THB #177: The Lies We Choose

Donald Trump has given lying a bad name.

I’ve been in the entertainment news business for over 25 years. A day without a lie is like a day without engaging the world in which I live.

And I really don’t see this as a problem.

I get lied to by friends, enemies, acquaintances, and total strangers. The alternative would not allow them - and sometimes me - to their jobs correctly.

Sometimes, silence replaces a lie because that is easier. Sometimes, an unexpected truth is offered to lessen the doubts around the lie to come. Very cleaver types will sometimes joyfully call out one of your lies of avoidance in order to grease the wheels of their lie to come.

Hollywood is a lie. 24 or 30 frames per second, even in the editing of a documentary, the thing you are watching is not truth, though it may be supremely truthful. Or utter bullshit.

Some lies are meant to go directly to the public as told. Some lies are meant to be watered down so the reporter can have the opportunity to look serious and still lean in the direction the source wants. No reporter wants to feel like they are being played or manipulated into being a publicity tool… the degree to which the illusion must be created varies. A lot.

I learned many years ago that the home run of professional lying was getting someone who appears absolutely pure as a journalist to tell the lie you are trying to spread. That used to mean The New York Times or Time/Newsweek. Things change. This was a lot of the Harry Knowles and/or Nikki Finke story over their time in the sun as well. (It also helped enormously to have Drudge be willing to extend the lie to his page.)

I know that I have paid a price at times by rarely being willing to just take the spin as fact. No one wants to have someone keep them from just plain doing their job over and over. There are plenty of others with which to play. (I was much more popular back then… but I am aware that I overplayed my hand in many situations.)

And yes… sometimes, what seems like spin is truth. Or works its way into being the truth.

To wit, some of my favorite liars are also my favorite truth tellers.

Favorite!!!

Believe me when I tell you that the people who protect their own from painful truths are the very best at popping the false balloons of every other organization that doesn’t have their loyalty.

This column was inspired by the sure lie that the Disney Board of Governors unanimously voted to give Bob Chapek the new 3-year extension as CEO of Disney as a matter of course.

Don’t get all up in your feelings about what I am saying. I am not saying that the Disney Board did something they didn’t agree on in the majority. Maybe they even all agreed that this was the best next step for the company. But you can bet dollars to donuts (donuts now being more valuable) that not everyone agreed on the package, the length, the timing, etc. Most likely, there were at least a couple board members who didn’t want to do this right now… and when they lost the argument, they joined the majority for a unanimous show of support. Because anything else coming out of that meeting would be Board malpractice.

Part of the choice is about Disney and its operations… and part of it is about sending a message to Wall Street.

Note: Board of Directors are not meant to be public-facing. We are not meant to know what happens behind closed doors or they wouldn’t be closed. If the public knows 5% of what happens in those closed rooms, we probably know more than they meant us to know.

And truly, the thing about a new contract followed soon after with a firing is not a rarity in Hollywood… it’s par for the course.

Jim Gianopulos re-upped at Paramount in August 2019 after 2 years with the studio. He was out by September 2021.

Peter Rice was renewed last summer… out in less than a year.

Yes, many relationships end just before a contract is up. But remember, before Chapek, the modern era of Disney has had only 2 CEOs before him, Eisner and Iger. The idea that the board took years, as Iger dragged his feet, to decide on Chapek only to give him a year or less of relatively-COVID-free running room before dumping him would reflect more on them than on Chapek.

And the biggest question… who would replace him?

If Disney, as a board, had a strong play with a known executive with a very clear argument for a better future, okay. But it’s not clear that even Peter Rice, for all the love he has been shown since being shown the door, is that guy. Maybe he is. But the likelihood is not that Rice had gotten to discuss what might be his plan for the company with board members before his exit.

AT&T made the call to David Zaslav because he offered a vision that they could imagine working in the long run. Whether or not you think Project Popcorn or other Jason Kilar initiatives worked, Kilar didn’t offer a unique vision of the future to AT&T that AT&T found as attractive as what Zaslav offered. (Now he has to deliver.)

Anyway…

Lawrence Kasden and Barbara Benedek’s script for The Big Chill included this line: “I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.”

Rationalizations are lies that we tell ourselves. That we need to get through life without going mad.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a lie. Degree is everything… as in most things.

There are some who find my tone so aggressive that they can hear an accusation in anything I say. I don’t always get it. But I get it. This too can be a lie with a purpose. Insisting on something you cannot really know, but feel strongly, can bring out a counter claim that takes you a step closer to the real truth. Is it a lie if you really believe it? Yeah, maybe. Not always.

I try really hard not to lie when it matters. But that clearly doesn’t preclude me from being wrong. Being a truth teller does not always mean you know the truth. It just means that if you find what you think it is, you are willing to pay a price to say it out loud.

And with that, I will end today’s newsletter and go see Minions. Honest.

Until tomorrow…