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Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon banquet of Puck’s
freshest reporting.

First up today, Eriq Gardner chronicles a development that might spoil Christmas in Hollywood: fears that Harmeet Dhillon, the president-elect’s choice to run the D.O.J. Civil Rights Division, could use the agency’s power to scrutinize what Republicans call reverse racism at entertainment companies like Disney, which have D.E.I. policies, or
even the Academy, which has added “inclusion standards” to be eligible for the best picture Oscar. 

Plus, below the fold: Peter Hamby has exclusive polling data revealing how Americans actually feel about Elon and Vivek’s DOGE experiment. Marion Maneker gets a download on the fast-rising textile designer and painter
Melissa Joseph from a couple art world insiders. And Baratunde Thurston connects with Bill Cohan, in a conversation presented by Meta, to explore how Wall Street is countenancing the rise of artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, on the pods… John Ourand rings up ESPN’s Seth Wickersham to assess the media impact of Bill
Belichick’s jump to UNC. On The Town, Matt Belloni is joined by CMG Worldwide founder Mark Roesler to consider the afterlife of a deceased artist’s rights. On Impolitic, John Heilemann and former Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer offer a fresh perspective on the Dems’ soul-searching walkabout. And on The Powers That Be, Bill Cohan regales Peter with incisive analysis of
Zaz’s WBD reorg before addressing BuzzFeed’s scramble to pay down its colossal debt.

Harmeet Dhillon, the Fox News fixture and former California G.O.P. vice chair, is not exactly
Hollywood’s version of a justice warrior. And now that Trump has nominated her to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, entertainment companies are bracing for a potential wave of reverse-discrimination lawsuits on behalf of the government, specifically targeting corporate D.E.I. commitments. Eriq considers how companies like Disney are preparing for the Dhillon era, before turning to another legal development causing entertainment C.E.O.s to reach for their beta
blockers: the bipartisan, Elon-backed Kids Online Safety Act, which has already cleared the Senate and could impose an explicit “duty of care” on tech companies to mitigate emotional harms caused by digital platforms. 

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In this effervescent conversation with Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak and Uovo Prize
founder Steven Guttman, the pair reveal why they bestowed the fifth annual Uovo Prize on Melissa Joseph, the rising Brooklyn-based textile designer and painter. They explain the contemporary resonance of Joseph’s tactile and narrative-rich pieces, discuss the upside for the Brooklyn Museum in identifying and supporting up-and-coming artists, recall the genesis of the Uovo Prize, consider the enduring appeal of public art, and much more. 

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Instagram Teen Accounts: automatic protections for teens

Parents want safer online experiences for their teens. That's why Instagram is introducing Teen Accounts, with automatic protections for who can contact teens and the content they can see.

A key factor: Only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16. 

Learn more

Peter digs into how Kamala Harris is laying the groundwork for her next political opportunity,
holding court at One Observatory Circle and urging Democrats to “prepare for the new year” and the incoming Trump-Vance administration. And while the sentiment might sound trite to exhausted Democrats, a new poll from Echelon Insights suggests that the party might have a few opportunities to drive a wedge between the American public and Trump. For instance, a majority of respondents agreed that the Senate should reject Trump cabinet nominees who “cannot pass a standard security clearance,” have
“conflicting business interests,” or have “acted immorally in their personal life.” What does this portend for Trump’s more outré picks? Meanwhile, voters are also skeptical about the president-elect’s planned tariff regime and seem queasy about drastically reducing the size of federal agencies in the crosshairs of Elon and Vivek’s DOGE. 

Read Now

In the latest installment of Puck’s conversation series about A.I., presented by Meta, Baratunde
connected with our resident Wall Street expert, Bill Cohan, to explore the ways in which artificial intelligence is leaving its mark on the financial services industry: What are the implications for dealmaking? A.I. chip-maker NVIDIA is now one of the most valuable companies on the planet, but what else does the frenzy surrounding A.I. portend for investors? And how are Wall Street’s biggest banks wetting their beaks? 

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ESPN senior writer and “Belichick whisperer” Seth Wickersham joins John to give an inside look
at Belichick’s surprising decision to jump to the college ranks and become UNC’s next head coach. Seth dissects the appeal of the position, whether Belichick will be able to emulate his NFL success, and his desire to build a legacy beyond football. Then he dives into the evolution of the “Patriot Way” and offers his take on Brady’s broadcasting learning curve.

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Matt is joined by Mark Roesler, founder and chairman of CMG Worldwide, to discuss how the rights
of dead famous people are being exploited by A.I. They discuss how incredibly valuable these rights are and how new technology is changing the way name, image, and likeness are being leveraged to resurrect dead stars. They highlight a few recent examples, including James Earl Jones in the new Mufasa: The Lion King film, as well as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in a commercial for a new brand of gin. Mark explains how these deceased celebrities are being protected in the age of A.I.
and who is making the decision to exploit these rights.

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John is joined by Pod Save America co-host and former Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer to
discuss Donald Trump’s flood-the-zone transition strategy and the Democratic Party’s future. Pfeiffer argues that Biden’s failure to address the mystery drone story is part of a larger abdication that has let Trump present himself as if he’s been president since Election Day; that Trump’s intent to turn his second term into a pay-for-play wet dream for plutocrats offers Democrats a chance to regain their populist mojo; and that to succeed, Resistance 2.0 must avoid focusing excessively on
Trump.

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Bill Cohan joins Peter to speculate about Warner Bros. Discovery’s potential sale of its
declining cable assets as Zaz doubles down on streaming. Then they delve into how BuzzFeed, on the brink of bankruptcy, is scrambling to pay down its colossal corporate debts.

Listen Now

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