Welcome to October; Pelosi delays vote; Alex Jones loses again; Disney strikes a deal; Ozy exposed; 'Jeopardy!' intrigue

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Brian Stelter here at 11:11pm ET on Thursday, Sept. 30. Here's the latest on Lady Gaga, Mike Lindell, Scarlett Johansson, Facebook, Chicago Sun-Times, Jon Stewart, "Jeopardy!" and more...

"You are playing a dangerous game with the truth"

Ozy Media was warned.

There have been new revelations each day since Ben Smith's initial column about Ozy and its CEO Carlos Watson came out on Sunday night. Reporters at several news outlets have shown that there were warning signs that Ozy was not what it appeared to be. The stories have cast a harsh but necessary spotlight on the fake-it-til-you-make-it tactics of some high-flying startups.

Now, Smith is out with a new story, about another warning sign. And it shows that Watson himself was warned.

Brad Bessey, a well-known TV producer who used to run "Entertainment Tonight," was recruited to produce an interview show called "The Carlos Watson Show" in mid-2020 with the understanding that it would appear on the A&E channel. That's what staffers were told, that's what guests were told: A&E. But the channel "said no to 'The Carlos Watson Show' before taping began," Smith reported.

Bessey went on the record and shared his farewell email to Watson and Ozy COO Samir Rao. "You are playing a dangerous game with the truth," Bessey warned them. "The consequences of offering an A&E show to guests when we don't have one to offer are catastrophic for Ozy and for me."

As these stories continue to pile up, it becomes all the more astonishing that Ozy's conduct was tolerated for so long...

It's safe to say...

Sahil Patel nailed it: "I think it's safe to say more people are reading about the ongoing demise of Ozy than ever read something from Ozy -- but I don't have the metrics to prove it." This all comes back to metrics. In digital media, former Digiday editor Brian Morrissey wrote earlier this week, "You can create Potemkin villages of media properties that appear like the real thing. Need numbers? Buy followers and email subscribers so you can boast about them in press releases." He argued that "this is a business culture problem..."

Inside Ozy's allegedly abusive workplace

Kerry Flynn writes: "When Brian texted me Monday asking for my read on Ozy Media, I told him one of the followup stories was about the media startup's workplace culture. With the encouragement of my lovely editor An, I pursued that thread shortly thereafter. When I started reaching out to former Ozy staffers, many were unwilling to speak. One reason, they said, was fear over what Carlos Watson would do to them if he found out. I began to understand why they felt that way once I found some people willing to talk. As former Ozy staffer Eva Rodriguez, who bravely spoke on the record, told me, 'If you met [Watson] you know he's a very charismatic leader and he's not someone you want to let down.' More in my story..."

Watson's empire continues to crumble

Flynn adds: "The Ozy exodus continued on Thursday. Ozy chairman Marc Lasry resigned just a few weeks after being appointed. 'I believe that going forward Ozy requires experience in areas like crisis management and investigations, where I do not have particular expertise. For that reason, I have stepped down from the company's board. I remain an investor in the company and wish it the best going forward,' he said. While tacitly admitting Ozy has a crisis on its hands, Lasry seemingly wants to still financially profit from Ozy's future success. That's unlike SV Angel, which Axios previously reported requested to surrender its shares of Ozy..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Brian Schwartz reports: "Sharon Osbourne says Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson lied when he claimed the Osbournes invested in his company..." (CNBC)

-- Several of Ozy's major advertisers "are putting their ad campaigns on hold..." (WSJ)

-- There's "no end in sight" to this scandal, Jenny G. Zhang writes... (Gawker)

BREAKING

Disney settles with ScarJo

In the words of THR's Tatiana Siegel, "Disney was never going to let this get to discovery phase." Sure enough, Scarlett Johansson vs. Disney has been settled. "On Thursday, the actress and Disney resolved their dispute over the lawsuit that Johansson filed against the company in July," CNN's Frank Pallotta wrote. She said in a statement, "I look forward to continuing our collaboration in years to come," so the payout must have been massive...

SPEAKING OF CONTRACT FIGHTS...

Will Mike Richards sue Sony?

I'm hearing that a lawsuit by the former "Jeopardy!" exec producer and very-short-lived host is on the horizon, though the two sides may reach an agreement before anything blows up in public. At issue is Sony's treatment of Richards back in August, when scandal followed his promotion to the host podium. Matthew Belloni previously reported that Richards hired litigator Bryan Freedman four weeks ago. Freedman previously repped Megyn Kelly in her exit from NBC and Chris Harrison in his breakup with "The Bachelor." More to come on this one...

>> Speaking of "Jeopardy!" Matt Amodio's streak continued on Thursday as he tied James Holzhauser's most-successive-wins streak...

FRIDAY PLANNER

Walt Disney World turns 50 with big parties planned in Orlando...

"Venom" hits theaters... Scroll down for Brian Lowry's takedown...

"The Many Saints of Newark" premieres on HBO Max and in theaters...

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett release a new album of duets, with a music video premiere on MTV at 12pm ET...

The ACL Festival begins in Austin...

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opens to the public in L.A...

THIS JUST IN:

No votes tonight

At 10pm, as she prepared to hand off to Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow said "we're still waiting to see what's going to happen tonight." O'Donnell said "I'm flipping through a script I wrote an hour ago to see if I want to use any of it." A few minutes later he decided to "junk" his script. By 10:40, he and CNN's Don Lemon had to pivot again, when Nancy Pelosi delayed the expected vote on a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. Here is CNN.com's overview story with the latest.

Negotiations will continue early Friday – "first thing," Jen Psaki said in a statement. "While Democrats do have some differences," she said, "we share common goals of creating good union jobs, building a clean energy future, cutting taxes for working families and small businesses, helping to give those families breathing room on basic expenses — and doing it without adding to the deficit, by making those at the top pay their fair share."

Both CNN and MSNBC are in breaking news coverage right now while Fox remains weirdly on the sidelines -- Laura Ingraham's 10pm show was clearly pre-taped, so she missed the news, and Greg Gutfeld's 11pm roast went on like usual...

Photo of the day

National Journal's Zach C. Cohen posted this instantly iconic photo of Sen. Joe Manchin swarmed by dozens of reporters outside the Capitol on Thursday:

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- There are "two total different realities in the House just now," Manu Raju said, contrasting the progressives and moderates... (Twitter)

-- Here's a useful guide by the WSJ: "From BIF to Byrd, a Guide to Congressional Fiscal Terms..." (WSJ)

-- Yesterday's Reliable newsletter lead, about news coverage of vaccine mandates, was circulated by White House aides on Thursday to advance the argument that the mandates are working... (Politico)

-- NYT's Jonathan Martin called this Covid polarization in a nutshell: "Mask-wearing in the U.S. Senate is now bifurcated almost entirely by party. Democrats are almost always masked indoors and few Republicans wear masks indoors..." (Twitter)

-- University of Virginia and Project Home Fire data explores a "deep, wide, and dangerous" divide between Biden and Trump voters... (UVA Center for Politics)

Facebook grilled (again) on Capitol Hill

Oliver Darcy writes: "Facebook was once again in the Congressional hot seat on Thursday — this time being grilled over whether Instagram might harm the mental wellbeing of teenagers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that the company is 'indefensibly delinquent in acting to protect' them and that it 'puts profits ahead of kids' online safety.' FB's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, testified on the company's behalf, pushing back against WSJ's recent reporting. Davis said FB is 'looking for ways' to release its internal research to the public. CNN's Samantha Murphy Kelly has more here..."

Will it retaliate against whistleblower?

Darcy adds: "One interesting line of questioning Thursday came from Blumenthal who asked Davis, 'Will you commit there will be no legal actions based on the disclosure of the whistleblower's documents?' As WSJ's Georgia Wells noted, Davis gave a 'narrow commitment' not to do so. 'I'm aware that there are rules in terms of the Senate, and we will comply with those rules,' Davis said. 'We've committed to not retaliating for them coming to the Senate.' That commitment notably did not mention anything about the whistleblower speaking to the news media. CBS is promoting Sunday's big '60 Minutes' interview with the person..."

SNEAK PEEK

"Davos Man" will come out during Davos

NYT global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman will share the cover of his forthcoming book, "Davos Man," on Friday. The cover calls to mind the recent spate of billionaires rocketing into space while the Earth burns. The book about "the global billionaire class" will be published by Custom House on Jan. 18, right in the middle of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Oliver Darcy:

-- "Infowars host Alex Jones has lost two of several lawsuits filed against him by relatives of Sandy Hook victims after he routinely failed to comply with requests to produce documents related to his involvement in spreading lies about the deadly shooting," Sebastian Murdock reports... (HuffPost)

-- Alex Jones' attorney declined to comment to CNN...

-- Fox News is celebrating its 25th birthday (on Oct. 7) by releasing promos featuring hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Bret Baier, and others... (Mediaite)

-- Just listen to this brutal mashup showing "Hannity vs Hannity" on raising the debt ceiling... (MMFA)

-- Joe Rogan — at least for now — has been dethroned from the No. 1 position on Spotify's podcast charts... (Newsweek)

MyPillow resumes advertising on Fox News

Remember when Mike Lindell swore off advertising on Fox News because the network rejected ads full of voter fraud lies? Folks predicted he would come back to Fox because he needed the network's audience more than the network needed him. Sure enough, MyPillow has resumed advertising on Fox: Variety's Brian Steinberg spotted a commercial on Thursday and I confirmed that Lindell was back in the rotation. For all the talk of Newsmax and OAN, Fox still has a stranglehold on the right-wing audience, with millions of viewers who need pillows...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Lourdes "Lulu" Garcia-Navarro, former host of NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" and a former co-host of "Up First," is joining the NYT to anchor an Opinion podcast, per Sara Fischer... (Axios)

-- Angela Fu spoke with current and former journalists at The Arizona Republic and other Gannett papers about working unpaid overtime... (Poynter)

-- "A theme for me this year has been transformation, and Condé Nast is going through a really pivotal transformation," Agnes Chu told Angelique Jackson in her profile of the CNE president... (Variety)

Chicago combo update

"The Chicago Sun-Times would become a subsidiary of Chicago Public Media, nonprofit parent company of WBEZ 91.5-FM, under a 'historic partnership' being pursued by the two legacy media organizations," Robert Feder reports.

Three key points: "Target for completion of the merger is the end of this year... Terms of the proposed agreement, billed as 'a new model of local nonprofit journalism,' were not disclosed... While the move would fortify WBEZ, the driving force is securing the survival of the Sun-Times, which continues to lose money for its owners..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Jason Gay's newest column is about the alt-casts: "How Peyton and Eli Manning Are Changing Television..." (WSJ)

-- "Clubhouse is getting a bunch of new features next month, including one many people have wanted: in-app recording," Ashley Carman writes... (The Verge)

-- TikTok is launching an NFT collection... (THR)

-- "LinkedIn blocks U.S. journalists' profiles in China." Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of Axios says "my account was one of the profiles affected..." (Axios)

Blocking websites = erasing history

"Access to an online museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre appeared to be blocked in Hong Kong, the latest regression for Internet freedoms and a strike against a symbol of what distinguished the city from mainland China," WaPo's Theodora Yu reports...

Jon Stewart's advocacy journalism

Brian Lowry writes: "Jon Stewart's journey to 'The Problem With Jon Stewart' reminds me a lot of the inevitable grousing when comedic actors decide that they want to try serious drama. In this case, the former 'Daily Show' host jumps past his former correspondent John Oliver to a series steeped in advocacy journalism around a single issue in each episode. Not surprisingly, some of the early reviews have taken the show to task for not being funny, but that's clearly not the objective, and vaguely echoes Tucker Carlson pleading with Stewart to 'be funny' during his famous 2004 appearance on 'Crossfire.' Spared from customary commercial concerns by the move to Apple TV+, Stewart – who has been a fierce crusader for Sept. 11 first responders – serves notice that the times are too dire, essentially, to waste his time and this platform clowning around..."

Lowry calls this film "borderline unwatchable"

Brian Lowry writes: "The reviews are decidedly mixed for 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage,' a sequel – produced, plotted by and starring Tom Hardy – that I found borderline unwatchable, and emblematic of Sony's shoddy stewardship of its Marvel titles..."

"Titane" is out-there

Brian Lowry writes: "'Titane' makes its debut in US theaters Friday, with the calling card of having won the Cannes Film Festival, and plenty of rave reviews. But this bizarre French movie – which involves a serial killer and sex with a car, among other things – is the kind of exercise that tends to highlight the schism between critics, who are understandably drawn to risk-taking films, and consumers, most of whom aren't looking for something quite this out-there. Many of the reviews have included 'Your mileage may vary' disclaimers, but this is one of those times when I expect to see a pronounced gap between those who get paid to watch movies, a small group of cinephiles and the world at large..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- Disney's "Aladdin" on Broadway resumed performances on Thursday after positive Covid tests halted the show on Wednesday... (Deadline)

-- "No Time To Die" grossed almost $7 million on its opening day in the UK... (Deadline)

-- In an Instagram post, Taylor Swift said her "version of 'Red' will be out a week earlier than scheduled," so it will now be available on Nov. 12... (Variety)

-- One of the strangest stories of the day: "Shakira says she was attacked by purse snatching boars," Lisa Respers France reports... (CNN)

-- And here's one more from Lisa: See some of what's streaming in October... (CNN)

The "get" of the year

As Britney Spears secures her freedom, will she move beyond her (rather risqué) Instagram feed and give an interview? If she does, it'll be the most-anticipated "get" since Oprah Winfrey sat down with Harry and Meghan. As "Britney Vs Spears" director Erin Lee Carr told VF, "If she ever feels open to talking, I will be two seconds away..."

>> Thursday's fallout from Wednesday's ruling: "Attorney for Jamie Spears calls his suspension 'disappointing' and a 'loss' for Britney Spears," Chloe Melas reports...

Wendy Williams is postponing her return to her talk show

France writes: "It was announced Thursday on the show's verified Instagram account that 'Wendy will not be returning with new shows on Oct. 4.' 'She has been and continues to be under a doctor's care and is still not ready to return to work,' the note read. 'We plan to return with new shows on Oct. 18...'"

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...

Pet of the day!

Retired media pro Stuart Zuckerman emails: "I'm up early with my 10-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Morgan, who is more interested in looking out the window than watching morning TV news..."