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Tuesday, February 3, 2026 |
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So much going on today. Ted Sarandos is testifying on Capitol Hill. Paris prosecutors are asking Elon Musk to sit for questioning. Gabriel Sherman is releasing a new book on the Murdochs. And the TV world is coming together to pray for Savannah Guthrie's mom... |
🏰 Disney's whole new world |
The first time I met Josh D'Amaro, in 2024, he told me a story about a tree at Walt Disney's original park, Disneyland.
This particular tree was creating a pinch point in the new "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" area, restricting the pedestrian flow, so the construction crews consulted with D'Amaro about what to do. "What's the history of this tree?" he asked. "Was it here when Walt was here?"
Knowing Disney super-fans, something as seemingly simple as cutting down a tree could cause a social-media commotion. So that one was relocated just a few feet away.
D'Amaro had good reason to tell the story: It symbolized his love for the parks and his nurturing of the business. "You can replace 'tree' for trash can or paint color," he told me. "One of the things that's really special about our brand is that people care, and they pay attention to details. They care about our history, and they care about our future."
And now he is the future. This morning, the Disney board confirmed that D'Amaro, a 27-year veteran of the parks, will succeed Bob Iger as CEO. The change will take effect after the company's annual meeting on March 18.
Dana Walden, who was considered the other top contender for the CEO role, will become the company's president and chief creative officer. Iger, meanwhile, will stay on as a senior adviser and board member until his retirement at the end of his contract, on December 31. Here's our full report...
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'The power of theme parks' |
D'Amaro's appointment — like the ill-fated promotion of his predecessor Bob Chapek in 2020 — shows just how important theme parks and cruises have become to Disney. If you've been to one of the parks, you get it. "Disney, in some ways, has become more of a travel company than a media one," the NYT's Brooks Barnes wrote today.
Rich Greenfield told Puck's Matt Belloni, "the entire Disney investment thesis rests on the power of theme parks and cruise ships, and virtually all the company's capital is being spent to expand in those areas."
Still, James Gorman, who chairs Disney's board, said on CNBC this morning that this selection is "not about parks." It's about "the total capability of what this company can have, and the incredible moats we have around us because of this extraordinary intellectual property," he said.
>> Speaking of parks: Disney shares dipped yesterday despite strong earnings results. Analysts cited the "headwinds from the decline of international visitors to its domestic parks," as CNBC's Sarah Whitten wrote. Of course, those headwinds are almost entirely out of Disney's control, as I pointed out on CNN...
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Here's a quote that struck me from my 2024 interview with D'Amaro for Fortune: "For every one guest that goes to our theme parks today," he said, "we believe there are ten more that would like to participate in Disney in some way, but just haven't had an opportunity to do so." Talk about growth potential!
Plans are underway in Abu Dhabi for the company's first new theme park in 15 years. Iger and D'Amaro toured the site together late last month, I'm told.
But the list of challenges for D'Amaro is long: He "confronts an entertainment industry that generative AI tools threaten to reshape," Aditya Soni wrote for Reuters this morning. Plus, "D'Amaro will also have to navigate political pressure from the Trump administration..."
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This morning's "Today" show opened with the latest on the search for Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy. Unfortunately, there was no good news to report. Nancy has now been missing for more than 48 hours. Savannah asked for prayers in an Instagram post last night. "Bring her home," she wrote.
NBC has mobilized its considerable resources to support the Guthries. "We're asking for your help," Tom Llamas said on Monday's "Nightly News," urging anyone with info to contact Tucson authorities.
"Today" co-host Craig Melvin added this morning, "We know someone out there knows something. Call."
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A TV family comes together |
I got to know Savannah 20 years ago when she was a correspondent at Court TV. Then, after she jumped to NBC, she became one of the subjects of my 2013 book about morning TV. She really is the same kind-hearted person you see on screen.
And she has so many friends throughout the media business. Brianna Keilar said it best on "The Source" last night: "To know Savannah is to love her, and to know her is to know how much she loves her mom."
TV executives like to depict morning TV teams as a happy "family," and it often comes across as corny and contrived. But in this case, "Today" truly is coming together as a family. Viewers can see it in the tears and tributes on air. "I don't think I've ever prayed for anything harder in my life," Carson Daly said this morning.
>> The show also produced this compilation of some of Nancy's many visits to "Today" over the years.
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Olympics plans are on hold |
This almost goes without saying, but Savannah's Olympics plans are on hold. She was scheduled to fly to Italy yesterday to host Friday's opening ceremony telecast and the first night of prime time coverage.
With that big trip coming up, she spent much of last weekend with her husband and two kids. But then came what one colleague called "the worst phone call of her life," telling her Nancy had disappeared. Here's my CNN.com write...
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Lemon: 'They want to intimidate you' |
During his visit to "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" last night, Don Lemon said his attorney "tried to contact" the feds so Lemon could be taken into custody quietly. But instead, "a dozen people" from the FBI showed up to his hotel, "which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources," Lemon pointed out.
The show of force was the point, he said: "They want to embarrass you, they want to intimidate you, they want to instill fear, and so that's why they did it that way." Karina Tsui and I recapped the Kimmel segment here.
>> Attorney General Pam Bondi was back on Fox News last night, prosecuting the case in public, saying, "These people committed a crime under the FACE Act and they will be held accountable." But as Kate Bolduan pointed out on CNN this morning, it's one thing for Bondi to say it on camera, and "it will be another thing entirely to be proving it in court."
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Georgia Fort thanks community for donations |
"My legal team has been extremely supportive and the community has also been supportive," Georgia Fort told Rachel Maddow last night. "Folks have been going to my website and making contributions there, but not just to the legal fund. Folks are wanting to support my ability to continue telling the stories."
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Netflix and WBD head to Capitol Hill |
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and WBD exec Bruce Campbell are testifying before the Senate's antitrust subcommittee this afternoon. Reuters is predicting a "grilling." While the Senate cannot prohibit the deal, "the hearing allows lawmakers to demand details from Netflix on how the transaction would affect consumers, workers and competitors," Jody Godoy writes.
>> Related: Deadline's Dominic Patten wrote about "MAGA's plan to sandbag" the Netflix-Warner deal. The Heritage Foundation is circulating a report that claims Netflix has "an outsized role in socially engineering millions of Americans into a predisposition to accept preferred leftwing ideological dogma."
>> The WBD shareholder vote will likely be held in March, CNBC's David Faber reported yesterday.
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'Bonfire of the Murdochs' out today |
The subtitle of Gabriel Sherman's new work says it all: "How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family — and the World." If you like this newsletter, you'll love Sherman's book. Casey Schwartz, reviewing it for WaPo, says it "unspools a story even stranger than TV..."
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More of today's new releases |
I'm also psyched to read "Super Nintendo," about "The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play," by Keza MacDonald.
Also out today: "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution" by Jonathan Turley, already No. 1 on Amazon... "Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe" by Brooke Nevils... "Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives" by Daisy Fancourt... and "I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month" by Jarvis R. Givens.
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One CBS battle after another |
"A battle has broken out between Paramount corporate and CBS News’ news chief Bari Weiss over cutting ties with new contributor Peter Attia," TheWrap's Sharon Waxman and Michael Calderone report. Attia, a physician and influencer, appeared in the latest tranche of Jeffrey Epstein docs, emailing the convicted sex criminal in 2016 with lewd cracks about women and offering his services.
"Reading that exchange now is very embarrassing, and I will not defend it," Attia wrote in a lengthy apology on X. He said he was "ashamed" but that his "interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone."
Nevertheless, per Waxman and Calderone, "senior Paramount executives see this as an HR matter and that Attia cannot be giving expert advice on a broadcast network." Weiss, on the other hand, "insists she does not want to cut ties with Attia" because she "sees it as giving in to the mob." Ah, yes, that age-old "cancel culture" debate...
>> Meanwhile, "CBS has shelved plans to re-air Norah O'Donnell's October 2025 '60 Minutes' interview with Peter Attia, which was slated to run this Sunday as part of a re-run episode of ‘60 Minutes,'" Jeremy Barr reports.
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Trump rages about NYT's Harvard story |
Liam Reilly writes: The NYT reported Monday that Trump is "dropping" his "demand for a $200 million payment" from Harvard. Then the president posted a trio of long Truth Social posts demanding The Times "change their story," which he said was "so purposely wrong." The Times' story now says "hours after The Times reported that President Trump had lowered the bar for a deal, he denied backtracking and made new threats against Harvard..."
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The Kennedy Center backlash |
Yesterday, CNN's Dana Bash quoted a source saying "the Kennedy Center does not have a 2026-2027 season. There would not have been any programming to announce." That's how severe the artist backlash to Trump's overhaul has been.
Trump dropped hints about his dramatic renovation plans yesterday. (Check out CNN's full report here.) But "the Kennedy Center is not closing because of any structural necessity," as one staffer said to WaPo on "the condition of anonymity out of fear for retribution."
"The situation is far simpler," the staffer said: "This is a self-inflicted crisis created by Trump and Ric Grenell, for which they bear full responsibility."
>> What about workers' jobs? Axios said "the venue employs nearly 2,500 individuals and over 925 volunteers, per a 2024 tax filing."
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Trump's Trevor Noah bluster |
Yesterday, Trump was asked point-blank whether he'll actually sue Trevor Noah over an Epstein-related quip at the Grammys. He didn't say yes or no, instead ranting about Noah ("a lousy host"), the Grammys ("not watchable"), and the Epstein files (they have "nothing on me"). Meanwhile, the NYT's Ben Mullin spoke with legal experts, who said — surprise! — Noah's joke is protected by the First Amendment.
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>> "French police raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk's X Tuesday and summoned the tech billionaire for questioning as part of a widening probe into the social media company and its AI chatbot Grok." (CNN)
>> Following the search, Paris prosecutors asked Musk to sit for questioning about the platform's alleged "distribution of sexual deepfakes and Holocaust denial content." (NBC)
>> Speaking of Grok, the chatbot "still readily undresses men and is still churning out intimate images on demand." (The Verge)
>> Meanwhile, Musk has merged SpaceX and xAI "into the most valuable private company in the world" as he seeks to build AI data centers in space. (CNN)
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>> "Spain will ban social media for under-16s and require platforms to employ strict age verification tools, joining Australia, France and Denmark in moves to curb the influence of digital platforms on children." (CNN)
>> The Interactive Advertising Bureau is seeking a law "to protect publishers from AI scraping." (Axios)
>> OpenAI is "underwriting" the next Axios Local expansion, "building on its existing three-year partnership," Natalie Korach reports. (Status)
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Yesterday was a "rough day for talk shows," EW's Lauren Huff wrote. "Just hours after Kelly Clarkson announced the end of her eponymous daytime show, Lionsgate's producer/distributor banner Debmar-Mercury confirmed comedian Sherri Shepherd's talk show, Sherri, is also ending after four seasons."
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