Monday, October 24, 2022

It's Monday, which means we are back in your inbox. Scroll down for Breitbart's Bannon breakup, WBD's writedown, The Recount's layoffs, Meta's (lack of) mojo, Apple's price hikes, and more. Plus, news about Jonathan Martin and Sara Fischer. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Cutting Kanye

CNN Photo Illustration/Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images

Kanye West is finally too toxic to be in business with.

After weeks of brazenly peddling antisemitic rhetoric and refusing to apologize for doing so, West, who now goes by Ye, is seeing his enormous business empire crumble before his eyes.

Balenciaga has severed ties. Anna Wintour doesn't want to work with him. MRC has shelved a documentary about him. CAA won't even represent him. And other industry leaders are calling on him to be boycotted.

West is being subjected to a banishment from corporate America that has not been seen for some time, outside the high profile #MeToo cases that rocked the entertainment industry.

But while West is now being condemned and brands distance themselves from the artist, his behavior did expose how much hate they were willing to tolerate. Most of the businesses speaking out against West now did not do so in the immediate aftermath of his initial bigoted comments — despite West openly threatening to go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."

Instead, these corporate partners sat on their hands and waited until the backlash was simply too much to ignore. Only then did they choose to exile West from their lucrative enterprises.

Even still, one major company, Adidas, has continued to stay silent amid the crescendo of voices denouncing West's prejudice. Despite calls from the Anti-Defamation League, Adidas has not said whether it will continue to maintain a relationship with West, whose Yeezy sneaker line is incredibly popular. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement Monday that despite conversations with Adidas, the company has chosen to "do nothing."

"Big brands including Balenciaga, CAA, MRC or Vogue have stepped up and broken with Kanye — Adidas' failure to do so is pathetic," Greenblatt said.

While Adidas mulls its options, West has been cryptically posting on Parler, the far-right social platform he said he intends to purchase, and where hate and extremism thrives. It's a comfortable new home for West, who has embraced the ideology of intolerance.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

Midterm Misinfo Threat: With only two weeks until the midterm elections, the Department of Homeland Security is warning of an "incredibly heightened" threat environment as conspiracy theories swirl online. Senior DHS official Samantha Vinograd noted to reporters the polluted information landscape could contribute to potential violence. "We know that there's a historical basis for violence associated with elections," she said. "At the same time, anybody with a Twitter account or a Facebook account, or who watches the news is aware that myriad conspiracy theories continue to proliferate with various narratives associated with false claims about the election." Paul LeBlanc and Sean Lyngaas have more here.

► Key line from LeBlanc and Lyngaas' story: "The FBI and sheriffs representing some of America's biggest counties, meanwhile, have discussed the possibility of misinformation fueling violence at polling stations during the midterm elections, a representative of a sheriff's association told CNN."

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

First in Reliable | Inside Breitbart's Bannon Breakup: Back in 2016, Steve Bannon being sentenced to prison by the "regime" would have been a blockbuster news event over at Breitbart. But these days, it doesn't even warrant a story penned by one of the right-wing outlet's own writers. When Bannon was sentenced on Friday, Breitbart conspicuously only carried a single headline on its homepage, linking to wire copy from the Associated Press.

Inside Breitbart on Friday, White House reporter Charlie Spiering flagged in the company's Slack channel that President Joe Biden had been asked about Bannon and dismissed the former Breitbart chief, according to messages I obtained. But Spiering downplayed the news, saying that he was "not sure we need a headline" on the matter — something that would have been unthinkable years ago. There's no official word about any of this from Breitbart. But I checked in with a Breitbart source on Monday and the person said there was "little chatter" about Bannon inside the outlet these days. Bannon could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Fox News is still not commenting on this report from Jonathan Swan that said Tucker Carlson lashed out at a GOP congressman regarding a Daily Beast story mentioning his son. (Axios)
Ted Cruz's appearance on "The View" was disrupted by climate change protesters until they were escorted out by security. (CNN)
Donald Trump is ranting about leaks again, suggesting that the way to compel journalists to reveal their sources is by jailing them and subjecting them to the threat of prison rape. (Insider)
Bobby Lewis writes about how the far-right network OAN is "priming viewers for the midterms with predictions of fraud." (MMFA)

THE BUSINESS

First in Reliable | The Recount Cuts Staffers: The politics-focused digital upstart The Recount announced significant layoffs to staffers on Monday. The news comes as the site explores a potential sale and publishers reduce costs amid economic uncertainty and a digital ad downturn. The outlet had no official comment, but a person familiar with the matter stressed that the outlet will retain teams working on its core products, such as its social publishing arm, newsletter, morning show, and John Heilemann's podcast.

WBD's Writedown: Warner Bros. Discovery said in a filing on Monday that it expects to sustain between $3.2 billion and $4.3 billion in pre-tax restructuring charges related to the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger. That includes $2 billion to $2.5 billion on scrapped content, including "Batgirl" and other projects. It also expects to take a $800 million to $1.1 billion hit on organization restructuring. The rest of the costs are related to "strategic content programming assessments." THR's Alex Weprin has the details here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

The FBI raid on ABC News producer James Gordon Meek wasn't tied to his work, the Daily Beast's Lachlan Cartwright reports. (Daily Beast)
The BBC has suspended anchor Martine Croxall as it probes her for a "potential breach of impartiality" after she said she was "gleeful" Boris Johnson had decided not to run again for prime minister. (BBC)
Kirsten Chuba looks at "why streamers are getting on board with in-flight entertainment." (THR)
Arshad Sharif, a prominent journalist who fled Pakistan, has been killed by police in Kenya. (CNN)
British Vogue Editor-In-Chief Edward Enninful tells Christiane Amanpour that he doesn't "want [Anna Wintour's] job. (CNN)

MEDIA MOVES

JMart's Next Move: Since departing The NYT, DC's media scene has been abuzz about where Jonathan Martin might land next. That buzz increased dramatically over the weekend, with sources texting intel to me about his next move. I've since confirmed the news: POLITICO is expected in the coming days to announce that Martin will be returning to the outlet (which Puck's Dylan Byers also confirmed before we could publish this letter). Martin, who also talked to WaPo before settling on heading back to his former home, will help lead POLITICO's politics coverage heading into the 2024 presidential election.

Welcome, Sara! We have some exciting news from the home front: Axios' Sara Fischer is joining CNN as an on-air contributor on the media beat, it will be officially announced Tuesday. Fischer — who previously worked at CNN in 2013-2014 — will bring her deep well of knowledge to discuss corporate media, tech, regulation, and more. And for those wondering, Fischer will still write her weekly newsletter for Axios.

Annie-Rose Strasser is joining The NYT as executive producer of Opinion audio. (NYT)
Brianna Sacks is joining The Washington Post as an extreme weather and natural disasters reporter. (WaPo)
Samantha-Jo Roth joins WaEx as a congressional reporter.(Twitter)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images

Meta's Mojo: A major Meta investor is calling on Mark Zuckerberg to cut 20% of the company's workforce and limit investments in the Metaverse. In an open letter, which you can read here, Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner said he wants Meta to get its "mojo back" by making it "leaner" and "faster." Gerstner summarized his recommendation for the company like this: "Meta needs to get fit and focused." Reuters has more.

► Meta's stock has also been downgraded ahead of its earnings report this week by an analyst at Bank of America.

The Wire Whiffs : The Wire has retracted its reporting on Meta as it continues to conduct an internal review of stories published this month, which the social media giant has said were based on fabricated documents. "We are still reviewing the entire matter, including the possibility that it was deliberately sought to misinform or deceive The Wire," the outlet said, adding that "lapses in editorial oversight are also being reviewed." Previously, when we initially reported on this, The Wire issued a statement firmly standing by its reporting.

TOO MANY TABS

Coming attractions: Google and Spotify report earnings Tuesday. Meta reports earnings Wednesday. Apple and Amazon report earnings Thursday.
Also keep an eye on this: Elon Musk needs to close his deal with Twitter this week to avoid trial. (CNN)
The White House says it is "not true" that Musk was under a national security review. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Apple Hikes Prices: For the first time, Apple is raising prices on its entertainment offerings. The Silicon Valley giant announced Monday that prices for Apple TV+ and Apple Music are inching northward. Apple Music will now cost an extra dollar for an individual plan (meaning that it is now $1 pricier than competitor Spotify). And Apple TV+ access is becoming $2 more expensive, now costing $6.99 a month. The new price hikes could be the latest test of how much consumers are willing to spend on streaming products amid inflation and economic concerns. CNN's Catherine Thorbecke has more .

OFF STAGE

Harvey Weinstein is back on trial in LA, with eight women expected to testify they were sexually assaulted by him. (CNN)
"House of the Dragon" season finale drew 9.3 million viewers. (CNN)
"Black Adam" grossed an estimated $67 million at the box office over the weekend. (CNN)
Leslie Jordan, the beloved comedian and actor, has died at 67. (CNN)
It's here: The official teaser for "Succession" season 4 is out. (YouTube)
Marvel has dropped the trailer for "Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." (YouTube)
HBO Max is boosting its library with the addition of 10 "Star Trek" movies and all eight "Harry Potter" films. (Variety)
Henry Cavill is returning as Superman. (Deadline)
Wayne Brady will host the 2022 American Music Awards. (Billboard)