Scott Galloway · 56:47
I mean, do people have an obligation to
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Kara Swisher · 56:51
was invited to one of those dinners. I said no.
Scott Galloway · 56:53
Well, you're you're smarter than me.
Kara Swisher · 56:55
Well I had a problem with his conviction. But, anyway, go ahead.
Scott Galloway · 56:59
But I don't... Okay. If someone... If there's accusations, as there were against several of these individuals that they engaged in sex trafficking and having sex with underage women, the authorities should get involved. But going back and revisiting who was on the island and who flew on his plane Yeah.
Kara Swisher · 57:17
They have to feel they did it
Scott Galloway · 57:19
feels like it's a similar weave in the fabric of this bullshit around plagiarism, and that is it doesn't serve any purpose other than gotcha journalism for clicks and embarrassing people. I just
Kara Swisher · 57:30
Well, it's gotcha more than... People have the interest in it, whether or not... It's not just journalists doing this. It's a lot of, like, Aaron fucking Rogers. So... But, yeah, I get it. He's not he's not a journalist. Whatever.
Scott Galloway · 57:40
Who cares what, like, an aging quarterback thinks? I mean I
Kara Swisher · 57:45
get it. I get it, but I think you still can't say Jimmy Kimmel's about him. Like, this is the thing people
Scott Galloway · 57:49
should read words. Oh, I would imagine Jimmy Kimmel's lawyers in in Disney have reached out to ESPN. Well, actually, the same company. That's what's weird about it. It's ABC and Disney is... A s... ABC and ESPN are owned by the same people. That's that's slander. That could have a tangible impact on advertisers because if he's accused of it once, it never goes away, or if he's even associated with it incorrectly. I'm speaking more broadly about this gotcha culture where, okay, be careful because you might find yourself on a plane with somebody. Yeah. Might accept an invitation. You're a busy person.
Kara Swisher · 58:24
Oh, Epstein is like the... Is like a mold. I was at a party he was at where a 100 people were there, a 150 people, and he was like, how dare you go to a party with... I didn't even know he was there. And I I have several people like, you were an Epstein friend. I was like, I literally never met him.
Scott Galloway · 58:40
I was in St. Bart's, I ended up at this amazing party on the beach, I'm like, who's hosting it? And they're like, it's Qaddafi's nephew. And I'm like, what? Qaddafi's nephew? I'm at a party hosted by Qaddafi's nephew? Anyway, it just feels to me more of this call out gotcha culture. There were no new names as far as I could tell.
Kara Swisher · 58:57
No. It was a lot of non news. It was a lot
Scott Galloway · 58:59
of non So it's like, again, it's this culture where we'll do anything to embarrass people, call people out, and get more clicks. What's the point?
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 59:06
Yep. I agree. Let's find some prosecutions if people did something. But I do think it's dangerous to be throwing around the word pedophile. I wish, you know, Elon did and stuff like that. It's really gross. It's really gross. A Warner Brothers Paramount merger might be in the works. Warner Brothers CEO David Zaslov has reportedly been in talks with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish as well as Sherry Redstone. Both companies have hired bankers, but the status of these talks has been described as preliminary. There's a couple of people looking. There's been some great writing on this by Bill Cohen and others about what's happening here from a financial point of view. A lot of debt. More debt.
Scott Galloway · 59:40
I don't know if this deal will happen, but Paramount will not be an independent company by the end of the year. The entire streaming market and the media market is a fascinating case study in economics and market dynamics. And you've to cut costs and you've got to consolidate. I mean, even Disney might be not big enough. I think they are. I think they'll be the biggest niche player, but basically it's going to come down to three players. It's going to be Netflix. It's going to be Warner Bros. Discovery. And it's going to be probably the biggest niche player will be Disney, which will own Family. But this makes all the sense in the world. Warner Bros. Discovery couldn't do it because of tax reasons. They will be able to do it, I think, in about six or nine months. This will be more for efficiency. I I would hate to be in the CBS Newsroom after this thing happens. But this is what naturally needs to happen in the marketplace. They have some great assets. They have heft. And together, they will hold on to 90% of the combined revenues, and they'll be able to cut costs by 20%.
Kara Swisher · 1:00:39
Linear television declining. It's tough. It's really... It is tough. We'll see what happens.
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Kara Swisher · 1:00:46
of the survivors. I literally... Their glittery unicorn claws are, like, deep into my kids. Now they're watching Vampirena. They're watching... Now it's... Now Frozen is gone, which I was thrilled, but now it's Vampirena.
Scott Galloway · 1:00:57
Every year I make stock picks. And last year I picked Airbnb, Meta, and Chinese Internet stocks. Went two This for three year I picked Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney. They're selling at such low multiples. And this consolidation, they're gonna if you just look at what Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount would be able to do in terms of overlap and cost cutting, and they'd be able to hold on to the majority of their revenues, champagne and cocaine. Okay. Makes a ton of sense. Makes a ton of sense for them.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 1:01:22
Probably right. I think you're probably right. Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails.
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Kara Swisher · 1:03:06
Okay, Scott. We're gonna do some wins and fails. I'm gonna do a win, which is, this movie American fiction with Jeffrey Wright, by Cord Jefferson directed it and adapted it for the screen. It is speaking of... You will love it. It's set in academia. It's about woke culture. It's about the African American experience in academics. It's about... It's really... And that's the funny part, and it's sort of being put as this funny, like, white people say stupid things about black people, and un... Not meaning to, trying to be well meaning. But it's really about a family, and Leslie Uggams is in it. This is... It's an astonishing Leslie
Scott Galloway · 1:03:44
Uggams. Remember her.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:45
She's fantastic. Everything about it is amazing. It's it's such a beautiful movie, and Jeffrey Wright, who is possibly one of my favorite actors, finally gets a turn, as as a star, and he's so good. And I... You know when you see movies, you know when you see everything coming? I didn't see any of it coming. You know, I I didn't. It's Sterling k Brown plays his brother. Every single person in this movie is fantastic, and it's a it's a life affirming movie, but also very tough. So, anyway, loved it. American fiction. Fail, I think the continued, I still am... I find this, like, we're gonna a two, the lady from MIT, all this violent stuff around catching these people. Look. People get fired. You can have some dignity about it. It's... I think, as usual, the right will overreach as they did with parental rights or book banning or whatever. But it's... There's such a hatefulness to it that it's it's really like, look. Let's have a good debate about d e... DEI. Let's have a good debate about preferences and diversity, and there's nothing wrong with inclusion. Like, why... When did that become a bad word? So I I just... I think people need to calm the fuck down. Alright.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:03
And and it cannot be in the context of let's revisit it and celebrate our progress. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's been a wonderful thing. The basic intentions
Kara Swisher · 1:05:11
are positive this year.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:13
It's been a wonderful thing. We have made huge progress, so let's build on that progress, also recognizing that it probably needs to be changed or edited or improved. Anyway, I agree with you. Okay, so my win is President Biden's speech at Valley Forge. I'm going on Christiane Amapur tomorrow, and she's asked me to talk about messaging and the presidential campaigns. And I was initially thinking it should be about autocracy versus democracy. I love what you said that it should be about freedom or the economy. And whoever is in charge of his messaging right now and wrote that speech, they win. I mean, some of the quotes Trump is running as the denier in chief, the election denier in chief once again. He's saying he won't honor the results of the election if he loses. He still doesn't understand the basic truth, and that is you can't love your country only when you win. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power.
Kara Swisher · 1:06:18
And so is the Republican Party. At least Stefanik won't promise to certify the results. But go ahead.
Scott Galloway · 1:06:23
There you go. Another great quote. These MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump on January 6 have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy. They made their choice. Now the rest of us, Democrats, independents, streamer Republicans, need to make our choice. Today, we're here to answer the most important of questions. Is democracy still America's sacred cause? I mean it. I just thought his I thought his messaging was outstanding. And he's basically setting up a message that it's democracy versus autocracy. And put your emotions aside, what is America about? I I just think... I wish I knew who is messenger in chief and speechwriter Yeah.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:03
Also, by the way, it's in contrast. People are starting to now pay attention to Trump and the magnets thing and the weird, like
Scott Galloway · 1:07:10
And he came out swinging. I just thought he was I I
Kara Swisher · 1:07:13
think the contrast, Trump, you crazy old man, is the way I would go.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:16
It was a great it was a great speech. So anyways, my win is President Biden kind of kicked off twenty four's election cycle by coming out swinging. And I love the framing and the messaging there. My fail, which will probably piss off the progressives who like the win, is I just think it's a huge mistake to take, to pursue and remove, if possible, Trump from ballots and states.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:44
I would agree. I actually agree with you.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:46
And, look, if a democracy wants an autocrat, they get to do that. And while I understand the Colorado State Supreme Court's justification, rationalization that in fact, by putting pressure on election officials, by organizing January 6, that he's responsible and he's an insurrectionist. And I do believe he's an insurrectionist. The bottom line is a court has not found him guilty yet of insurrection. And to start taking people off ballots, if this happens, it'll be the first time that a presidential candidate was taken off the ballot for this type of reason since Lincoln, and that started a civil war. And we need Donald Trump to have no excuse for why America rejects him a second time. And the people who follow him need to see what a loser him
Kara Swisher · 1:08:35
They won't accept it. They won't
Scott Galloway · 1:08:36
and his ideology. Well, at some point, they're gonna have They're
Kara Swisher · 1:08:40
in the cult. They're there for life. I agree with you. I think I think the Supreme Court will
Scott Galloway · 1:08:45
Let the people decide.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:46
Here's my... I'm gonna make a prediction. Nine zero on that one, on the ballot, and nine zero on the full immunity. He's not getting full immunity. Not at all. So I think I... I'm gonna say they're all gonna go the same way on this, or maybe they'll be a little... Like, Clarence Thomas will stick his his, you know, his little I'm not gonna agree with anybody mentality. I'm gonna go off in my paid for trailer. But I think I think they're gonna rule against him getting full immunity because, oh my god, Biden could do whatever he wanted. He could arrest Trump and put him in... And put him on a ship or whatever. And they will say no to the ballot thing. Even if it does apply, it doesn't apply yet. Right? That's the thing. So we'll see. But it was... It's an interesting legal case. I think it's... We'll see what happens.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:34
But Let the voters decide.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:35
Let the voters decide. Anyway
Scott Galloway · 1:09:36
And and if America wants to put a put an insurrectionist and a traitor back in the White House, that's their right.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:42
Yeah. I guess. Well, if he's convicted of insurrection, we have another issue.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:45
A 100%.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:46
We'll we'll see.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:47
A 100%.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:48
Anyway, this was great. Scott, I missed you so much. This was such a good show. Very good. It's great to be back. We we we miss our list. This morning, I... Again, people love the show. We'd love... They they have messages for you, lots of them, and mostly Some
Scott Galloway · 1:10:03
not so nice.
Kara Swisher · 1:10:04
Yeah. The penis jokes. The penis jokes. But but, actually, I got a lot of jolly stuff all through the holidays. And just this morning when I was in Steak and Egg here in Washington, DC, we had some fans there. Anyway... And we aren't kidding. We love our fans, and I'm gonna say a shout out to Abby who said hello today and thinks our shows are great. Thank you, Abby, for saying that. It made my day. Scott, that's the show. We'll be back on Friday with more. Please read us out.
Scott Galloway · 1:10:31
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Injotat engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Neil Savario. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business care. It's great to be back with you in 2024.
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Scott Galloway · 1:11:46
at
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