Jeers and chants of “pay your writers” from picketers and a number of audience members greeted Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav on Sunday as he delivered Boston University’s commencement address.
Zaslav, who graduated from BU’s law school in 1985, never overtly acknowledged the WGA strike or any of the vitriol, which rippled through the outdoor event throughout his 22-minute speech.
Toward the end, though, he appeared to be speaking in part to his opponents when he offered a closing wish. “I hope to see all of you — and I mean all of you,” he said, pointing at the crowd for emphasis, “along the way.
The journey of life. There’s nothing better.” According to a series of pro-WGA tweets before, during and after Zaslav’s speech, picketers from the guild and other unions waved signs as a plane circled overhead with the blunt, all-caps message, “DAVID ZASLAV: PAY YOUR WRITERS.” As far as the speech itself, it followed the conventional graduation-advice outline of learnings passed along from an elder, with Zaslav urging grads to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, particularly the latter.
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