A former producer of The Apprentice speaks out about Donald Trump’s behavior on the set of the reality show, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav may have alluded to dropping the pursuit of a NBA deal, activist investor Nelson Peltz sells his entire stake in Disney, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos thinks Barbenheimer would have been just as popular on the streamer. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down another whirlwind week of industry news.
Quiet on set? Bill Pruitt, a former producer of The Apprentice, has written about Donald Trump’s behavior on the set of the reality show. “I think probably to the surprise of no one, he does allege that Donald Trump used the N-Word saying that ‘nobody wanted to see the N-word win,’ for example,” Masters explains.
Throwing in the towel? Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav isn’t officially dropping his pursuit of NBA rights, but his recent appearance at a Bernstein conference may have hinted that the company is backing off. “He says they're still talking and Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner when he was asked, he also said they are still talking. But most people believe it's a formality. Zaslav then went on to say, “But even if we don't get the NBA, look at all these other amazing sports properties that we have, and we are well positioned for the future.’ I don’t know how many people believe that,” Belloni says.
Lyin’ Ted? In an interview with The New York Times, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos made claims that box office hits like Barbenheimer would have performed just as well on the streamer as they did in theaters. “I feel like he knows that when he says this stuff, it's kind of needling the industry; saying that he doesn't think quality and quantity are mutually exclusive. Well, that's a response to the fact that Netflix has made dozens and dozens of movies a year and a lot of people think that that has hurt the quality of the films,” Belloni says.