CBS Owner Knew in Advance That CBS News Would Be Viciously Mocked at Golden Globes in ‘Meatiest Joke of the Night’: Report

The top executive of CBS’s parent company, Skydance Media, David Ellison, “knew in advance” that the host of the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, Nikki Glaser, was going to ridicule CBS News, but chose not to stop it, according to a veteran media reporter. Ms. Glaser’s opening monologue at the award show — in which she took her jab at CBS News — has been celebrated by the New York Times and others for the host’s “confidence” in attacking the network that broadcast the show. The Times called her mockery of CBS News “the meatiest joke of the night.” On Sunday, Ms. Glaser quipped, “The award for most editing goes to … CBS News.”Ms. Glaser also appeared to ridicule Skydance’s attempt to shift the network toward the center. She said, “CBS … America’s newest place to see B.S. news.”However, a veteran media reporter, Matthew Belloni, recently celebrated in the Times as the most connected reporter covering the entertainment business, is not buying into the narrative that Ms. Glaser was taking a bold stance. He said in a new episode of his podcast, “The Town,” that Mr. Ellison, who was in attendance Sunday night, knew the jab was coming but declined to intervene to stop it. “Ellison knew in advance they were doing the CBS News joke,” Mr. Belloni said. “It wasn’t even that funny, CBS like BS News. But they knew in advance. It’s like, what are you going to do? You know, you’re not going to stop [it], and then it becomes a story.”Ms. Glaser’s comments seem to refer to criticism of President Trump’s interview with “60 Minutes” last fall. The interview lasted for roughly 90 minutes, but the version that aired was about 28 minutes long. CBS News posted a 73-minute-long version online. It also posted a transcript of the interview online. However, CBS was criticized for removing Mr. Trump’s comments praising the new owners of the Tiffany Network. The broadcast version also excluded Mr. Trump’s comments, insisting the 2020 election was stolen. The network’s new owners, the centibillionaire Ellison family, came under heavy criticism last month after the editor in chief of CBS News, Bari Weiss, whom the Ellisons had recently installed, withheld a “60 Minutes” segment about a prison in El Salvador that received Venezuelan men deported by the Trump Administration. The segment, which aired in Canada, focused on the conditions in the prison. However, it omitted comments from Trump Administration officials, creating the false impression that federal officials did not comment. The decision to pull the story, which had already been advertised, led to allegations of corporate interference aimed at limiting criticism of the Trump Administration. Ms. Glaser’s opening monologue was praised by a Times culture critic, Jason Zinoman, who wrote that she delivered “a killer set of rapid-fire, very short jokes” during her opening monologue.“A few were slashing (one about stars in the Jeffrey Epstein files), some were soft and silly (one about the Rock punning on the game rock, paper, scissors), but all were completely assured as she put on a clinic in how to win over a room without pandering to it,” Mr. Zinoman said.He praised the comedian for the “confidence” she displayed by deciding to attack CBS News in the wake of the Skydance Media takeover.A sports commentator, Sean Grande, shared Ms. Glaser’s joke and wrote, “No lies detected.”A left-wing activist, Portia Prescott, wrote, “Best joke of the night!”One viewer wrote on X, “Nailed it.”Before the Federal Communications Commission approved Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global, which owns CBS, Skydance executives made written commitments to practice fair journalism. Mr. Ellison told reporters in August that he wanted to make the network into one that Democrats and Republicans feel they can watch. As network executives have tried to shift CBS News’s editorial voice, liberal viewers have accused the network of behaving like “state-run media.” While there has been criticism of the new management of CBS and efforts to move the network to the center, “60 Minutes” has continued to run stories that are critical of the Trump Administration. CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. Skydance did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

CBS Owner Knew in Advance That CBS News Would Be Viciously Mocked at Golden Globes in ‘Meatiest Joke of the Night’: Report

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