Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compendium of Puck’s best new reporting. First up today, Matt Belloni bestows his annual “awards season awards” honoring the biggest imbroglios, unambiguous villains, and jarring subplots in the death march to Oscars night. Indeed, from the contenders who were never really contenders, to Sean Baker’s not-so-subtle Netflix-bashing at the dais, one of the oddest and most roller-coastery seasons in memory deserves its own set of accolades… Plus, below the fold: Julia Ioffe reveals the whispered frustrations among Zelensky supporters following his Oval Office thrashing. Lauren Sherman charts the fashion industry’s response to Bally designer Simone Bellotti’s forthcoming departure to Jil Sander—and chronicles another LVMH executive shake-up, centered around a pair of Arnault heirs. And Dylan Byers calls up Bill Cohan to determine whether Zaz’s Warner Bros. Discovery has finally turned a corner. But wait, there’s more! Hillary Kerr joins Lauren on Fashion People to candidly assess the best- and worst-dressed on the Oscars red carpet. On The Town, Matt convenes with Lucas Shaw and Neon C.E.O. Tom Quinn to debate why indie films are thriving. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and political advisor Joe Hack dig into the ongoing fallout from Trump’s Zelensky blowup. And on The Powers That Be, Matt and Peter Hamby explore why politics took a backseat on Oscars night.

For a couple years now, Matt has continued his tradition of bestowing “awards season awards” honoring the highs and (mostly) lows of the death march to the Oscars. This year, after an especially wild campaign season featuring the Emilia Pérez Twitter scandal, Matt decided to crown his winners after the Oscars, both to incorporate the absurdities of the big event and to put a button on the entire season so we need never speak of it again. Herewith, Matt’s acknowledgment of the most cynical marketing campaigns, the cringiest moments, and the most ridiculous people Hollywood has to offer in the year 2025… Read Now

On Friday afternoon, after Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was asked to leave the White House following a disastrous Oval Office confrontation with Donald Trump and his retinue, Julia spoke with a source close to the Kremlin to hear how the televised meeting went over in Moscow. The Kremlin-adjacent source was pretty frustrated with Zelensky, whom he felt had bungled the meeting needlessly. “He’s an idiot. Why get in a fight over nothing?” he fumed. Perhaps surprisingly, however, similar sentiments are being widely shared across Washington—including among many Democrats and some of Zelensky’s closest allies. In fact, as Julia reports, those frustrations have been percolating for some time. Read Now

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It’s an open secret that Simone Bellotti is moving on from Bally to OTB-owned Jil Sander, where Luke and Lucie Meier showed their final collection earlier this week. (His impending exit sent fashion editors into a frenzy at Bally’s Via Montenapoleone store in Milan.) Lauren notes that it’s the right move for Bellotti, whose future under Bally’s still-new owner, the Beverly Hills–based P.E. firm Regent, is less certain. Meanwhile, in the land of LVMH, Loro Piana C.E.O. Damien Bertrand is rumored to be in line for a big promotion, and that his likely successor is Frédéric Arnault, the current C.E.O. of LVMH Watches. Sources also say that Delphine Arnault, Frédéric’s older sister and the current C.E.O. at Dior, is exiting her role in July. The Arnault family’s succession bakeoff continues… Read Now

Bill Cohan joins Dylan to dissect the three-year evolution of Warner Bros. Discovery since David Zaslav’s bold 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. He breaks down WBD’s rising streaming profits, declining linear TV business, and $19 billion debt reduction—bringing the company closer to a credit upgrade. With speculation swirling about a potential merger with NBCUniversal or Comcast’s SpinCo, Bill examines what’s next for WBD, the strategic loss of NBA rights, and the broader ripple effects on networks like CNN and the media landscape writ large. Listen Now

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Lauren is joined by the brilliant Hillary Kerr of Future Publishing, Who What Wear, podcasting, and newsletter fame for their annual unpacking of Hollywood’s most important night… of red carpet fashion. They cover it all, from the unexpected endurance of the man-brooch trend, to the rise of archival replicas, to the pervasiveness of veneers. They also discuss which fashion brands hit it big on Sunday, from Timothée Chalamet’s (almost-glowing) yellow suit to Ariana Grande’s Schiaparelli twofer. Listen Now

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to react to Sunday night’s Academy Awards, relay what it was like inside the building, and list their under-the-radar winners and losers from Hollywood’s biggest night. Then, Matt and Lucas are joined by Neon C.E.O. Tom Quinn to discuss Neon’s big night winning five awards, including best picture, for Anora. Tom talks about how they campaign their movies on such a small budget, how much a win impacts films economically, and why indie films are succeeding more at the Oscars. Listen Now

Tara is joined by political advisor Joe Hack to discuss an eventful and fiery past few days on the Hill. They break down the political fallout from Donald Trump’s contentious Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, preview the president’s State of the Union address, and speculate on the future star of the Democratic Party. Listen Now

Matt Belloni joins Peter for an insider’s review of the Oscars. The duo examine the growing trend of awarding critically acclaimed films that few have actually seen, dissect the highs and lows of ABC’s broadcast, and explore why politics took a backseat on Hollywood’s biggest night. Listen Now

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