• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

The Truth Behind the McKay-Ferrell Split

As with most public breakups, there’s more to this story of bruised egos—including a botched timeline and the threat of blowback from Lakers greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
December 6, 2021

“What an asshole!” I’m pretty sure that text I received this week, from a young writer-producer, was at least somewhat representative of the response around Hollywood to Adam McKay’s profile in Vanity Fair, where he finally explained the real reason for the 2019 demise of his 25-year creative partnership with comedy legend and universally-recognized nice guy Will Ferrell.