“Insecure” star Amanda Seales has spoken out about the longstanding, rumored tension between her and writer, producer and businesswoman Issa Rae.

She said Wednesday that Rae never felt she was “needed” on set for the HBO comedy series and never promoted her show “Get Your Life,” despite it being produced under Rae’s HOORAE Media.

Seales opened up about her current relationship with Rae on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast series “Club Shay Shay,” where the actress stated that her previous issues with Rae’s publicist Vanessa Anderson impacted how everyone treated Seales during filming for “Insecure.”

“Nobody’s saying nothing to me. Everybody knows, because at this time, it’s just the women shooting. Everybody knows what’s going on. They don’t say nothing to me. And that’s just f–king mean. It’s mean,” Seales said of her former costars.

TheWrap has reached out to Rae and Anderson for comment.

Despite Seales and Rae apparently having a one-on-one chat about the matter, Seales — who starred as Tiffany DuBois in the series — said Rae never empowered her and further felt that Seales wasn’t “needed.”

“She didn’t feel like I deserved to be protected. I’m only giving a portion of the situation. But that was my experience,” she noted. “And nonetheless, I have still always protected her because I felt like it was my responsibility to do so. But it is not.”

“I’ve never talked about this publicly because it has always been incredibly important to me to protect Issa, because I know that Issa is doing something within this business that so few people get to do. And it’s not something I desire to do,” Seales continued. “I’m not interested in getting a $100 million production deal. That’s not a life that I want for myself. But I know that her role is very important.”

She then detailed how Rae never promoted “Get Your Life.”

“Like, I put all my money into it, I wrote it, I starred in it, et cetera. And so I said, ‘Hey, you know, would you mind tweeting to correct this?’ And she just wouldn’t,” Seales said. “She wouldn’t promote any of the shows, you know? And I just felt like that was unfortunate. But it didn’t make me, it didn’t change my view of her character.”

The conversation about Rae came up as Seales was breaking down her tumultuous fallout with Anderson, who she said ran a “smear campaign” against her following a 2019 incident. Seales even alleged that Anderson instructed some of Rae’s entourage and security to tell her to leave an “Insecure” event. Ultimately, one of the last conversations Seales had with Rae involved her asking the producer to intervene.

“So I said, you know, ‘Listen, I am not saying that it’s going to be a problem on set, but I do think it is a problem that you don’t feel that you need to step in,'” Seales recalled. “And she was like, ‘Well, then we just have a difference in opinion. This is between y’all.'”

“Insecure,” which Rae co-created with writer, actor and producer Larry Wilmore, aired ran for five seasons on HBO after its debut in 2016. The full cast included Rae, Seales, Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis, Natasha Rothwell, Kendrick Sampson and more.

The post ‘Insecure’ Star Amanda Seales Says She ‘Always Protected’ Issa Rae Even Though She Wouldn’t Promote Her Solo Show | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Andrew Weissmann dug into the Supreme Court’s forthcoming opening statements on former President Donald Trump’s immunity case Wednesday, telling MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on “Deadline: White House” that the court’s “real evil” is that it delayed the hearing to April in the first place.

The move, the former assistant U.S. attorney and FBI general counsel, was “political with a capital P.”

“It’s his right to push these claims,” Weissmann said of Trump’s continued efforts to delay the case to benefit his 2024 presidential bid. “The culprit here is the Supreme Court and making this sort of a new normal.”

Opening statements in the Supreme Court case are due to begin on Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern/7 a.m. Pacific. Wallace opened this segment the afternoon before by asking, “What profound damage has been done? How far away from true north are we as a democracy that this question is being considered at all?”

While Special Counsel Jack Smith wanted to “fast-track” the former president’s immunity case last year to reach a decision from SCOTUS while it could still inform voters’ decision heading into November, Wallace said that “the nation’s highest court has already done the disgraced ex-president a solid in terms of the timeline and the schedule. They have gift-wrapped an otherwise unavailable delay for him.”

That’s where Weissmann came in.

“It’s his right to push these claims. The culprit here is the Supreme Court and making this sort of a new normal … The Supreme Court has already botched this because they didn’t take it in December,” Weissman said. “There’s no reason to have this stay in effect right now because there’s no way they are going to rule that there’s immunity in this case.”

The legal analyst and political commentator shared that “the only argument” he’s heard from anyone in defense of presidential immunity — and that includes “the most conservative legal jurists” — is as it relates to unique foreign relation matters.

“But it’s not this,” he said, regarding Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“So there’s no reason to have taken the case, there’s no reason to have taken the case and stayed the district court case. And so that’s the real evil,” he said. “I think what’s going to happen is the Supreme Court is going to issue a flowery decision about how presidents are not above the law, and it’s going to sound great and they could issue that in June and it’s too late, because what they will be saying is presidents are not above the law, but this former president is.”

He continued, “And it’s really, I mean, it is so political, with a capital P, in terms of what they’re doing here when there’s just no basis in the law whatsoever for a claim that he’s immune with respect to this case.”

Watch the full “Deadline: White House” segment in the video above.

The post Supreme Court’s ‘Real Evil’ Is Its Delay of Trump’s Immunity Case, Andrew Weissmann Says: ‘Political With a Capital P’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Note: The following story discusses spoilers for “Not Dead Yet” Season 2 finale.

The “Not Dead Yet” Season 2 finale shook up dynamics between the ABC comedy’s favorite characters with a dramatic twist that left Gina Rodriguez “shook.”

The two-episode finale, which aired Wednesday, followed as Nell (Rodriguez) faced a surprise when her boss Duncan (Brad Garrett) appeared to her as a ghost while facing a health emergency during surgery. While Duncan coached Nell through how to nail an interview as his life hung in the balance, Nell’s unique ability left a lasting impact on Duncan and Lexi’s (Lauren Ash) relationship once he made it through the scare.

“I found out probably about two episodes before — I was absolutely in love with it,” Rodriguez told TheWrap. “It really allowed Duncan to see Lexi in a different light and to really have connective tissue between Lexi and Nell, and to see what Nell does to be still grounded in necessity — it’s so much more than her seeing those that are transitioning (to death), it’s really what she can do with it.”

The finale followed as Nell straddled both Duncan in the spirit world, and cared for Lexi while she prayed for her father’s recovery. After she inspired Lexi to show her father her true self, Lexi decided to buy the newspaper from her father and kicked off a new chapter of friendship between Nell and Lexi.

“That relationship has been such a slow, smooth, beautiful transition,” Rodriguez said of Nell and Lexi’s evolution. “Nell will continuously find herself up against Lexi’s almost lovable narcissism, but it’s done in a way that really creates some beautiful healing for everybody.”

By the end of the Season 2 finale, Duncan pulled through health-wise and shared a touching moment with Lexi, after she told him about her acquisition of the newspaper. By the time Duncan and Nell reconvened following his recovery, Nell checked if he recalled anything about their ghostly conversation, to which Duncan gave Nell a knowing look, leaving off on a cliffhanger of sorts.

“I just pray we get another season to keep playing because it’s set up such a fun obstacle for Nell, especially with the person that may possibly know,” Rodriguez said. “He could be the worst person to know.”

Duncan’s hospitalization also solidified Lexi and Edward (Rick Glassman) as a couple, with Rodriguez noting “they come off as polar opposites but they’re extremely similar in their specificities, in their clarity and their longing for honesty and truth.”

While “Not Dead Yet” has not yet been renewed for a third season by ABC, Rodriguez teased she could foresee a love triangle between Nell, Edward and Lexi in a potential next installment after Edward hinted he had an eye towards Nell in the Season 1 finale.

“They met each other in a space where [Nell] was her most honest, her most raw and she … has never been that real with any man in her life. It’s a freeing space for her,” Rodriguez said. “In my own journey, I found that I fell in love with the person that I could be my complete, whole self with and I find that to be really interesting for Nell.”

The end of the season also saw Nell breaking things off with TJ (Jesse Garcia) after learning he was not interested in having kids while she undergoes freezing her eggs. Rodriguez noted she was happy to see Nell not “morph” for a man again, and further, that their split wasn’t an “exclamation mark.”

“That was her M.O. — to not choose herself in the past — and I found it to be a very quiet, subtle strength,” Rodriguez said.

After launching its first season in February 2023, Rodriguez noted “Not Dead Yet” has held onto the balance of escapism and realness that she first fell in love when she read the pilot’s script in 2022. She said the Season 2 finale episodes marked her favorite installments thus far.

“I was longing to see redemption, forgiveness, heart and spaces of growth [and to see] a character that is flawed and trying her best and unraveling, but working so hard to keep it together, now blossomed into not just her journey, but this beautiful collection of eccentric, specific, unique, amazing characters that all are trying to live life … and be on this journey together,” Rodriguez said. “It just so happens that one of them sees ghosts.”

Beyond Nell’s constant struggle with sassy ghosts, Season 2 dove even deeper into real-life problems faced by the newspaper’s writers and editors, as Nell froze her eggs and Sam (Hannah Simone) kickstarted her single life after her divorce.

“It’s found itself to be this really deliciously surreal, bizarre workplace comedy — actually I don’t think there’s much like it on TV right now,” Rodriguez said. “I really love to escape when I watch television, and I also love to feel and think and reflect, and I feel like our show does that.”

With the show’s fate hanging in the balance, Rodriguez is hoping to continue the sitcom’s heart in a potential future installment.

“I am excited about venturing into more life lessons up and to see what else can happen now that somebody knows about Nell’s secret,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like there’s a lot more funnies and a lot more heartfelt storylines left for us to go, so I’m hoping we get an opportunity to do it.”

The first two seasons of “Not Dead Yet” are available to stream on Hulu.

The post ‘Not Dead Yet’ Star Gina Rodriguez Unpacks Season 2 Finale Twist, Season 3 Hopes appeared first on TheWrap.

If you liked Jordan Peele’s horror comedy “Get Out,” you’re going to love Ife Olujobi’s horror comedy “Jordans,” which opened Wednesday at the Public Theater.

Is it pure coincidence that Peele’s first name is Jordan, and Olujobi has written a play that’s about two characters who are named Jordan? The similarities don’t end there. Both “Get Out” and “Jordans” clock in as many gasps as they do laughs. More significant, each work sets Black characters — one in “Get Out,” two in “Jordans” — who find themselves in the uncomfortable situation of living and working in a white-run world.

Where “Get Out” takes place at a high-end suburban barbeque, Olujobi sets “Jordan” in a high-end Manhattan studio where ads and photographs for fashion and other products (self-help books, sodas, etc.) are produced. When a tall and beautiful female model walked out in the first of Gween Jean’s glitzy over-the-top costumes, I had to let out a sigh of relief. Plays staged in New York City’s nonprofit Off Broadway theaters can get a little — how should I put this? — dreary. But here is the kind of show where a guy who watches “Eyes of Laura Mars” and “The Devil Wears Prada” at least once a year can really sit back and enjoy himself.

The gasps start early when the studio’s boss (Kate Walsh, who recalls both Faye Dunaway and Meryl Streep) throws a cup of coffee in the face of the studio’s receptionist-gofer Jordan (Naomi Lorrain). Olujobi and director Whitney White have a way of repeatedly bringing the subtext to the fore to both bracing and comic effect.

The other Jordan (Toby Onwumere) shows up when the boss decides she needs to bring some relevancy to her business. This second Jordan is hired to be the “director of culture.” Jordan No. 2 thinks he has an immediate bond with Jordan No. 1 who has worked at the studio for five years. The first Jordan wants nothing to do with him, but they have a dinner date anyway and White’s direction provides a simple, stunning scene change that I won’t give away here.

Also delightful is how the first Jordan, hard at work, goes about setting up other scenes while the studio’s white staff pontificate about life, careers and nothing else of much importance. Some of Olujobi’s best writing is given to these confabs, whether it is the guys bragging about their latest sexual conquest or the staff brainstorming about using a prison motif to sell the latest Rolex rip-off.

This staff (Bronte England-Nelson, Brian Muller, Matthew Russell, Ryan Spahn and Meg Steedle) treats the two Jordans as if they were one person, an insult that the first Jordan uses to her advantage. This review will not reveal more except to say that Olujobi has written a doozy of a story, and one that is much less predictable than “Get Out.”

White’s direction only falters at the very end. The mayhem that concludes “Jordans” needs to be delivered fast, and not with such deliberation. More stage blood might also help.

The post ‘Jordans’ Off Broadway Review: If This Wild Comedy Isn’t an Homage to Jordan Peele, It Should Be appeared first on TheWrap.

House Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference on the campus of Columbia University on Wednesday, calling for the resignation of the school’s president due to ongoing student protests on campus against the war in Gaza. He told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview on campus that he believes the university president needs to “keep peace on campus” and “this is time for a really strong hand.”

The student protesters were largely chanting “free Palestine,” Burnett noted, as well as heckling and booing Johnson’s call for the resignation of the university’s president. When asked how that chant is antisemitic, Johnson responded, “Well, what’s antisemitic is that Hamas endorsed these protests today. … They issued an endorsement statement and heralded the students here and said this — this is the next generation of leadership in America.”

“If you’re getting endorsed by Hamas, that’s not a good look,” Johnson continued. “It’s not a good sign.”

The Speaker argued that these protesters and the way they’re interfering with campus life “is not who we are as Americans. This is not an expression of the First Amendment. This is not an exchange of ideas. This is — this is threats and intimidation of violence against Jewish students for who they are, for their faith.”

Johnson asserted that students were either unaware of “the atrocities of Oct. 7, or they’re denying it. They denied that women and children were brutally raped and murdered, that infants were placed into ovens and cooked alive.”

Burnett followed up by noting that she’d been in some of the kibbutz following Oct. 7 and “you could smell the death and the bodies. It was horrific. And yet, what’s happened since has been horrific, too.” She pressed Johnson on whether protesting “the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and “the tens of thousands of innocent people” who’ve died is antisemitic.

Johnson dodged the question, responding by stating that he believes in “a place for debate and the free exchange of ideas,” but that he didn’t want to equivocate about Hamas and Gaza. He quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that the war is a battle between good and evil, light versus darkness, civilization versus barbarism.

“This isn’t a close call,” Johnson said.

Burnett asked if there’s anything Israel could do that would be over the line, asking about innocent children who’ve died and are dying at Israel’s hands and the IDF.”

Johnson said, “They have. There have been civilians murdered, but that is not the fault of Israel.” He added that the moral responsibility for those deaths goes to Hamas. “Israel, I’m convinced, is doing its very best to prevent civilian casualties. But this is a war and they’re fighting for their very existence.”

The Speaker also expressed frustration with the protesters intimidating Jewish students, stating, “That’s the thing that is so problematic.”

“You have to speak to these Jewish students who are in fear of their lives, who were cowering in their apartments right now, who are not coming to class,” Johnson said.

He criticized the administration for suggesting that Jewish students should stay home and attend hybrid classes.

“It is so discriminatory. It’s so wrong in every way,” Johnson said. “The responsibility of a university administrator is to keep peace on campus and ensure the safety of students — job number one. If they’re incapable of doing that, they need different leadership. I think this is time for a really strong hand.”

Johnson also noted that he’d been a First Amendment lawyer for 20 years, but that the problem with what the student protesters are doing is camping and preventing other students from exercising their own rights.

When speaking about Johnson’s earlier speech on campus, Burnett had noted, “They couldn’t actually hear the Speaker, which I can tell you is a good thing, because much of what he said would have incensed that crowd.”

Johnson’s comments Wednesday come after clashes between police and students at both the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin earlier in the day, along with protests at numerous universities. Columbia students who are protesting are calling for the school divest from companies with ties to Israel.

The post House Speaker Slams Columbia Protesters: ‘If You’re Getting Endorsed by Hamas, That’s Not a Good Look’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Drew Carey caught fans’ attention on social media when he posted in the wee hours Monday morning to declare his intense joy after seeing the jam band Phish play a show at Las Vegas’ Sphere venue. For the comedian and “Price Is Right” host, it was a spiritual experience that he compared with explicit sexual terms — including positing that how Phish made him feel must be what a female orgasm feels like. He went on CBS’ “After Midnight” late Tuesday night to explain himself/make his pitch for everyone to go see Phish at the Sphere.

“I swear I just talked to God,” Carey wrote in his first post, shared at 3:41 a.m. Monday along with a video of Phish playing under trippy Sphere visuals displaying swirling space imagery. “I would give you all my money, stick my d–k in a blender and swear off p–y for the rest of my life in exchange for this. Bro I met God tonight for real. I feel like I just got saved by Jesus no lie.”

But it was perhaps another tweet he sent, responding to a user who wrote “I’m still melted,” where Carey made his more extreme comparison.

“This is what it must feel like to c–m with a p–y,” Carey wrote. “Because if it’s even close I’m flaying to wherever tomorrow and getting the best p–y money can buy. I don’t need to be a man no more [if] it means I can feel like this all the time.”

“F–king keep it bro if I can get this feeling instead,” Carey continued. “That was God at work or something. Like it felt like I was being saved by Jesus no lie.”

In a segment on CBS’ faux comedic game show “After Midnight,” host Taylor Tomlinson asked Carey, “Drew, if you weren’t being filmed right now, what would you say?”

He took the opportunity to make a profanity-laden pitch for his Phish experience.

“So I saw Phish at the Sphere this weekend,” Carey enthusiastically began, to laughs from the crowd. “Never saw Phish. Never, didn’t know Phish. And they [censored] blew my mind off so hard, I thought to myself — I had a bunch of girls with me. And I thought to myself, is this what it’s like to [censored]?!”

As the crowd laughed, he continued, “People that were there could verify 100% true. This is what it’s like.”

He then tried to explain the sexual, spiritual experience he had recently undergone.

“It was like being edged for four days straight,” Carey said. “And then right before the face-melting climax at the end on the fourth day, an angel comes down from heaven, Gabriel. And he shoots [censored] heroin in your arm. And he says, good luck now, [censored]. And he leaves. And then you have an orgasm for 15 minutes while your eyeballs fall out of your head.”

He concluded, “NNext time they play the Sphere, you better not miss it.”

Carey went back to his podium, raving about the experience to fellow panelists “Weird Al” Yankovic and Thomas Lennon. At this point, Lennon quickly realized that, after that, there’s no way they could just continue on with the show as if nothing happened.

“It’s going to be really neat to watch this later and see what this next thing comes out of,” Lennon quipped. He told the crowd, “People will ask you for interviews about the day that you were there. You don’t have to give them, but you can.”

“Why didn’t they let Drew talk?” Yankovic speculated people would ask about the sure-to-be-edited version of Carey’s Phish endorsement.

“HR wants to talk to all of you,” Lennon said. “So just if you stay in your seats, HR will do like a duck, duck, goose before you go.”

“That was so great. And we can definitely use all of it,” host Tomlinson said, to incredulous laughter from the crowd. “Absolutely we can. And I don’t want you guys to take my next sentence as any indication that we can’t use it.”

Then, after taking a beat, Tomlinson said, “Oh, you’d like to pass? That’s OK. Thomas–” as if Carey had chosen not to answer the question.

When she tired to ask Lennon his own fun question, the actor and comedian declined to go along with that.

“I don’t think there’s any universe where we’re still doing bits after that,” Lennon said. “Like, I mean– We actually were just all at Phish at the Sphere.”

“I don’t understand how you don’t think that’s a natural transition from Gabriel [censored],” Tomlinson added.

Carey’s Phish experience continued to be called back throughout the show by both Lennon and Yankovic.

Eventually, Tomlinson explained, “It’s so great because we can’t edit it out now. It’s too woven into the fabric of the episode.”

When Carey was later asked which of his projects embarrasses him the most, Carey responded, “This one,” before yelling incredulously, “I used to be a star!”

Tomlinson fired back, “No,” before conceding, “This is an appearance that you probably shouldn’t have agreed to, correct.”

When asked if there was anything he could take back, Yankovic responded, “Oh, gosh. So many things in my life I feel regretful for. But my number one regret of all time is not seeing Phish at the Sphere. I don’t know where I heard this — I heard it’s like Peter Gabriel coming down from heaven and shooting you with heroin and saying, ‘Good luck, my fine fellow.'”

Carey has publicly joked about his love of psychedelics in previous standup comedy appearances, which combined with the reputation of Phish, had already led many fans to speculate about Carey’s state of mind during the Sphere concert.

You can watch the full clip of Drew Carey and all his Phish/Sphere moments on “After Midnight” in the video at the top of this page.

The post Drew Carey Describes the Spiritual, Sexual Experience of Seeing Phish at the Las Vegas Sphere on ‘After Midnight’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Glen Powell admitted in a New York Times interview that he and Sydney Sweeney totally leaned into rumors that they were having an affair as they promoted their surprise hit romantic comedy “Anyone but You.” He credited the idea to his costar.

“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” Powell said. “That’s people wanting what’s on the screen off the screen, and sometimes you just have to lean into it a bit — and it worked wonderfully. Sydney is very smart.”

Sweeney played more coy, but noted that she was deeply involved in the film’s marketing strategy.

“I was on every call. I was in text group chats. I was probably keeping everybody over at Sony marketing and distribution awake at night because I couldn’t stop with ideas,” Sweeney said. “I wanted to make sure that we were actively having a conversation with the audience as we were promoting this film, because at the end of the day, they’re the ones who created the entire narrative.”

Among the tactics the pair deployed was a video — which Sweeney said she pushed Sony to release — featuring her and Powell whispering dirty “ASMR pickup lines.” The video earned 25 million views on TikTok.

@anyonebutyoumovie *whispers* …hey. Hear #SydneySweeney and #GlenPowell talk in a socially appropriate volume in #AnyoneButYou ♬ Anyone But You is in Theaters December 22 – anyonebutyou

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

Their interviews were for a Times article exploring what made “Anyone but You” a slow-growing rom-com hit.

The chemistry displayed by Powell and Sweeney worked hand-in-hand with what the public knew about their real-life relationships. Powell’s girlfriend, model “Gigi” Paris, broke up with him as he promoted the film. Sweeney has been engaged to businessman Jonathan Davino since 2022 and they were rumored to be dating for several years before that.

The press tour for “Anyone but You” included moments like Powell and Sweeney playfully describing when they first met, with Sweeney adding, “You’re not bad on the eyes, either.” They also joked about the pairing with multiple cameos by Powell during Sweeney’s recent episode hosting “Saturday Night Live.”

Actors playing up potential real-life sparks to get moviegoers hearts all aflutter is a common tactic. For example, there’s a reason everyone talked about Oscar Isaac and the way he took Jessica Chastain’s arm on the red carpet while they promoted 2021’s limited series “Scenes From a Marriage.” But the actors usually don’t cop to it.

Of course, if there really was some sort of affair to cover up, aren’t these the types of things you would expect them to say? You can read more of the Times article exploring the story behind the success of “Anyone but You” here.

The post Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell Fanned Affair Rumors to Promote ‘Anyone but You’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump White House staffer who served as an assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows before testifying against Trump in front of the Jan. 6 Committee, spoke to CNN Wednesday about her former boss being indicted. Meadows is among those indicted Wednesday for his involvement in helping to arrange for fake electors to be seated from the state of Arizona in order to keep the former president in office, the network reports.

Anchor Kaitlan Collins noted that her interview with Hutchinson had already been scheduled before the indictment dropped on Wednesday afternoon.

“I mean, the indictment did just drop, so I haven’t had a lot of time to process it,” Hutchinson said. “I’ve said for a long time, since the day that I decided to come forward and comply fully with the Jan. 6th Committee, that I hoped Mark already had been doing the right thing with the Justice Department.”

However, Hutchinson implied that indications are that Meadows hasn’t been cooperating.

“I think it’s unfortunate that it at least appears that there are still people not complying people with their civic duty that they owe the American people, but I can’t really say I’m overly surprised at this point, either,” Hutchinson said.

When asked why she wasn’t surprised, Hutchinson added, “Looking back at the last few years, there have been a lot of people — not just Mark — people in the former president’s orbit, some who have also been indicted, but people who are also just complicit in their silence around things. And I think, whether you are close to Donald Trump, or you worked for Donald Trump, we all owe the American people the truth about Donald Trump. We owe them the opportunity to know who he actually is.”

“It’s not easy,” she continued. “You know, I was very loyal to Donald Trump when I worked for him, and it took me a long time to make that break. And there are a lot of consequences that you have to brave when you make the break with Trump World. But what I feared more was the deceit that Donald Trump would continue to perpetuate if more people didn’t stick up for the truth.”

Collins asked Hutchinson about her feelings given how closely she worked with Meadows, going everywhere he did, including his office and on Air Force One. Collins noted that this is the second time Meadows has been indicted.

“It’s really sad,” Hutchinson said. “I was really close with Mark. I really believed in Mark as a principal — that’s why I chose to take a job with the chief of staff. So it’s difficult to see him in this position, but I think on the greater scale, too, if you look at how Mr. Trump has conducted himself through his business career and also his political career, I almost relate it to just… bodies around him. He takes out everybody who is loyal to him, because it’s all about his personal gain and what he can gain from those people.”

She said that it is the duty of both citizens and those who work in politics to preserve the United States’ democratic institutions.

“Donald Trump does not show respect for our democratic institutions,” Hutchinson said. “In fact, I would suggest he shows the exact opposite — he shows contempt for our democratic institutions.”

“I think there are a lot of people, like myself, who believe they’re going [to Washington] to do the right thing and to serve the American people,” Hutchinson said, “and they get caught up in something that’s so much more dangerous than they actually anticipated. But I think there are some people that went in with their eyes wide open, and unfortunately, they knew, and they feel that their loyalty is owed to Donald Trump.”

She said she couldn’t comment on whether Meadows was one of those who went into working for Trump with his eyes wide open.

“I cannot crawl into the psyche of Mark Meadows,” Hutchinson said. “It’s difficult to hypothesize or speculate about what Mark truly believed.”

Hutchinson shared that there were some days after the 2020 election where Meadows would acknowledge that Trump had lost in November, while there were other times when it seemed to her like he was beginning to believe in conspiracy theories about the election.

“He was involved in a lot, but he also knows a lot,” Hutchinson said. “He’s a person that has critical information, I believe, in every single investigation. He owes it to himself, he owes it to the American people, and he owes it to the duty that he swore to defend and protect the Constitution, to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to every investigator.”

The idea of Meadows and Hutchinson moving to work for Trump in Florida was also discussed following the election, Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson declined to comment on whether she had spoken to investigators before Wednesday’s indictment but added that she would fully cooperate with any cooperation asked of her going forward.

She drew attention to the Supreme Court hearing starting Thursday looking at the issue of Trump’s claims of presidential immunity.

“It’s really important to stress that the American people were not given the truth about Donald Trump in 2016 and he won. He almost won in 2020, and he very well could win if the American people are not made aware of who he actually is,” Hutchinson said.

Others who were indicted Wednesday include Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Mike Roman. CNN reports that Trump himself is an unindicted coconspirator. Hutchinson expressed surprise about Trump not being indicted in this case.

You can watch Cassidy Hutchinson’s full interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at the top of this post.

The post Cassidy Hutchinson Says Trump Leaves ‘Bodies’ Behind, Including Her Indicted Former Boss Mark Meadows | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Peacock narrowed its streaming loss to $639 million in the first quarter of 2024, with paid subscribers growing 55% year-over-year to 34 million as Comcast beat earnings expectations on Thursday.

The media conglomerate had a slight 1.2% increase in revenue to $30.1 billion and 13.9% bump in adjusted earnings to $1.04 per share, but higher programming costs at the streamer and operating expenses at its theme parks tempered the overall results.

Despite the highly anticipated streaming release of “Oppenheimer” in February, the streamer only added 3 million subscribers. Its narrowed loss in the first quarter comes after it hit peak losses of $2.7 billion in 2023.

Here are the top-line results:

Adjusted net income: $4.17 billion, up 7.6% year over year.

Adjusted earnings per share: $1.04 per share, up 13.9% year over year, compared to 98 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Adjusted EBITDA: $9.35 billion, down 0.6% year over year.

Revenue: $30.06 billion, up 1.2% year over year, compared to $29.8 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research

Peacock: Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers during the quarter for a total of 34 million paid subscribers, a 55% increase compared to the prior year period. The streamer’s adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $639 million from $704 million in the prior year period, and its revenue grew 54% year over year to $1.1 billion, compared to $685 million a year ago.

“Our team is continuing to execute exceptionally well in a dynamic and competitive marketplace,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. “Overall, I am proud of our ability to consistently perform at the highest levels and continue to position the company for long-term growth.”

The NBCUniversal parent generated free cash flow of $4.5 billion and net cash of $7.8 billion during the quarter, up 19.4% and 8.6% year over year, respectively. Comcast paid dividends totaling $1.2 billion and repurchased 56 million of its shares for $2.4 billion, resulting in a total return of capital to shareholders of $3.6 billion.

Comcast shares fell 0.75% in pre-market trading Thursday following the release of the results.

Comcast’s Connectivity & Platforms segment, its cable business, reported adjusted EBITDA of $8.2 billion and revenue of $20.26 billion, up 1.5% and 0.6% year over year, respectively.

Video revenue fell 6.9% year over year to $6.87 billion as the cable giant continued to bleed subscribers from cord-cutting. Domestic broadband revenue grew 3.9% year over year to $6.6 billion, driven by a 4.2% increase in the average rate per customer. Domestic wireless revenue grew 13.3% to $972 million due to a 21% increase in the number of customer lines to 6.9 million.

The division lost 487,000 video customers and 65,000 domestic broadband customers, but gained 289,000 wireless subscribers during the quarter. Total customer relationships decreased by 166,000 to 52 million.

Advertising revenue grew 4.9% to $951 million, due to higher domestic political advertising, higher revenue from its advanced advertising business and the positive impact of foreign currency, partially offset by lower domestic advertising.

The Content & Experiences segment, which includes media, studios and theme parks, saw revenue grow 1.1% year over year to $10.37 billion and adjusted EBITDA fall 7.1% year over year to $1.49 billion.

The media division, which includes Peacock, saw revenue grow 3.6% year over year to $6.37 billion, primarily due to higher domestic distribution revenue, and adjusted EBITDA fell 6.1% year over year to $827 million, driven by higher programming expenses at Peacock. Domestic advertising revenue was flat at $2.025 billion, while domestic distribution revenue grew 7.2% to $2.9 billion and international networks revenue grew 1.3% to $1.02 billion.

The studios division saw revenue fell 7.2% to $2.7 billion due to a 10.4% drop in content licensing revenue to $2.1 billion, primarily reflecting the timing of when content was made available by its film studios. Adjusted EBITDA fell 12.2% to $244 million due to lower revenue, which more than offset lower operating expenses.

Theatrical revenue increased 3.4% to $330 million due to the successful performance of recent releases, including “Kung Fu Panda 4” and :Migration,: compared to theatrical releases in the prior year period, including “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “M3GAN.” “Oppenheimer,” which won 7 Oscars at the Academy Awards, began streaming exclusively on Peacock in February and was the most watched movie in the streamer’s history.

The theme park division saw revenue rise 1.5% to $1.97 billion, led by higher revenue at its domestic theme parks, and adjusted EBITDA fall 3.9% to $632 million, reflecting higher operating expenses due to higher marketing and promotion costs and the negative impact of foreign currency, which more than
offset higher revenue.

The post Peacock Narrows Streaming Loss to $639 Million in Q1, Hits 34 Million Paid Subscribers appeared first on TheWrap.

Despite a strong March at the box office highlighted by sellout screenings of “Dune: Part Two,” Imax couldn’t completely avoid the effects of a sluggish start to the 2024 box office, seeing a 9% year-over-year decline in Q1 revenue to $79 million from $86.9 million.

Here are some of the top points from the premium format company’s quarterly earnings report released before market open on Thursday.

Earnings Per Share: EPS saw an increase for Imax to 9 cents per share, beating projections from Zacks Investment Research, which also projected $75.7 million in quarterly revenue.

Net Income: $3.3 million, up 33% year-over-year from $2.5 million

Feast or Famine Box Office

In early 2023, Imax was able to benefit from the holdover success of James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” to start the year, with more support coming later on from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in February and “Creed III” in March. The record-setting Chinese hit “The Wandering Earth II” also became a major hit on Imax screens.

But with Hollywood’s double strike depleting the release slate for the first half of 2024, the year started on a sluggish pace that wasn’t fully broken until the release of “Dune: Part Two” on March 1. 54% of Imax’s $261 million in Q1 global box office grosses came solely from the $143 million grossed by “Dune: Part Two,” which now stands among Imax’s top 10 all-time highest grossing titles.

Summer Hopes

Despite the bumpy quarter, Imax holds a lot of optimism for Q2, and for good reason. While this summer’s box office is likely to see a significant drop from last year for the overall industry, Imax is expected to be a major ticket seller for the most highly anticipated titles of the season.

Among those titles are Universal’s “The Fall Guy,” Disney/20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s “Furiosa,” all of which are getting heavy promotional support from Imax.

“”Our industry leading momentum is fueled in part by our strategic expansion of the Imax value proposition; increasingly, our technology is driving content creation as much as it is content delivery. ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Dune — Part Two,’ and ‘Godzilla x Kong’ demonstrate that more and more of today’s commercially and critically successful blockbusters are shot with Imax cameras for the Imax platform — which drives our global box office and makes our systems even more of a ‘must have’ for global exhibitors.” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax. 

Gelfond also touted Imax’s positive outlook, noting more films are currently in production with Imax cameras than ever before, including an unprecedented number of “Filmed for Imax” releases set for 2025.

“Imax is very well-positioned to accelerate growth and margin expansion with a promising slate for the duration of the year, 2025, and 2026, and strong sales activity across key global markets we’re targeting for expansion.” 

The post ‘Dune 2’ Can’t Save Imax From 9% Year-Over-Year Drop in Q1 Revenue appeared first on TheWrap.