TikTok’s MAGAfication, Putin’s Unholy Coronation, A Fashion Micro-Scandal

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon digest of Puck’s freshest reporting.

First up today, William D. Cohan presents his exclusive chat with Sam Bankman-Fried from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, in which America’s most famous prisoner recounts his regrets about the demise of FTX, the travails of his new life, and his forthcoming appeal.

Plus, below the fold: Matt Belloni foreshadows the next chapter in Hollywood’s talent compensation wars. Tara Palmeri digs into the MAGAfication of TikTok. Lauren Sherman teases out a fashion industry micro-scandal. John Ourand chronicles Netflix’s NFL Christmas miracle. On The Town, Matt is joined by longtime producers Cathy Schulman and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to discuss the extinction event bearing down on their profession. And on The Powers That Be, Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby to annotate Putin’s fifth inauguration speech, and the overly tidy interpretations of the Israel-Hamas war popping up on college campuses.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

On a recent Tuesday, I went to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for an intimate chat with America’s most famous prisoner, Sam Bankman-Fried. During our 75-minute conversation, we discussed everything from Caroline Ellison and the travails of his new life, to his regrets about the demise of FTX and his forthcoming appeal.

MATTHEW BELLONI

The leading streamer is about to once again try to upend the way Hollywood talent is paid. Will the industry let it this time around?

TARA PALMERI

The Chinese-owned app has become a hotbed of pro-Trump activity at precisely the moment when a putative Trump administration would provide its best shot at survival.

LAUREN SHERMAN

News and notes on the micro-controversy, real or imagined, stemming from Susan Plagemann’s restructuring of WME Fashion.