Hollywood power players question LA’s mayoral leadership

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Ryan Reynolds arrives at the 36th Annual American Cinematheque Awards held in his honor at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Nov. 17, 2022 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States. Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/NurPhoto (via Reuters).

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names respond to a lack of disaster readiness from Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, Donald Trump threatens Comcast after comedian Seth Meyers made fun of him, and Ryan Reynolds might have parodied Justin Baldoni in the latest Deadpool movie. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni investigate it all. 

Dereliction of duty? Endeavor head Ari Emanuel had some words for Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass as the wildfires continue to devastate the city. “[He] had also weighed in and said, ‘If she had gotten on a plane when there were warnings that this could happen, that that was a dereliction of duty,’” Masters explains.

Not very Nice(pool)? As the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni feud rages on, Baldoni has introduced yet another lawsuit, claiming that Ryan Reynolds created the character “Nicepool” to jab at the actor-director. “If this character in Deadpool & Wolverine was specifically designed to disparage Baldoni, then perhaps there's an argument there that it violated this agreement to not go after each other,” Belloni says. “I don't think anybody who saw Deadpool when it came out, was saying, ‘Oh, my God, that's Justin Baldoni,’ but that at least could be an argument here.”

Kiss the ring… or else? As companies including Apple, Meta, and Disney make sizable donations to the Trump campaign, Comcast recently experienced the wrath of the incoming president after comedian Seth Meyers made jokes at his expense. “This is what everyone's afraid of right now. This is why you see all these billionaires pouring money into the Trump inauguration,” Masters says. “That's why you see Disney paying off a $15 million settlement to Trump before he takes office. Like, this is the environment we're in right now, a president that's extremely transactional, that has a grudge list, and Comcast is on it. It's, I think, part of the reason why they are spinning off these networks.”

Credits

Guest:

Host:

Kim Masters

Producer:

Joshua Farnham