Barack Obama Calls Out ‘Embattled’ Studios and Streamers During Panel for His Netflix Series: ‘I’m Very Supportive of the Writers’

Barack Obama has achieved many things in his life as a politician, but his younger self may have wanted to be on the court and not in the White House. The former president of the United States recently sat down for a fun interview ahead of the release of his new show on Netflix, “Working; What We Do All Day,” where he admitted that he wanted to play in the NBA when he was younger.Una publicación compartida por Barack Obama (@barackobama)He published the confessions to his 36.1 million followers on Instagram. “As a kid, I’d tell adults that my dream job was to be an architect.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney reached its 7,000 layoffs goal, handing out notices to the remaining employees impacted in its third round of job cuts last Friday ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Variety has confirmed. The Mouse House’s target was to conclude these companywide layoffs, which focused most heavily on the media divisions and left the parks largely untouched, ahead of the summer. The company still has plans to eliminate more roles internationally over a period of time, according to a source close to the situation, but Disney has now concluded the benchmark it set in February, soon after Iger’s return as CEO upon the ousting of Bob Chapek.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Gordon Ramsay’s team has been inundated with emails from C-suite execs at food businesses across the U.S. over the past week, following the premiere of his latest Fox competition series, “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.” With the unscripted series having already shot its first season in its entirety, these people are already itching to get on a potential second season of “Food Stars,” which, in a twist for Ramsay isn’t a show about how well you cook, plate or serve — it’s ultimately about how you play the business game. And the winner gets $250,000 investment from the celebrity chef himself. “As you know, 68% percent of businesses fail in the first 18 months. And so I have to judge this on the business acumen, but more importantly, the decisions and the quickness of how decisive they need to be in the cutthroat business world,” Ramsay told Variety ahead of Episode 2 of “Food Stars” airing Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Fox “So I need to get behind the character to understand the business. And then as always, stress test those businesses and look for weaknesses. I’ve made mistakes in business, but I’ve never made that same mistake twice. Everything I’ve learned and the restaurants I’ve opened, and the huge success and the issues I’ve had to deal with, across the whole sector, has gone into this shows. It’s been fascinating, because the feedback has been extraordinary. Just on LinkedIn alone, the amount of CMOs and CEOs and COOs in the first 24 hours that my team was inundated with, thousands of requests. It’s been pretty incredible.”

Tatiana Siegel In September 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, ESPN anchor Sage Steele appeared on the podcast “Uncut with Jay Cutler” on her day off. During the interview, Cutler asked Steele why she had a bandage on her arm, and she explained that she had just received the jab in compliance with Disney policy, which required salaried and non-union workers to be fully vaccinated. The 16-year veteran of ESPN went on to slam the corporate mandate as “sick” and “scary” and noted that she “didn’t want to” get the vaccine but still complied in order to keep her job and support her family. During the 71-minute podcast, Steele also expressed other views that deviated from prevailing discourse in most of the mainstream media, namely that as a self-identified biracial woman, she didn’t understand why Barack Obama only identified as Black. “You do you. I’m gonna do me,” she said.

Earlier this week, the world received the devastating news that rock and roll icon, Tina Turner, had passed away at her home in Stäfa, Switzerland. Just four days after her death, recent reports have emerged that her £58 million Swiss retreat will be transformed into a museum dedicated to the star’s life and career by her husband, Erwin Back - according to The Mirror.The sprawling property is just half an hour away from the mansion she shared with her husband, which is located on the banks of the stunning Lake Zurich.

Taylor Swift may be the official answer to New Jersey’s biggest breakfast sandwich debate.

The Writers Guild of America is getting even more Oval Office support.

Barack and Michelle Obama shared a tribute for Tina Turner, who passed away this Wednesday. She was 83. The Obamas joined millions of people who were moved by her passing, writing a statement that praised Turner’s spirit and music.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Colin Farrell, Mariska Hargitay, Danny Strong, Paula Pell, Rachel Dratch, Michael Kelly and Craig Zobel were among the stars who came out to the writers strike picket line outside Paramount Global’s New York City office in Times Square Thursday. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., and local politicians spoke at the event in support of the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) cause against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that has led to a four-week-and-counting work stoppage due to the organizations’ inability to ink a new contract May 1. “This is about what’s right. We’ve seen income inequality grow exponentially over the last decade; and in your business, it has never been more present,” Gillibrand said to the crowd, filled with not only WGA members, but also those from SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters, among other unions. “We see writers working hard every day to produce content and we have an unfair playing field. Not only does AI want to displace our writers, they simply can’t. AI generates content based on what’s been written before the work you did last year, and the year before. It’s not original. It’s not imaginative. It doesn’t come from the human heart. It’s not about a human experience. It’s not about what people actually want to learn about or know about or see or experience. That is what writers bring to the equation every single time. So this strike is so important for the future of this country. It’s about the value of workers; workers and what they create is fundamentally valuable.”

Tributes have poured in for music legend Tina Turner who has died aged 83. One of rock's most famous voices, who had hits including Proud Mary and The Best, the star died after a long illness. Turner passed away “peacefully" on Wednesday in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to her publicist.

Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, died Wednesday at the age of 83 following a long illness. Turner's rep confirmed the sad news in a statement to ET and reflected on the «Proud Mary» singer's unique legacy and the impact she made on rock music. «Tina Turner, the 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,» the statement read.«Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Tennessee, USA.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor That was the week that was, and last week was an upfronts week like no other. Variety’s team of New York-based television and digital reporters offer a debrief on the 2023 programming presentations in New York on the latest episode of Variety weekly podcast “Strictly Business.” The drama roiling the industry was evident in all the Writers Guild of America picket signs that swarmed around the major events held from May 15 to May 17. That added to the general madness of the week that is a television and advertising industry tradition but is starting to feel anachronistic in the streaming era. But the upfronts are still a hard habit to break. Netflix even crashed the party this year, albeit virtually.

Former President Barack Obama will be participating in a live conversation Thursday to promote his latest documentary series, Working: What We Do All Day.

First Lady Michelle Obama knows how to distinguish between good and bad cocktails. Recently, the author and philanthropist revealed on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” her two daughters have “weak” cocktail-making skills.According to Obama, 24-year-old Malia and 21-year-old Sasha invited her and President Barack Obama to hang out in their apartment before having dinner. The sisters decided to impress their famous parents; however, their experience wasn’t the best.“Not only did they drink it, they made one.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox is serving up a new season of Joel McHale’s mystery baking competition “Crime Scene Kitchen” next week and bringing several celebrity new guest judges along for the ride. Variety can exclusively reveal that the lineup of Season 2’s famous faces includes “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum NeNe Leakes, country music star Martina McBride, “Next Level Chef” (a Gordon Ramsay-led Fox food competition) and “Top Chef” star Richard Blais and NBA champ and “Special Forces” (yet another Fox competition) contestant Dwight Howard. Those guest judges will pop in during different episodes this season to join host McHale and full-time judges Curtis Stone and Yolanda Gampp in their evaluations.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Showtime research and scheduling chief Kim Lemon is exiting his post after 34 years with the company. Upon his exit, MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks’ Laurel Weir will be adding oversight of the Showtime brand (soon to be renamed Paramount+ With Showtime) to her purview. Most recently executive vice president of data strategy, research, scheduling and programming, Lemon began his career at Showtime more than three decades ago as a manager of marketing research. “Throughout his tenure, Kim has played an integral role in Showtime’s evolution from a linear network to a bonafide streaming service, establishing a first-in-class data science group,” wrote Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy and Paramount’s executive vice president and chief research officer Colleen Fahey Rush in a memo to staff Tuesday, which was obtained by Variety. “He is a pioneer in brand strategy, always prioritizing our content and being mindful of how it would inform our growth while showing great reverence for the creative process and our audience’s feedback.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SAG-AFTRA has struck a deal with celebrity video platform Cameo to cover the brand deals that members make through Cameo for Business (C4B) under a guild contract. The new pact, “C4B x SAG-AFTRA Agreement,” will allow SAG-AFTRA members to count C4B earnings toward health and pension benefits, just as those earnings become a growing concern for out of work actors while the Writers Guild of America’s strike against Hollywood studios and their organization, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), rages on. SAG-AFTRA has been a big supporter of WGA on the picket line over the first three weeks of the strike, with SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher being very vocal ahead of the the actors guild entering its own contract negotiations with the AMPTP on June 7.

Veteran telecom lawyer Anna Gomez has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Federal Communications Commission, a five-member regulatory body stuck in a 2-2 deadlock.

More eyebrow-raising details have emerged about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “near-catastrophic” paparazzi chase…

There will be no late night laughs in Moscow, comrade. Or anywhere else in Russia, for that matter.

Eric Andre opened up about his love life on The Howard Stern Show.