Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compendium of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Matt Belloni chronicles “one of the most contentious talent negotiations” he’s ever covered, between South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their Paramount partners, including David Ellison, whose $8 billion deal to take over the company was just greenlit by Trump’s F.C.C. As Matt notes, the whole affair—capped by a scathing portrayal of the president on South Park’s season premiere—might indicate how Ellison & Co. plan to approach deals when they’re in the driver’s seat.

Plus, below the fold: Ian Krietzberg masterfully dissects Trump’s new A.I. Action Plan and why it’s a win for the industry’s accelerationists. Julia Ioffe spotlights how D.N.I. Tulsi Gabbard has leveraged the chaos in D.C. to reingratiate herself with the president. John Ourand reveals all the inner workings of the looming ESPN-NFL media deal. And exclusively for Inner Circle members, Lauren Sherman enumerates the new rules for fashion advertising.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni is joined by Mosaic’s Michael Lasker on The Town to discuss how the explosive new South Park episode is reverberating around Hollywood. On The Grill Room, Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander chew over the media industry’s latest soap operas, from the Trump-Murdoch showdown to the nonsense Bezos-CNBC acquisition murmurs. On Fashion People, Lauren rings up Attersee’s Isabel Wilkinson Schor to break down how her business became beloved by the fashion set. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby connects with Kim Masters to discuss whether a “Trumpier” Paramount is on the horizon.

HOLLYWOOD

The would-be owner of Paramount scores the F.C.C. greenlight and survives the latest threat to the deal via Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose outrageous (and nude) parody of Trump comes days after one of the most contentious talent negotiations Matt has covered.

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A.I.

The president’s grandly displayed A.I. Action Plan is long on frameworks but notably short on policy—a Rorschach test for fans and critics alike, revealing what researchers, scientists, and Big Tech companies want this young trillion-dollar industry to become (or avoid) as it matures at warp speed.

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WASHINGTON

Tulsi Gabbard has been on the outs with Trump ever since their clash over Iran. But through the conspiracy alchemy of Epstein and Russiagate, she’s seizing her chance to come in from the cold.

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SPORTS

The NFL is finally close to a deal with ESPN that would give the league an equity stake in the network, and offer ESPN total control over NFL Network and NFL RedZone. To be sure, regular readers of The Varsity have been reading that sentence for the past 18 months now. But, really, the two sides are closer than ever.

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FASHION

Fashion brands are more beholden than ever to big-ticket celebrities and their stylists, even though consumers care less and less about the culture’s predictable parade of interchangeable stars.

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HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Mosaic’s Michael Lasker to talk about the explosive new South Park episode, the buzz around town, and how Matt Stone and Trey Parker continue to push the envelope and get away with it. Later, Michael explains what the market is like for comedy right now, what is being sold, what studios are looking for, why theatrical comedies are struggling, the pullback on sitcoms, and whether there’s reason for optimism.

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MEDIA

Julia Alexander reunites with Dylan to chew over the media industry’s latest soap operas: South Park’s satirical take on Trump and Paramount, the unfolding legal battle between Trump and Rupert Murdoch, Bari Weiss’s $200 million valuation target for The Free Press, Bezos-CNBC acquisition murmurs, and much more.

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FASHION

Lauren catches up with Isabel Wilkinson Schor, founder of Attersee, a line of wardrobe essentials that, over the past half-decade, has become foundational to a set of fashion consumers who have money to spend, but perhaps not to burn. They discuss Isabel’s journalism career, her reasons for starting a brand, and what she’s learned about business and human nature along the way.

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HOLLYWOOD

Kim Masters joins Peter to discuss how Hollywood insiders are reacting to CBS’s abrupt cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert—and whether it’s less about cost-cutting and more about appeasing Trump as David Ellison prepares to take the reins at Paramount. They also explore the implications for the studio’s programming slate, and whether a “Trumpier” Paramount is on the horizon.

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