On the surface, they’re two dramatic stories about celebrities. Jada Pinkett Smith got endearingly honest with her husband Will Smith on her own Facebook Watch show and Adrian Wojnarowski got endearingly honest with a Republican Senator on his own email. But these two stories inadvertently highlighted the even more dramatic story beneath the surface, the culture clash between the insurgent platforms of Silicon Valley and the conservative institutions of media. Smith and Woj each got into an entanglement with honesty, and it made the media look obsolete. In the past, the Smith moment of honesty would have happened on Oprah or Ellen. Instead, Jada Pinkett Smith invited her husband Will Smith onto her own Facebook Watch show, “Red Table Talk,” to get way ahead of a gossip story about her affair with singer August Alsina, or what she memorably called her "entanglement" with him. It’s that absence of any mediator that makes the video so compelling. The very honest conversation between the very high profile couple was so intimate, raw and relaxed that it more resembled voyeurism than television.
It could not and would not have been as good with one extra element between them, like, say, a host or a network. It was not the only L networks took this week. Woj, by far the most influential and beloved NBA reporter, was suspended by his employer, ESPN.Woj apparently received a press release from Republican Senator Josh Hawley that criticized the NBA’s support for Black Lives Matter messages on jerseys and relationship with China. Woj responded, in an email, “Fuck you.” The Senator tweeted a screenshot of it. ESPN suspended Woj. The suspension only raises questions about how much Woj really needs ESPN. He famously breaks the biggest stories in sports on his Twitter account. If he were to walk away from ESPN today, millions of fans would follow him anywhere he went. And, honestly, what Woj did was cool. The Woj Affair is an instance of a media institution like ESPN, which is owned by Disney, getting between an influential figure and direct communication with their fans. That’s a framing of the story that would play well with any readers in Silicon Valley, who are currently at war with “legacy” media institutions like the New York Times.
In a fascinating profile of an anonymous blogger’s struggle with the Times for The New Yorker, Giedeon Lewis-Kraus describes the long-simmering conflict between Silicon Valley and the media as a tribal battle for the future of liberalism in America. But in a response to it, writer Fredrik Deboer insists the clash between Silicon Valley and the media is a clash between irony and principle.“Media culture abhors sincerity,” Deboer writes. Unfortunately for the media, whose tribe I definitely belong to over Silicon Valley’s, they found themselves becoming an obstacle to the riveting honesty of both the Smiths and Woj. An influential person armed with honesty just doesn’t need them to be the most interesting person in the world for a day.
The shorter stuff
🌀Special "Netflix Hegemony" Section
Netflix has created their own QAnon with "Unsolved Mysteries." Genius. (Reddit)
"The Old Guard" answers the question, "What if Black Ops assassins were also vampires?" It's gun fu meets "Blade." Not as good as "Extraction" but two hours minutes of cool gun stuff and long coats. (Forbes)
Prepare for "Indian Matchmaking" and "Love on the Spectrum," Netflix's follow-ups to "Floor Is Lava," "Love is Blind" and "the Circle." (THR)
Thank you for your service, Zac Efron. (Twitter)
Thank G-d the Sway House and the Hype House "resolved their feud in private." Nearly 101 years to the day after the Treaty of Versailles. (NYT)
Everything about Sleeping Giants, including their Facebook boycott, exhausts me. (BuzzFeed News)
Protocol is the Quibi of tech journalism. (Digiday)
The guy who acquired "Schitt's Creek" and was supposed to help Audible take on Spotify is out after one month. (Bloomberg)
Special "Checking In With HBO Max" Section
Who is this copy supposed to be for? "Amy Schumer x baby. Best collab of 2020." (Twitter)
The involvement of "Sopranos" legend Terrence Winter will force me to watch this police drama set in Robert Pattison's "The Batman" universe. (THR)
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" is quietly a cultural touchstone now. (TNY)
Sony now owns 1.4% of Epic for the price of $250 million. Tencent still owns 40% at a price of $330 million seven years ago. (The Verge)
The country's two largest streaming players, Roku and Amazon, won't carry Peacock at launch. (WSJ)
Colin Jost would be in Montauk, wouldn't he? (NYT)
This ad seems to suggest that fans of "The Office" wish their favorite characters were actually their real-life bosses? (Twitter)
Oliver Stone's fear of and respect for the Seth MacFarlane comedy "Ted" in this otherwise tough-guy interview is hilarious. (NYT)