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Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon capsule of Puck’s
best new reporting.

First up today, Matt Belloni opens his mailbag to address the most burning questions from Hollywood’s power players, agents, sources, and loyal readers, from the Kamala complexifier in Disney’s C.E.O. succession bake-off to YouTube’s quiet dominance of Hollywood, what’s going on with Taylor Sheridan, the jitters surrounding China’s
massive box office wins, and whether Netflix is actually the king of bad movies.

Plus, below the fold: Julia Ioffe reveals the devious logic behind Vladimir Putin slow rolling the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. For Inner Circle members, Lauren Sherman offers a behind-the-scenes ticktock of how Demna landed at Gucci. And John
Ourand examines Norby Williamson’s plan to remake FanDuel Sports’ regional networks—while poaching execs from his old Bristol stomping grounds.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Lauren rings up Interview E.I.C. Mel Ottenberg to discuss the season’s best fashion shows and the Demna bombshell. On The Grill Room, Dylan Byers is joined by WSJ top editor Emma Tucker for a bracing
conversation about the fate of the news media business. On Impolitic, John Heilemann convenes with Democratic Representative Jake Auchincloss to scrutinize the DOGE masterplan. And on The Powers That Be, Eriq Gardner and Peter Hamby dissect the fate of the Paramount-Skydance merger and Trump’s crusade against the white shoe law firm Perkins Coie.

HOLLYWOOD

Once again, it’s spring cleaning time for Matt’s overflowing inbox. (And tweet replies, and Signal messages…) With
fresh reporting and insider analysis, Matt addresses (with visual aids!) whether Netflix’s movies are actually worse than every other studio and streamer; how Dana Walden’s friendship with Kamala potentially compromised her odds of becoming Disney’s next C.E.O.; the industry chatter surrounding China’s $2 billion film and what it portends for global blockbusters not made in the U.S.; the under-the-radar ways that YouTube is secretly dominating Hollywood; and much more.

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WASHINGTON

After meeting with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Vladimir Putin said he was open to the ceasefire proposal
hashed out by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio… kind of. “The idea itself is a good one and we absolutely support it,” Putin said at a press conference. “But there are questions that we have to discuss.” Putin, of course, has been clear about what some of his “security guarantees” would entail: a demilitarized and neutral Ukraine with a new, Moscow-friendly government that will concede its claims to contested regions—demands that are completely incompatible with the security guarantees that
Ukraine is seeking. Once again, as Julia brilliantly explains, Putin’s response is emblematic of what he does best: dragging negotiators into diplomatic purgatory while continuing to fight.

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FASHION

The decision to appoint Demna as Gucci’s new creative director was made three months ago, but it was only during the
past week that information started seeping out of Kering’s walls. The official announcement, which came yesterday, explained that Demna will work for the next six months at Balenciaga, and that his first day at Gucci will be in July. As Lauren notes, this is the craziest, riskiest thing Kering could have done: Demna is a genius, but polarizing, and his personal aesthetic is in many ways the antithesis of Gucci’s warm, glossy brand. In short, his appointment is a massive gamble for Kering boss
François-Henri Pinault, Gucci C.E.O. Stefano Cantino, and his deputy Francesca Bellettini—and the market is already responding.

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SPORTS

A few months into his new gig as president of production and programming at Main Street Sports, Norby Williamson has
started implementing his plan to remake FanDuel Sports’ regional networks. On Tuesday, the former ESPN exec brought on four production executives from his former stomping grounds in a significant reorg. Rather than allowing a scattering of executive producers to make separate decisions on individual channels in different markets, he explained to John, the hope is that organizing production by sport will bring consistency to all of their telecasts. But at this point, is it even possible to
revive the R.S.N. model?

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FASHION

Lauren is joined by Interview editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg to discuss the best of the season’s shows,
starting with Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein in New York all the way up to Prada in Milan and Balenciaga, Miu Miu, and Saint Laurent in Paris. They discuss corporate cosplay and vintage replicas on the runways, why the state of the world is making people want to wear suits again, and then… they are interrupted by the announcement that Demna is the new creative director of Gucci, just hours after Dario Vitale was announced at Versace. It’s chaos.

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MEDIA

In this episode, the beloved yet controversial Wall Street Journal top editor Emma Tucker joins Dylan for a
candid discussion about the evolution of the historic business, management changes, tough choices, and the future of the news media industry writ large.

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WASHINGTON

John is joined by Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss to discuss how his party is handling the
clash over a government shutdown and the broader challenges of Donald Trump’s second term. Jake argues that voting for the Republican measure to fund the government is a mistake in terms of both policy and politics, and that the freak-out in the worlds of business and finance about Trump’s trade war is nothing compared to what we’ll see when (Jake predicts) Trump tries to take over the Fed. Jake also avers that Rahm Emanuel has it right when he says his party should spend more time talking about
what goes on in America’s classrooms than its locker rooms or bathrooms.

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HOLLYWOOD

Eriq Gardner joins Peter to dissect the fate of the Paramount-Skydance merger, which remains in F.C.C. purgatory
under the new Trump administration. Then Eriq scrutinizes Trump’s grudge-driven crusade against the white shoe law firm Perkins Coie—and their titanic response, landing a major blow against Trump in federal court in the process.

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Now

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