmas miracle. On The Town, Matt is joined by longtime producers Cathy Schulman and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to discuss the extinction event bearing down on their profession. And on The Powers That Be, Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby to annotate Putin’s fifth inauguration speech, and the overly tidy interpretations of the Israel-Hamas war popping up on college campuses.



Sam He Is: An Exclusive Prison Chat With S.B.F.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

On a recent Tuesday, I went to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for an intimate chat with America’s most famous prisoner, Sam Bankman-Fried. During our 75-minute conversation, we discussed everything from Caroline Ellison and the travails of his new life, to his regrets about the demise of FTX and his forthcoming appeal.



The Coming Comp War at Netflix

MATTHEW BELLONI

The leading streamer is about to once again try to upend the way Hollywood talent is paid. Will the industry let it this time around?



The Trump-TikTok Flirtation

TARA PALMERI

The Chinese-owned app has become a hotbed of pro-Trump activity at precisely the moment when a putative Trump administration would provide its best shot at survival.



The Plagemann Year

LAUREN SHERMAN

News and notes on the micro-controversy, real or imagined, stemming from Susan Plagemann’s restructuring of WME Fashion.



Netflix’s NFL Christmas Miracle

JOHN OURAND

It looks like Netflix will wind up carrying the two NFL games scheduled for December 25, per a bevy of sources. It’s a first-of-its-kind deal, and almost certainly not the last.



Are Producers in Hollywood Nearing Extinction?

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by longtime producers Cathy Schulman and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to discuss the devaluation of producers in Hollywood, and their push for better rights under their new collective, Producers United. They outline why producers don’t have it as good as most might think, how they’re getting squeezed financially, and whether they will still be around in the future.



Putin’s Unholy Coronation & Campus Protest Fallacies

PETER HAMBY & JULIA IOFFE

Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby for a close reading of Putin’s fifth inauguration speech, and what the Russian president’s undisguised embrace of fascism portends for the future of his country, Ukraine, and more. Then they dissect the overly tidy interpretations of the Israel-Hamas war popping up on college campuses.


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