Show full transcript 0:29 Quick question. Do people come to you for answers at work? Maybe you're managing projects, 0:35 training new hires, or just the one everyone relies on. That's leadership. 0:39 Through UVA Darden's part-time MBA in Roslyn, we help professionals like you turn real-world 0:45 experience into recognized leadership credentials without stepping away from your career. Whether 0:50 you work in healthcare, education, government, or business, this is how you take the next step. 0:55 Learn more at darden.virginia.edu backslash ptmba. 1:00 Welcome to the Megan Kelly Show, 1:02 live on SiriusXM channel 111 every weekday at least. 1:12 Hey everyone, I'm Megan Kelly. 1:14 Welcome to the Megan Kelly Show and happy Friday. 1:16 Oh, we have a good show for you today. 1:18 I'm really looking forward to our second hour 1:21 when Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel will be here 1:25 to talk about his new book and he's naming names. 1:29 He and I have our own history, 1:30 which will be fun to talk about. And his new book is a page turner. If you know anything about the 1:39 show entourage and Ari Gold, as the character is named there, that's Ari Emanuel. The F word is 1:47 every other word, but he uses it to great effect. He makes no apologies for who he is. He is a tough 1:53 as nails Hollywood agent, super agent is correct in a town where everyone's operating under 2:02 killer be killed. And he's a killer. So it's going to be really interesting to talk to 2:07 him about what's in his book, how he got to the top. And there's a surprising side to 2:12 Ari that you may not know about if you know anything about him, which is there's 2:17 There's actually a piece of him that struggled mightily, we'll tell you how and why and the 2:23 lessons he's learned from that struggle is something he wants to share with you. 2:28 So that's next hour. 2:30 Plus, there are new texts in the Cornell eight case that are going to make Jane Doe's claim 2:34 that she did not consent to the group sex impossible. 2:38 I'm sorry, it's, it's like, by the way, if you missed the episode the other day, 2:43 It's the Cornell eight because she too has been accused of sexual assault and the allegations 2:48 against her are far more credible, far more credible. 2:51 Defendant number one is alleging that she was filleting him while he was completely 2:57 unconscious, passed out in and out of consciousness. 3:00 And she appears to acknowledge that he was completely blitzed out of his mind on that, 3:08 on the interludes she had with him. 3:10 So why was she fooling around with him? 3:12 The left standard is you cannot consent when you are blotto, whether you chose to ingest 3:20 the drugs and alcohol or not. 3:22 I'll go with it. 3:23 That's Jane Doe's preferred standard too. 3:25 If that's the preferred standard, then she is the Cornell eight. 3:30 She's number eight, the eighth person at Cornell accused of a sexual assault. 3:35 Only the allegations against her appear to be the most credible of them all. 3:39 We'll tell you about the texts. 3:41 We are less than a month out and the midterms are coming at us like a freight train. Make 3:46 no mistake, if the house flips, it's a big deal for our economy. And it might be the 3:50 Senate too. That uncertainty is one of the reasons to consider diversifying with gold 3:55 from Birch Gold Group. In the three months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, 4:01 the spot price of gold jumped more than 12%. Why? Because it's a hedge against uncertainty. 4:07 If you do not own gold, consider talking with Birch Gold. 4:11 They will discuss your goals and explain how precious metals can fit into your savings. 4:16 They can even help you convert an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold for no additional 4:22 money out of pocket. 4:23 And if you want to just do a portion of your IRA into gold, they'll let you do 4:26 that too. 4:27 They'll walk you through. 4:28 Honestly, just text the letters MK to the number 989898 and they will give you 4:33 a free info kit. 4:34 Wouldn't you like to know about gold? 4:35 world, everybody is diversifying into it. 4:38 The midterms are gonna be here before you know it, so try to do it sooner rather than 4:42 later. 4:43 Text MK to 989898 today. 4:46 We begin today with the question, where is James Tallorico? 4:52 The Texas state representative seeking to become the first Democrat elected to the 4:56 US Senate in the Lone Star State since 1988. 4:59 We told you just earlier this week, he's been leading in all the polls. 5:02 Polls, Ken Paxton is not a charismatic or particularly likable candidate. 5:09 He's been losing to Talerico in the polls by 2.8 points in the real clear politics average 5:17 of polls. 5:18 So Paxton has been behind, consistently behind in this race. 5:22 And Kalshi currently gives Talerico a 63% chance of winning. 5:27 That's as of an hour ago, 11 a.m. Eastern time. 5:30 time. However, there's been a twist in this case, and it is a potentially shocking one. 5:38 All right, let's just start with this. Check out this clip of Telerico from Saturday, September 5:44 26th. Watch. 5:47 Corrupt politicians are profiting off a corrupt war, and Texans are literally paying the 5:54 price. Ken Paxton supports this disastrous war in Iran that's driving up 6:00 our costs. Today I am calling on him to oppose this war and support my plan to 6:07 suspend the federal gas tax and the federal diesel tax so we can provide 6:12 Texans some necessary relief. Suspend the federal gas tax, suspend the federal 6:18 diesel tax and end this disastrous war so we can lower prices for Texans. 6:24 Okay, those are standard Democratic talking points. The real significance of that clip 6:29 is that was the last time Tallarico was spotted on the campaign trail in Texas 13 days ago. 6:36 Now we are in crunch time. Even President Trump is blanketing the country, getting out there 6:42 stumping for candidates. 6:44 He is in one of the tightest and most important Senate races in the country. 6:49 The balance of power in the U.S. Senate very much hinges upon a few states, including, absolutely 6:55 including Texas. 6:58 How has he not been seen for 13 days? 7:03 Something's wrong, very clearly. 7:05 His campaign tells CNN that on September 28th, two days after that soundbite, Talerico did 7:13 attend a fundraiser in New York City for himself and for Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, 7:20 headlined by none other than Robert De Niro. 7:23 Another fundraiser was held for Talerico in New York City the next day, but it does 7:28 not appear he attended that event. 7:29 event. So that would make the last time anyone saw him potentially on the 28th. Now there 7:39 was a brief sighting on the 30th. Here's what happened. He was supposed to go to a U.S. Hispanic 7:44 Business Council event in Texas in person, but he did not show up in Texas in person. 7:53 Okay, keep in mind he'd been in New York doing all these fundraisers. Why are you 7:57 in New York, Paxton's been making a deal out of it. 7:59 Why isn't he in New York, or why isn't he in Texas? 8:02 He's basically too busy in New York 8:05 getting bought and paid for, 8:06 is what Paxton has been saying. 8:08 So this was the date he was supposed to show up in Texas 8:12 and in person, and instead he appeared virtually 8:17 and had this to say. 8:19 Thank you, Javier, for making this work. 8:22 Just wanted to first apologize to you 8:25 and the U.S. Hispanic Business Council and your team and everyone there at UT-RGV. 8:33 You can ask my team, my team is there on the ground, they will tell you that I was looking 8:38 forward to being down in the valley, I've been talking about it all week, I was ready 8:43 to eat my favorite quesadilla tacos, but I was starting to feel kind of under the 8:51 weather a few days ago and last night it got so bad that I went to the urgent care here in Dallas 8:58 and I was diagnosed with the flu and so I'm running a fever and I'm my most contagious 9:06 right now and I guess I've been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail and so I want to 9:13 keep everybody safe and you know if I was passing on this illness to somebody and got 9:19 someone's grandmother or someone's baby sick, I couldn't live with myself. 9:26 I don't believe one word of that. He could live with himself just fine. These people who are this 9:31 close to seizing power will be stopped by nothing. And speaking of nothing, since that 9:38 virtual appearance at the Texas event, we have had not one word from James Talarico, 9:44 So not a virtual event, not a social media video, nothing, not even a proof of life picture. 9:52 Talerico had a 59% chance to win the race according to Kalshi, one of our sponsors back then. 9:58 So his odds have actually gone up since he was last seen in public. 10:02 That ought to tell you something about his personality. 10:05 And by the way, you can give our sponsor Kalshi a try by using code Megan Kelly 10:09 or just click the link in our description. 10:11 all new users get 25 bucks free when they trade 25 bucks. 10:16 I love Kalshi, it's actually super fun. 10:19 Now, Talarico has continued to post on X, 10:22 but of course the staffer could do that, 10:24 including challenging Paxton to a one-on-one debate, 10:27 something he clearly feels comfortable doing 10:29 because thus far Paxton has refused 10:32 his requests for debates. 10:34 Who is tweeting for Talarico? 10:37 He's been off the campaign trail 10:39 in the crunch period of the election for 13 days because of the flu? I mean, not for nothing, 10:46 but if you look it up online, what they say is the flu typically lasts five to seven days. 10:54 Full recovery can take one to two weeks, but that's from Harvard Health, five to seven. 11:01 He's been gone for 13, 13. How is it that if you've got a candidate in this tight a race 11:08 And for days now, there has been speculation and concern 11:12 from his supporters about where the hell he is. 11:16 You don't get him back. 11:16 I hear you're not contagious week two. 11:18 That's not the case. 11:19 You may just feel under the weather. 11:21 Why wouldn't there be a picture of him? 11:24 He actually fell ill another time 11:26 and they put pictures out of him. 11:28 Where's the picture? 11:29 If he's in bed really suffering, 11:31 why wouldn't we document that with some sort of fun pic 11:35 with like a bunch of balloons and campaign staffers showing his spirits are fine, but 11:41 obviously had a physical setback. No. Now, after everything exploded yesterday on this, 11:49 now his campaign says, oh, expect him back on the trail this weekend. But his next officially 11:56 scheduled event is not actually until Wednesday of next week. That's when CNN and Jubilee 12:02 media are set to host a town hall with him. 12:05 His nearly two-week absence has sparked many theories and speculation about what the hell 12:10 is going on here. 12:12 Here's what President Trump said earlier this week. 12:15 He's a vegan. 12:16 He wants to eat a piece of lettuce, a little piece of lettuce, please. 12:20 But he's been seen. 12:22 You know, you haven't seen him in a couple of weeks. 12:23 I hear the guys disappeared. 12:24 Nobody knows. 12:25 You know where he is? 12:26 He's sick because he's been forced to eat meat for political reasons and he's 12:31 throwing up all over the place. 12:33 He's sick. 12:36 Okay, that's the president's humorous take. 12:40 This next person was not being funny. 12:44 She was reporting what she's hearing on the ground. 12:49 This is unconfirmed, but for awareness, Republican strategist Caroline Wren raised eyebrows 12:57 last night when she told Steve Bannon about what she's hearing yesterday. 13:02 I'm just gonna say it. I'm hearing that he checked himself into a mental institution, 13:06 that he had a full blown like mental breakdown sometime around, I guess, 13:10 September 29th or September 30th. They subsequently have canceled all events, 13:16 all events in the state of Texas. He has been nowhere. They're now, 13:18 the campaign's now saying, oh, he might be feeling better in a couple days. 13:21 You might see him this weekend. So I, you know, I heard this from someone in Texas. 13:25 I have no idea what the truth is. 13:26 I'm not an investigative reporter, but investigative reporters, if you're listening, you should 13:31 really be looking into this because there's, I've had the flu many times. 13:35 We've all had the flu. 13:36 You are not out for 12 days. 13:38 Give me a break. 13:41 That's absolutely true. 13:43 You are not out for 12 days. 13:44 These are lies. 13:45 This is not flu. 13:46 I don't believe that for one minute. 13:47 12 days at this point in the campaign, something else is going on. 13:52 And shame on the press corps for not being all over this, because if there's any chance 13:58 James Tallarico actually is in a mental institution having suffered some sort of a break, it will 14:03 be the biggest political firestorm to break in years, okay? 14:06 So that would be a story that any honest reporter would be all over if this is their 14:13 beat. 14:14 Now, there may be absolutely no truth to that, but either way, the heat must be 14:19 turned up to an 11 on this campaign for as Paxton is now demanding proof of life. Truly 14:26 we need proof of life. Where is he? Let's see a photo with today's newspaper. Let's see video. 14:33 Let's hear him talk. Let's find out what facility he's in. Where, where's he recovering 14:38 from flu? Who can vouch for it? Is there a doctor involved? Let's hear from him. 14:43 Because if this guy had a mental breakdown weeks before the vote, the people of Texas 14:48 deserve to know the people of the United States deserve to know. 14:54 Now, back in 2019, he's a diabetic and that caught up to him as he was campaigning to 14:59 become a state representative. 15:01 And his campaign was quick to pump out pictures of him in bed smiling. 15:06 They knew what to do. 15:08 He knew what to do to document a genuine illness. 15:13 Where's that? 15:14 That, why are we getting nothing? 15:18 I don't know if it's mental institution, but is he someplace else? 15:22 Is he out begging for money in states other than Texas, confirming the Paxton smears 15:30 on him? 15:31 Are they smears if they're true? 15:32 About how he won't come to Texas and he's basically getting bought and paid for state 15:36 to state, who knows? 15:39 We deserve an explanation. 15:41 This morning, we emailed the campaign to ask if Tallorico had undergone any mental health 15:45 treatment while he's been away from campaigning. 15:48 So far, no response. 15:51 They're busy looking for their candidate. 15:54 That's my own take on it. 15:55 This is a story, folks. 15:57 It's not going away. 15:59 He may come out this weekend, ain't gonna do it. 16:02 And even if he does come out this weekend, where was he? 16:07 Where was he? 16:08 The press corps better get off of its lazy, biased ass and start knocking on the doors 16:17 of every mental health facility in New York and Texas, first of all. 16:21 And on every staffer's door, getting them on the record. 16:25 Let them lie to your face, get it on the record, get a name from each one of them. 16:30 Call the hospitals, see if you can find any confirmation of any admission. 16:34 And Democrat donor circles are not mysteries to reporters covering candidates like Talerico. 16:42 Start kicking the tires. 16:43 Is that what he's doing? 16:45 Let's find out one way or the other right now. 16:49 This is a scandal. 16:51 Moving on. 16:53 Last night was debate night in several states and it was fascinating. 16:58 Unlike that lame main debate, there were some real mix ups going on between the candidates 17:02 last night. 17:03 My favorite was the New York State Attorney General Debate, which I'll get to in a minute. 17:06 It's less consequential, however, because Tish James is leading this other rising star, 17:12 Cometa Ready, by 13 points. And New York State is not going to elect a Republican 17:17 AG who clerked for Brett Kavanaugh. It's not going to. I'm sorry. I wish I were wrong. 17:22 Desperately wish. But this gal's a rising star. She's got a future in Republican politics. And 17:28 And Tish James looked flat-footed and kind of dumb and dishonest, but what else is new? 17:34 In any event, it was entertaining, but it's not consequential, I fear. 17:39 But Michigan was interesting. 17:41 I have thoughts on this whole thing. 17:44 So we go into this Michigan debate between El Sayed and Mike Rogers, the Republican, 17:52 with El Sayed up. 17:54 He's up and favored to win in most polls. 17:59 And Mike Rogers hasn't been doing that well in Michigan. 18:03 Now, that means that Mike Rogers needed to score 18:08 knockout blows in this debate, right? 18:10 He had to be the clear winner. 18:12 He had to basically take out El Sayed. 18:15 And there were a couple of exchanges 18:18 in which he did land blows 18:20 and he got El Sayed or the moderator did 18:23 And to make some startling admissions. 18:25 And here's my question today. 18:30 While they would have been absolutely devastating to El Sayed, in my view, five years ago, ten 18:37 years ago, certainly, are they absolutely devastating to him today? 18:42 Because the issue they were really firing back and forth on in some of these exchanges 18:48 was Israel. 18:49 controversial. And everyone knows how controversial that issue has become, including in the state 18:54 of Michigan. I mean, that's one of the reasons El Sayed is doing so well is because he is 19:00 very firmly against the United States getting involved in any more of Israel's conflicts. 19:06 And Mike Rogers is more your typical Republican neocon. As you guys know, there's a large 19:13 portion of the Republican base now that is not neoconny and is tired of foreign 19:17 wars and really wants the president to be laser-focused on domestic issues, not Israel, 19:24 not Iran, not the Middle East, and certainly not another war. 19:28 But Mike Rogers is more of the neocon traditional Republican cut. 19:35 So these two square off, I mean, it's a great issue to pit them against each other on. 19:39 If I were the debate moderator, I would have done it too because the differences 19:42 are vast. 19:44 And while in some of these exchanges you can see, I see why my Republican friends online 19:49 are like, he's toast. 19:50 El Sayed is toast. 19:52 I have to say, I don't know whether that's true. 19:55 I am really not sure whether the electorate in Michigan is going to say, I will abandon 20:02 him for that answer. 20:06 Here's the one in particular, whether Iran or Israel is more of a threat, Sot 9. 20:16 I'm gonna ask you again tonight, who do you think's a bigger threat to the United States? 20:19 Israel or Iran? 20:21 You have 60 seconds. 20:21 And again, Rick, I'm just gonna say that that's a ridiculous hypothetical because 20:24 here's what's happening right now. 20:27 Our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran. 20:32 Iran. 20:33 We have watched as Iran has responded by bombing all kinds of countries in the Middle East, 20:39 and then choking off the world's energy supply. 20:42 So this is a situation in which I don't think we should be apart. 20:46 I'll ask one last time, Israel or Iran? 20:49 That's again a ridiculous question. 20:51 I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. 20:56 So the many Republicans, more the neocon Republicans in particular were all over 21:01 for that exchange, that's nice thing, 21:02 you've got to be kidding me. 21:03 You don't know whether Iran or Israel is a greater threat. 21:07 And there's a long history of Iran being antagonistic 21:11 to put it mildly toward the United States, 21:14 not Israel, which is an ally, 21:16 but he's coming at it from a totally different angle 21:19 saying basically Israel's the one 21:21 that got us into this war, 21:22 which has been absolutely terrible for America. 21:26 Iran didn't get us into the war. 21:27 He doesn't believe the nuclear weapons claim. 21:29 claim, even President Trump admitted after he claimed otherwise that he took care of that 21:35 nuclear program in June of 2025. 21:40 So if this is your issue, if Israel's the thing that's going to drive you to go vote 21:45 for a candidate and not for another in Michigan or elsewhere, you have absolutely no problem 21:50 with that answer. 21:51 Right? 21:52 If that's the thing that's at the top of your electoral issue heap, I don't think 21:57 that's going to hurt him at all, at all. 22:00 He's been very clear that he's not really on the pro-Israel side. 22:05 And even before last night's debate, they were pulling aside Jewish voters in Michigan. 22:11 And a lot of them were saying, I'm a Democrat. 22:12 I want to vote for him, but I can't because of his stance on Israel. 22:17 So I think it's me fascinating to watch whether answers like that change the trajectory 22:22 of this race one way or the other, frankly. 22:25 Now, Mike Rogers was hammering him on his ties to radical Muslim groups. 22:35 And again, this would generally be something that would generate enthusiasm amongst the 22:42 GOP base. 22:43 Now, Michigan, it's really not a red state, so I'm not exactly sure how much he can 22:48 accomplish with that, but it was the move to play. 22:53 I mean, I would have hit him I think a little bit more in his radicalism and social issues too 22:57 But you know because we're trying to we're fighting for independence now 23:01 In any event he seemed to be throwing out a lot of fodder for the base for the GOP base in Michigan such as it is and 23:07 He did score some points again. I have the same question. Are they the points you need? 23:12 Are they the points with the voters that you need to score? 23:17 Here is a back-and-forth on the Muslim Brotherhood Saad 8 23:21 This is the same IRGC that has killed American troops in Iraq. 23:27 It has blood on their hands, tried to terrorist attack here in the United States. 23:32 If you can't condemn the IRGC, you have no business in the United States Senate. 23:37 And if you think about why his supporters funnel money from a group that supports 23:44 the Muslim Brotherhood, this is a huge problem. 23:48 And that is an ideological problem 23:50 that we cannot allow to walk into the United States. 23:54 I will condemn any use of force 23:57 against a domestic population abroad. 23:59 When you've got an international problem, 24:01 he's got a war for that. 24:02 That's his approach. 24:03 He can't condemn a terrorist act 24:04 that happened on our soil in the state of Michigan. 24:07 He can't bring himself to condemn 24:09 the heads of all you did not. 24:10 Oh, you did not. 24:11 You absolutely did not. 24:12 Don't make stuff up. 24:13 Don't make stuff up. 24:13 You're talking about making stuff up. 24:15 I literally condemn it. 24:16 You know it. 24:16 Can't condemn it. 24:17 He can't condemn Hamas. He can't condemn the Muslim brotherhood. He says his home is Egypt. This is all 24:24 Home to Florida, I just he took it off the market. I don't know why 24:27 He don't take it home in the United Arab Emirate staying in the Middle East congressman Rogers in the United States 24:35 That was one of the spiciest exchanges of the evening on the can he condemn the terror attack on US soil in Michigan question 24:44 Okay, he eventually got around to kind of doing it. 24:48 But this is what he said after a March 2020, El Sayed, March 2026 terror attack in Michigan, 24:55 in which a man rammed a truck loaded with fireworks and gasoline into the daycare at 24:59 Temple Israel. 25:00 None of the congregants was hurt. 25:03 Thank goodness. 25:03 El Sayed initially, quoting here from the New York Post, drew attention to the perpetrator 25:09 appearing to be motivated by an Israeli attack in Lebanon. So he went right to the motivation 25:15 of the terrorist. There's a place for that. Some place in a discussion about terror. 25:23 It's down the list from, oh my God, I condemn this form of Islamic terror against Temple 25:30 Israel, the daycare, which he didn't get. And not only that, he said, and I quote, 25:38 Hurt people, hurt people. Oh my God. I see that. Hurt people, hurt people. Hurt people, 25:45 hurt people in response to a terror attack on Temple Israel and its daycare. Total fail. 25:52 Now, he has been trying to make inroads with some Jewish voters in Michigan 25:55 And as of late, you know, he doesn't want there to be any margin of error. 26:02 He wants to win and he'd like it to be clear. 26:04 And some are migrating over just because your Jewish doesn't mean you support Israel. 26:08 This has been a frustration amongst, you know, many who are Israeli supporters for 26:14 a long time. 26:14 They think if you're Jewish, you should support Israel. 26:16 A lot, a lot really have a lot of criticisms for Israel, especially its government Netanyahu, 26:20 etc. 26:22 But her people, her people is what he said after that terror attack. 26:25 So that's what Rodgers is hitting him for and Rodgers was right to do it 26:29 else I did have the good line of 26:33 If you've got an international problem, he's got a war for that. That's tapping into a you know war fatigue 26:39 That that independence are feeling some Republicans are feeling and Democrats are feeling so good line 26:45 Then there was the back and forth at the end about he's got a home in Florida 26:49 He's got a home in the United Arab Emirates, 26:52 at least Florida's in the United States, 26:54 which was clever, it was good by Mike Rogers. 26:57 You gotta give him the points on that. 26:59 As for ties to questionable groups, 27:02 as what the Post New York Post responded, 27:05 that El Sayed's father-in-law and his donor 27:11 had ties to the Muslim brotherhood 27:14 and his birth mother, Faten Elkami, 27:17 did work for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which the Treasury went after due to its support 27:23 for Osama bin Laden. So there are some questionable ties on the El Sayed side that I think most 27:33 Republicans would not love. But again, who are these comments for and is the base big enough 27:41 in Michigan that's thinking about sitting on the sidelines or even possibly thinking about 27:45 voting for El Sayed over Israel, because they know Rogers is a neocon, are these issues big 27:51 enough to change their outlook? That's what we'll see in the polling to come. I can't wait. I'm 27:57 really looking forward to seeing their verdict. Here's something else that surfaced on El Sayed 28:03 that's important and where, you know, what I think would shut a lot of people down, 28:12 which is something unearthed by Libs of Tiktok via its review of a 2024 podcast, 28:18 Else Ed was on. Watch this, psalm 11. It's a must read for public health professionals, 28:24 researchers, community activists, and advocates of women and birthing people. 28:28 Against the veto of its Republican governor. What? 28:30 Ohio's Republican dominated legislature has moved to ban all gender affirming surgeries 28:34 and hormone therapies. It restricts gender affirming healthcare for transgender folks 28:37 until they turn 18. It also bans trans girls and women from girls and women's sports through college. 28:43 So we discussed in a previous episode with Dr. Cullen Baker, gender-affirming care that allows 28:46 trans kids, their parents and their health care providers to make the best individual decision 28:50 for them protects them from suicide. It saves lives. Point blank. Oh my god, these 28:56 are lies. This is ridiculous. So this is who you're getting, okay? Like this is who you're 29:02 getting. You're really, I think the difference comes out. Like you got to figure out what 29:04 your issues are, if our proximity to Israel, our just willingness to fight Israel's battles 29:13 for it alongside it is your number one issue, this is your guy. 29:18 But if you care about things like somebody who thinks it's birthing peoples instead 29:25 of moms, it's probably a no. 29:28 No. 29:29 And not just that, listen to him last night on immigration and illegal immigrants, Sot 29:36 7. 29:37 I also think we need a pathway to citizenship for folks who are stuck in limbo right now. 29:41 You've got this tough guy attitude to immigration that's not keeping us safe. 29:44 In fact, it's terrorizing folks in our streets. 29:46 It's not funding the southern border, which needs to be kept safe. 29:50 But what it is doing, it's weaponizing an agency of the government at the tune of 29:54 Donald Trump and his. 29:55 I mean we we tried that we've tried that in four years of Joe Biden with his open 30:03 borders this is okay this is what we're dealing with pathway to citizenship 30:08 really but again who's it gonna get off the couch probably Republicans I don't 30:15 know will it is that enough get me off the couch but I'm a right-leaning 30:22 independent. He did say, when pressed by the moderator, if you had an illegal in jail in 30:29 Michigan, um, and was that he was a, for murder and he was about to get out, would you cooperate 30:34 with ice and getting him deported? And he did say yes. So thanks. That's great. So glad, 30:41 so glad to hear that. Um, okay. Let me move on to quickly what happened in the New York 30:47 attorney general debate. 30:49 So this, comment already, 30:52 forgive me if I'm not pronouncing it correctly, 30:54 but she's a star. 30:56 She went to Harvard undergrad, Harvard Law School. 30:59 She clerked for Brett Kavanaugh when he was still 31:01 on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, 31:06 very prestigious court, very prestigious clerkship. 31:09 She went down to the Eastern District of New York 31:11 and became a prosecuting attorney, federal attorney, 31:14 there and has been making a name for herself in Republican circles and you can see why. 31:22 So here's, now she said two sets of twins. 31:25 So not only is she very accomplished lawyer but she's got a lot going on at home, a lot 31:30 of responsibilities and this was a very charming answer, clever and one gets the sense honest 31:38 unlike the nightmare across from her Tish James who doesn't understand the meaning 31:42 of that word. 31:43 Here, take a listen to Sot 15. 31:46 Ms. James, what's the last book you read? 31:48 I'm currently reading Congress member Jamie Raskin's book, Unthinkable. 31:52 Ms. Congress, you ready? 31:53 Little blue truck, actually the Spanish version, El Camioncito Azul, my two-year-old's favorite 31:58 book. 32:00 That's every parent can relate to that. 32:03 When your kids are young, it's not a whole lot of time for extra leisure reading, especially 32:09 if you also work outside the home, right? 32:11 And this woman works hard. 32:12 outside the home and has very high stakes things going on in her life. 32:16 Little Boo Chuck, love the series, who didn't? 32:19 Love the answer, too. 32:21 Now, I think that will resonate with some moms, but New York hates Republicans, so not 32:25 enough probably. 32:27 Then there was this question. 32:31 This is an interesting one. 32:33 Let's just place out 16. 32:34 And Ms. James, name a past New York Attorney General that you admire? 32:45 Tick tock. 32:47 You only admire yourself? 32:48 No, no, no, no, we admire others. 32:51 I admire all of the past Attorney Generals because it's a difficult job and you've got 32:55 to spend them. 32:57 Dennis Facco, at a time when New York State needed it, we had another former federal 33:01 prosecutor become Attorney General and bring law and order to the state. 33:06 This woman is a badass. 33:08 I love her. 33:09 And Tish James was, she had a Sarah Palin moment there. 33:12 That's what happened. 33:14 She had a, remember Katie Couric? 33:16 Like what newspapers do you read? 33:20 All of them. 33:21 And we all knew she was just like giving a filler answer. 33:25 And that's exactly what Tish James did right there. 33:28 She didn't have any, she has no idea. 33:30 She was like a blank on who had held the job other than her. 33:34 her because her opponent had it exactly right. She's obsessed with herself. She's a narcissist. 33:40 She only thinks about Tish James morning, noon and night. And that seemingly easy question 33:48 caught her flat-footed and her vanity was apparent. And then her opponent there, comment 33:54 already shoved it down her throat. That was also quite beautiful. Then they got 33:59 to the issue of Cornell and Tish James' extra judicial statements calling Jane Doe a survivor 34:08 and she stands with her and all, what do you mean you stand with her? 34:11 Now you're going to be the prosecuting attorney who decides whether criminal charges should 34:16 be brought or to push for them. 34:18 And you've already said you stand with her and against them. 34:22 What the F? 34:23 She was asked about it. 34:24 Good for them for asking her about it, and here is how she defended it. 34:29 Remember last week she said, or earlier this week, I think it was Monday, she said, what 34:35 day was it? 34:35 Whatever, it doesn't matter. 34:36 It was last Friday. 34:37 She said, I'm not gonna comment on Facebook or an ex post. 34:41 It was her own, but here's how she handled it last night, it's not 17. 34:45 You called the alleged victim a survivor, and you also said, quote, I stand with 34:50 the victim. 34:51 Considering these comments, can the accused students have confidence that you haven't 34:57 prejudged the case? 34:59 And as a law enforcement official, how can you make those comments based only on allegations 35:04 before conducting an investigation and seeing the evidence? 35:08 Those comments demonstrate empathy. 35:11 And what we need now more than ever in our body politics is more empathy. 35:15 Basically, the governor of the great state of New York, Governor Kathy Huckle, basically 35:19 assigned me to analyze this case and to judge it and to do it without bias. 35:26 And she's requesting an unbiased investigation and a thorough investigation. 35:30 And we will do that based on the facts and based on the evidence. 35:35 Empathy. 35:37 With whom does the empathy fall? 35:39 There should have been a follow up. 35:40 up, why does Jane Doe get your empathy and there is none to spare for the men who have 35:46 been accused possibly, unfairly and untruthfully? 35:51 This is a complete dereliction of duty by a prosecutor, even Ellie Honig, the CNN legal 35:58 analyst, straight shooter, found the same in a compelling piece he wrote that's available 36:04 I think at MSNBC. 36:06 So empathy for whom, that's not an appropriate thing to bring to your commentary around a 36:12 case like this, especially when we all know she had been sniffing around it and almost certainly 36:18 knew when she made these comments three days before she was appointed that there was a 36:22 chance she'd be getting the case. 36:25 So no, you don't express empathy, Jane Doe may or may not be a victim, Jane Doe may 36:33 may or may not be a sexual assaulter. 36:37 Where's your empathy for defendant number one who may have been sexually molested while 36:42 he was unconscious, Tish James? 36:45 She's always over her skis. 36:48 She's always behaving inappropriately. 36:50 Half the shit she said about Trump when New York State went after his business for 36:55 its alleged fraudulent dealings, which went so poorly for her, were completely inappropriate 37:00 and unethical. 37:01 She was eyeballing his business, down his building downtown, she couldn't stop. 37:05 She was like doing a running clock ticker of the amount of interest she was running 37:10 up on her, that was running up on her verdict while he appealed it. 37:14 And the verdict was so backward that a New York appellate court, no friend of Donald 37:20 Trump's, reversed it and reduced the judgment to zero. 37:24 It wasn't a win. 37:25 She stopped posting right around there. 37:28 This woman is a hack. 37:30 It's a disgrace, she's our attorney general and God forbid that she become the governor, 37:37 which is her next. 37:39 I've got my eyes on it post. 37:42 Comet already had thoughts on the Cornell Statements and this is how she espoused them, 37:47 saw 18. 37:48 Sexual assault cases are some of the most serious cases that you can handle as a prosecutor 37:53 and they require serious prosecutors. 37:56 This requires professionalism. 37:57 It requires someone who approaches the case with fairness, impartiality and integrity. 38:03 Tish James has none of those things. 38:04 She's never prosecuted a criminal case in her whole career. 38:08 She's certainly never prosecuted a sexual assault case. 38:11 And she's already screwed this one up by prejudging it. 38:15 Amen. 38:17 Want to give a shout out to the moderator, Spectrum News Anchor Susan Arbiter, who 38:20 did a good job in raising that question with Tish James. 38:23 Again, could have used a follow up, but every second costs you your next question. 38:27 And so it's a tough call in these debates 38:29 on how hard to follow up. 38:32 In any event, I appreciated the question being asked 38:34 because it's been dominating the news 38:36 and many other anchors would have ignored it 38:38 because Cornell 7 is falling along political lines 38:40 and so on. 38:43 Okay, I do wanna touch on news in that case. 38:47 The Cornell case and boy has there been news overnight. 38:53 Something very disturbing has emerged 38:55 which is that Jane Doe made additional comments 38:59 that completely give up the game here. 39:02 And what is disturbing in addition to just reading them 39:06 and understanding what she's putting these young men through 39:09 is that it appears to me the New York Times had 39:13 these messages in its possession 39:15 and shows not to publish them. 39:18 Now it is possible that whoever gave them 39:21 or showed them the texts that they've been printing 39:24 only showed them part of the message that they printed, 39:31 but I have a hard time believing that. 39:32 I can believe they didn't get additional text messages 39:35 that have now hit via TMZ, 39:37 but I have a really hard time believing 39:39 just half of an actual single text 39:43 was sent to the New York Times and they ran with it. 39:46 I feel pretty certain that the New York Times 39:49 editorial board would have said, 39:50 or editor and standards would have said we need to see the whole text. 39:55 We don't know what we're dealing with here. 39:58 We need to see the whole thing. 39:59 And the whole text is very damning for Jane Doe. 40:03 The beginning part of the text was damning for Jane Doe, but the whole text is even 40:09 worse. 40:10 It hit the news yesterday. 40:11 If you were not online, I will tell you what it conveys. 40:14 It is the more full version of the text from Jane Doe 40:19 to defendant number two, Jonathan Newell, 40:22 dated October 21st, 2024, 40:24 the alleged assault happened October 19th into 20th. 40:28 We knew from this text earlier that Jane Doe had said, 40:34 at the end of the day, 40:35 none of the sexual stuff was illegal 40:36 and honestly, I really liked being with you and Matt. 40:40 Okay, we knew that she had said that, 40:43 but there's a lot more in this text and I'll just start with the most compelling 40:48 and damning I don't think we should feel any shame for the part I think she means 40:56 the sex part but it doesn't matter I don't think we should feel any shame 40:59 comma our body our choice a as F which in slang stands for as fuck I don't 41:12 face is over. It's over. In addition to all the other texts that are out there, rumor 41:20 going around that I'm a slut. Unfortunately, it's true. Nothing illegal happened, which 41:24 is in this particular text as I pointed out. Like, I love, I love you. We pointed this 41:33 out that she said this to Matt, defendant number one. Well, guess what? She says it 41:37 to this defendant too, this defendant, John Newell. 41:43 That's in another text. 41:44 Well, it's in the bottom half of this same text. 41:48 So she says, I'm gonna read you the whole thing now, okay? 41:51 Stand by. 41:52 He writes to her and says, this is Jonathan. 41:55 I wanted to apologize for how things 41:57 went down the other night. 41:58 My memory's kind of fuzzy about a lot of it, 42:00 but me and Matt both feel like shits 42:02 for being too fucked up to shut it down 42:04 and kick people out before it got way out of hand. 42:07 You're an amazing person. 42:08 I genuinely hope you're not catching as much heat from this as we are. 42:11 We've been shutting down any stories we've heard, but again, I'm so, so sorry. 42:14 She responds on Monday, December 21st. 42:18 Oh, Jonathan, I really appreciate this text. 42:21 My memory's super clouded too. 42:23 I think we were all way too fucking drunk and high. 42:28 Okay, so here she is acknowledging that he too, and the boys too, men were way too 42:35 drunk and high. 42:36 not just her, them too. I'm getting a little heat. Pi-fi girls, then she appears to name them, 42:42 their names are blacked out, can't get my name out of their mouth. But that's to be expected. 42:47 But at the end of the day, none of the sexual stuff was illegal. And honestly, I really like 42:52 being with you and Matt. So anything anyone has to say about the gang bang is out of 42:58 their jurisdiction. I don't think we should feel any shame for the part, period, our body, 43:04 our choice ASF. She calls it a gang bang. She's trying to make him feel better 43:11 about it. She's acknowledging that the guys were out of their mind hammered as 43:15 she claims here was she. She says, we shouldn't feel any shame around this. 43:23 Our body, our choice. The message goes on. Again, none of this appeared in 43:30 New York Times after the nothing was illegal. 43:35 That piece about I really liked being with you and Matt. 43:39 And at the end of the day, 43:40 none of the sexual stuff was illegal. 43:42 Okay, goes on. 43:43 Also, yes, while it may have been nice 43:45 for like only four people to have been around, 43:47 y'all were both super out of it. 43:49 And they should have taken it on themselves to leave. 43:53 At the end of the day, you, Matt and I were in your bed 43:57 and they didn't need to get up in that. 43:58 But if you have any regrets or anything you want to talk about, I'm always here to talk about it because that was a lot. 44:07 I really do love you and Matt and I promise I won't get quiet and weird with you like I did last time. 44:17 I don't know what that is. 44:19 What's that a reference to last time? Last time they were together? 44:22 I have no idea if there's a history between this gal and John Newell or not. 44:25 We knew there was one between her and the defendant number one, Matt Ingalls. 44:29 But here she is acknowledging again, you were both super out of it. 44:34 If you have any regrets or anything you want to talk about, I'm here. 44:38 She's telegraphed, I can be your comfort blanket on like, if you're regretting it, 44:42 I got you. 44:43 Come, come call me and then finishes it up again to her alleged gang rapist who 44:47 she refers to a gang banger in here, a gang bang, not a, not a rape. 44:53 and tells him, I love you, I really do love you and Matt, I really do love you. And there's 45:00 a separate message in which she tells Matt, she loves him. I mean, this is really crazy. 45:04 Then there are highlights reported on via CBS news from her voluntary statement to police. 45:14 And these two are just very telling. 45:18 The first and foremost is she reiterates that she was excited about her initial threesome 45:26 with Matt and John. 45:27 That's her word. 45:28 It's in quotes. 45:29 I remember being excited. 45:31 I remember being excited. 45:33 And then she goes on to say that thing that we talked about, wanting to have a threesome 45:37 meant that they were gay, which would have meant that they were part of my community 45:40 as I am bisexual, okay? 45:42 whatever. She does, in this statement to the police, tell them that she had been 45:47 drinking Tito's vodka, had consumed approximately six shots before someone 45:52 took the bottle from her. She claims to have consumed several sips from another 45:56 sorority sister's mixed drinks and that when she went to a bar, she claims she 46:01 got a sex on the beach mixed drink. The bar has denied that, but that's her 46:06 claim. So we're seeing where she got drunk. None of that is suggesting 46:10 that somebody else got her drunk. She made the choices. That's what's damning to her sexual 46:16 assault claims. The criminal ones, potentially not the civil, though it should be civil too. 46:22 In any event, then she says, she's talking about the moment she was hit by defendant number two. 46:27 I began to feel blank, hit me many times on my butt. I remember that they were hurting me and 46:31 one in particular sent a sharp pain through me many times on my butt. I remember that the 46:36 the hits were hurting me, blah, blah, blah. 46:37 Okay, same thing. 46:38 And I said, damn, one sent a sharp pain through me, 46:42 which caused me to turn around and say, damn, 46:43 now this is unpleasant and, you know, 46:45 I understand the discomfort. 46:47 However, the ability to remember these things 46:50 in intimate detail is just fatal to her claim. 46:52 She is not physically incapacitated. 46:55 That's the legal standard. 46:56 If she can prove she was physically helpless, 46:59 they can bring charges. 47:01 Her recitation from the beginning to now 47:04 proves anything but proves she remembers everything 47:08 in great detail on something she may be fuzzy, 47:10 but overall she can remember the play by play 47:12 and told it to police like in this moment. 47:15 She went on. 47:17 I remember someone bring someone brings up the scars 47:21 I have on my legs from self-inflicted cutting 47:24 that I had done in August of this year. 47:26 Hearing that my scars were brought up 47:28 but that none of them cared to ask about them 47:30 made me feel super isolated 47:31 And that I didn't matter as a person to these men well 47:34 That's interesting because you told them days after that you loved them and that you were eager to see them again at the 47:41 Kai-fai Halloween party, but now they've disinvited her and here she is days later in with the police saying oh 47:47 I I felt like I wasn't a person to them weird 47:51 She admits in this document that she 47:53 Flexed remember we talked about her getting out and making the muscle poses 47:57 She said it was because she was angry with one of these men 47:59 and so I stood up and began flexing toward him 48:02 while telling him that I would mess him up. 48:04 And then here is very interesting about Lopes. 48:08 Lopes, of course, we had Lopes's lawyer on the show 48:11 10 days ago or so, and Lopes's lawyer, 48:14 this was the guy she had the first three-sum 48:16 with the two guys, and Lopes joined Defendant number two 48:19 on the second three-sum. 48:23 This is what she says. 48:25 First, she says that all of the men came in 48:28 and they were talking about how pretty I was, 48:30 which was very confusing, 48:31 because although it was very nice to hear, 48:33 I was still very uncomfortable with the situation. 48:35 Again, this is to the cops. 48:37 Shortly after that, I believe it was Blank 48:38 who asked if they could all do drugs off of my perfect body. 48:42 Seeing as I was already laying down 48:43 and feeling extremely tired, I told him, sure. 48:47 So just in case there's any question about consent 48:49 on the snorting of the ketamine off of her body, 48:52 her recitation to the cops was, I told them, sure. 48:55 In quotes, sure. 48:57 Again, the only way that consent is 48:59 vitiated is if she had crossed over to 49:01 physical helplessness, which she does 49:03 not allege. She goes on about Lopes. 49:07 Shortly after the men were doing drugs 49:08 off my body, Blank and Blank entered the 49:10 room and said something like, okay, we're 49:12 shutting down whatever the F this is. I 49:14 found that strange because Blank, I 49:16 think she means Lopes here, was acting 49:17 as if he hadn't just been in the 49:20 room with me earlier in the night. I 49:21 think I even said something like, wait, 49:23 didn't this guy fuck me? This is not, didn't he just rape me? Didn't he just 49:30 attack me? She's amused that he's now trying to, that there's been testimonial 49:34 elsewhere that it lobes was one of the two who went in and tried to shut it 49:37 down. Then she goes on, well, one final point. A reporter for CBS New York, 49:47 Mark Masha said, she reports, she posted a video, which then she took down of Lopes's 49:55 title nine interview, but we got a verbat of it before she took it down. 50:00 He said he had a pretty solid recollection of the night and said that Jane Doe told 50:05 him, quote, you have no idea how much I wanted to do this with you. 50:10 End quote. 50:11 He says that surprised him because he hadn't really thought about that. 50:14 He told investigators that Jane Doe initiated sexual relations at that point. 50:19 He saw no sign. 50:21 She was under the influence. 50:22 He described her as actively participating. 50:25 He said when they stopped, they quote, collectively decided to stop. 50:30 So that's that. 50:31 She called it a gang bang. 50:33 She told two of her alleged rapists that she loved them and she said, we should 50:41 have no shame. 50:42 We should not feel any shame. 50:45 Our body. 50:46 Our choice. 50:47 This case is over. 50:49 Or should be. 50:50 Up next, Ari Emanuel. 50:52 You might already own a firearm, but what if you could start with less lethal methods? 50:56 Is there someone in your home who doesn't feel comfortable using a firearm? 50:59 Maybe this is for them. 51:01 Maybe you're very comfortable with a firearm, but you understand not every situation calls 51:04 for one. 51:05 What if you just want to avoid the financial and mental repercussions of pulling the trigger 51:11 on a firearm. All of this is where Berna comes in. That's BYRNA. I love Berna. Their less 51:18 lethal launchers are equipped with tear gas and kinetic ammo and designed to incapacitate 51:23 an attacker for up to 40 minutes. And Berna is excited to introduce the all-new compact 51:29 launcher. It's sleek, it's slim, it hits like a sledgehammer, same size as a smartphone. 51:35 phone. So if you're a woman, you can conceal, carry everywhere comfortably and with confidence. 51:41 It fires at 400 feet per second. That's a lot of power to stop aggressors in their tracks. 51:45 Their pistols are American made and hand assembled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with over 80% of 51:50 the components in the compact launcher being sourced in the USA. 51:54 Berna is legal in all 50 states. It requires no background checks. It can be shipped 51:59 directly to your door. And Berna is trusted by hundreds of police departments too. Try 52:04 before you buy, visit burnah.com to find a Burnah dealer partner near you. B-Y-R-N-A.com. 52:47 I'm Megan Kelly. 52:49 Every day on the Megan Kelly Show, we bring you the news and this summer we're bringing 52:53 you something extra. 52:54 Before I was a journalist, I was a lawyer. 52:57 I've spent 20 plus years now covering crime and the law. 53:00 So I built a true crime series that I always wanted to listen to. 53:04 We're calling it MK Confidential. 53:06 And there we cover cases that you've heard about like John Benet Ramsey, Chandra Levy, 53:11 the DC Snipers, Scott Peterson, and some that you haven't. 53:15 One case per week, five episodes, Monday through Friday. 53:19 New episodes every weeknight, search for the Megan Kelly show where every listen 53:22 to podcasts and you will find MK Confidential. 53:29 My next guest is one of Hollywood's most powerful agents. 53:32 I think he's the most powerful agent who has represented some of the biggest names in 53:37 entertainment from Oprah to Mark Wahlberg and even Donald Trump. I've even got my own personal 53:43 story with Ari, which we will get to, but he is also the inspiration behind the character Ari 53:49 Gold on HBO's hit series, Entourage. Now Ari Emanuel is telling his story in his own words 53:56 from his humble beginnings in the mail room at CAA 53:59 to building an entertainment empire. 54:03 Now as the executive chair and CEO of TKO 54:06 and all the deals and power plays along the way 54:09 and he's naming names. 54:11 He lays it all out in his new book. 54:13 It's a memoir called, Roll the Calls out this month. 54:18 All right, great to see you, congrats on the book. 54:20 Thank you so much, how are you doing? 54:21 Long time no talk. 54:23 I know, I'm doing great all as well 54:25 And I'm thrilled you wrote this book as I learned so much about you that I did not know. 54:30 Let me tell you something funny just to kick it off when you were rolling the calls my 54:35 way years ago and seeking to have a relationship professionally. 54:40 I called some of your clients to see what's it like to have Ari represent you and one who 54:46 I won't name him just because I don't have his permission, but he loved you absolutely 54:49 loved you. 54:50 And I said, what would happen if he needed to break up with Ari? 54:55 And this is like a grizzled newsman. 54:57 And he said, oh, I don't like to even think about that. 55:03 But he didn't break up with me, right? 55:06 No, he didn't. 55:07 He's still with you. 55:08 And they all loved you. 55:09 So you are irascible and rageful to outsiders, 55:15 but to your clients, you would take a bowl. 55:18 No, I think, and you've proven that. 55:20 Hopefully friends, hopefully they get it in the book, 55:25 clients, family members, 55:28 and I hope in the book, I realize over time, 55:32 you have to be a ride or die guy for yourself. 55:35 And I hope that comes across in the book, 55:39 and you have to take agency for yourself. 55:42 And I do believe my clients feel that way. 55:45 I feel that way towards them. 55:46 So, that's the way I like to roll. 55:51 Both in the references I received about you 55:53 and in just reading the book, which was a pleasure. 55:54 I didn't get to sign you. 55:55 It was a fun ride. 55:56 I didn't get to sign you. 55:58 I know. 55:59 Well, here's what happened. 56:00 I mean, so you gave me, you rolled the calls my way 56:02 and I got a million phone calls from Ari Emanuel. 56:04 You just got like nonstop and you read about 56:06 how you do that in the book. 56:07 And most people just give up in the end to say, 56:09 okay, like Larry David. 56:11 All right, if you stop calling me, I'll sign with you. 56:14 But in my case, I had been getting sort of solicited 56:18 by a CAA agent for many years at that point 56:22 and he was trying to close the deal. 56:23 So I felt some loyalty to him. 56:25 So I wound up going with him and I don't mind telling you 56:28 that was a disaster in the end. 56:30 I was completely abandoned by CAA 56:32 when the shit hit the fan for me at NBC. 56:35 And when I was in the middle of the biggest challenge 56:38 of my career and being called a racist 56:40 in every newspaper in America 56:41 for saying something that was true, 56:42 too, which is blackface was treated differently in the 70s that it is today. 56:47 They sent me flowers Ari, the flowers, they sent me flowers. 56:51 I did not need flowers. 56:53 I needed a killer to go in there and rattle cages at NBC and call them out on their bullshit. 57:00 In any event, I did wind up with a great lawyer as a result of it all who did become 57:04 that guy for me. 57:05 I mean at the end of the day, at the end of the day, you want somebody that can 57:11 engage in a conversation with you. You guys make a decision, whatever it is, you get tough 57:16 situations and I had one with Michael Moore. I've had many with a lot of clients and all 57:22 you want to know is that when you put your head on that pillow at night and when you 57:26 wake up that partner, business partner has your back in very tough times, has a creative 57:36 point of view on how to handle it. And we'll go fight the fight. It might disagree with you. 57:41 It's okay. I disagree on projects all the time. But if we've made a commitment, unless you've done 57:48 something so horrific or he's done something, the representative, you know, you guys are in 57:52 business together. And you've made a, you know, kind of an agreement. And so I think that's 57:58 what I hopefully as a good parent, meaning somebody that started a company, I've taught 58:02 the people here, and that's what people want in life. It's okay to have the discussion at my table 58:08 at home with my parents and my brothers. It was a very heated conversation constantly about 58:14 politics. Every night. But we love each other, and we fight for each other, and we got each other's 58:21 backs. And that's what you want in life. So I think hopefully the audience knows this, but 58:27 You're the youngest brother, your two big brothers 58:30 are Rahm Emanuel who's been on this show 58:33 and Zeke Emanuel who's been on my show at Fox many times 58:36 during one of the architects of Obamacare 58:38 and a very accomplished doctor. 58:40 And of course everybody knows Rahm Emanuel 58:41 was Obama's chief of staff and the mayor of Chicago 58:44 and ambassador to Japan. 58:46 And then came you and you're very open in the book 58:49 about how you thought, okay, well, 58:52 I guess Zeke's the smart one, Rahm's the cunning one. 58:55 and I'm just the last one. 58:58 And you didn't have all this swagger and confidence growing up 59:00 because you had very bad dyslexia and ADHD, 59:04 but you've come to a place, talk about it, 59:06 where you've realized now that that out 59:08 was actually critical to your success. 59:10 One of the things, you know, my mom would put 59:14 our grades on the refrigerator when we walked in. 59:19 And you know, Zeke was Zeke. 59:22 I mean, he's like one of the smartest guys graduated top of class. 59:27 And Ram was accomplished also. 59:30 And I had dyslexia. 59:32 And what I learned over time is dyslexia doesn't mean that you're stupid, you organize words 59:38 and letters and sounds differently in the left part of your brain from this woman, Sally 59:43 Shaywitz, at Yale, who was an expert in dyslexia. 59:48 But, you know, being a family that reading education was so important and having ADHD was 59:54 very hard for me. 59:55 And my mom never gave up. 59:58 She had my back and she made sure that I was going to read, even though there was a lot 60:03 of people thinking that that wasn't going to happen. 60:07 And she did then what this program I sent my kids to, Linda Mubel did for my kids. 60:13 is she did it for me and found out how to get me to read. 60:18 And this book is about realizing for me, 60:25 that rage was about getting to my identity 60:27 because they had identity. 60:29 And I felt whether that be true 60:30 and I was telling myself a story 60:32 that, you know, to prove that I wasn't dumb 60:37 even though I was scared a lot 60:39 that people were gonna find out that I was done 60:41 on because of how I was brought up 60:42 and to find out my identity. 60:45 And I hope this helps parents that have kids 60:48 that are dyslexic, if you watch your kids struggle 60:53 but you let them struggle, 60:54 they get emotional endurance, 60:56 which can serve them throughout their life, 60:58 which is I think not to generalize 61:01 something we need for our generations coming up. 61:05 And for kids, dyslexia now for me 61:11 has been a blessing even though I would have cut off my arm 61:14 before to learn how to read, 61:16 because it makes you a free thinker 61:17 and that has helped me in business 61:19 and also trusting people to be in business with. 61:22 And that has been incredible for me. 61:26 Now where the first word of the book is rage, 61:29 some of your clients or at least one of your clients 61:31 calls you his regent. 61:33 And the stories are amazing about the rage 61:37 coming through to people who could really hurt you 61:41 in Hollywood, you just, it's like you did not care 61:44 as you were coming up the ranks. 61:45 It's one thing to be rageful now, you're super powerful, 61:48 nobody can really hurt you. 61:49 But even when you had no power, you were showing it. 61:53 So let's just start with where did that come from? 61:56 Let me just say the following. 61:57 I think Cormac McCarthy said at one point, 62:00 rage is only for what you believe can be fixed. 62:04 The rest is grief. 62:07 And when we started the business of Endeavor, there was four big agencies you couldn't compete 62:13 on economics. 62:14 So we all charged the same. 62:17 And a lot of people thought they could push us around. 62:22 I only had Plan A and I also was brought up for my mother. 62:30 It's okay to demonstrate. 62:31 It's okay to fight back against people above you. 62:35 If you thought your opinions or your you had a point of view that you could defend that and that was okay 62:42 Again, as I said before in my family, we argued all the time 62:46 So what I considered a normal situation people thought was rageful and I understand I do understand 62:53 But I wasn't gonna let anybody when we were coming up whether it be another agency 62:59 producers studio heads 63:01 try and take advantage of us and 63:03 And, yeah, I mean, I was ready to go to battle 63:06 with anybody and everybody. 63:08 I was a wrestler when I was in high school, 63:09 so it seems like I was wrestling, 63:11 I was on the mat with everybody constantly. 63:14 And for me, that's what it took. 63:18 And so- 63:19 You write in the book, wrestling without rage 63:21 is cuddling. 63:22 Yeah, exactly. 63:23 So you managed to get a job, 63:26 so you're a scrappy kid from the Chicago area, 63:28 we'll met, and you decide, let's see, 63:32 Maybe I'll maybe I'll go be a Hollywood agent. So you go you move out to Hollywood 63:35 You get a job in the mail room first you work for this other guy who really made an impression on you and how to be a great 63:39 Robbie listening on all the phone calls 63:41 And then you wind up going to the mail room of CAA where they tell you you're too old because you're 26 63:46 Yeah, everybody here's 21 you said I'm getting this job 63:49 So you do the the aria manual on them like oh, no 63:52 I will be working in your mail room and you do you do work in their mail room 63:56 Then you work your way up to like a junior agent 63:58 but you're making a name and you're getting clients and you're kind of a rising star and 64:03 a group of guys decides to leave CAA to go do something else like just they're done with 64:07 the CAA situation, which is run by the God of agents at the time. 64:13 Okay. 64:14 So, but CAA is run by the God of all agents at the time, Michael Ovitz and you, you 64:18 say, I got to go in there and I'm going to resign to his face. 64:21 Long story short, he, you revealed the truth to a guy you thought was an ally 64:27 who wasn't, who ratted you out to Ovid so he knew you were coming when you walked in. 64:31 And could you please tell the story of what happened in that room? 64:35 Well, the guy was an assistant, and we had been playing basketball, very friends. 64:41 He had gone to Northwestern. 64:43 And I tell him, like, hey, you're my friend, I'm telling you what I'm doing. 64:47 No harm, no foul. 64:48 I'm not gonna tell anybody that I told you the night before he, the day before 64:53 he rats me out, and then he lets me know he rats me out. 64:55 I go into Michael which is office and I say and he says you can't see me and I said well 65:00 I'll be back and you'll deal with me then I 65:03 come back about 10 minutes later and 65:06 Mike is in the room with this guy named a lee gaveler and 65:12 Mr. Office manager as he was referred to in the book and Mike who is on Mount Rushmore of 65:19 talent agents with Lou Wasserman 65:23 you know 65:24 goes into his appropriate, you know, conversation 65:29 that he's gonna ruin me and my career is gonna be over 65:32 and you know, you're making a big mistake 65:34 and I'm gonna take you down. 65:36 And I had no move. 65:39 Like what are you supposed to say 65:40 to the most powerful guy in Hollywood? 65:42 And an incredible agent and businessman. 65:47 I didn't know what to do. 65:49 So I just stand up, pissed off. 65:53 There's a, the back of the chair has a hole 65:55 and I just pick it up and I go, 65:58 are you threatening me? 65:59 As if like, okay, if you're threatening me, 66:02 this thing's coming off the hand. 66:04 And I think it was like a shock that. 66:08 Yes. 66:09 You know, something like I'm a little crazy 66:13 and maybe a little bit more than a little. 66:15 And yeah, it was like before, I mean, 66:20 I was working at ICM later in my career, 66:24 and this also famous, incredible agent, Sam Cohn, 66:29 wouldn't return my call, and I worked at the same company, 66:31 and I was dealing with something. 66:33 He wouldn't return my call for like three weeks. 66:36 And I finally told my office, 66:39 I got in at six, call Sam Cohn, 66:41 nine o'clock on the East Coast, 66:43 that's where he worked. 66:44 And I told him, don't get off the phone 66:46 until this guy gets on the line. 66:47 just don't get off the phone. 66:50 He finally picks up and I'm a pimple 66:54 on the ass of an aunt at this point. 66:55 I'm nobody in the business. 66:56 I had good clients, but like this is Sam Cohn, 66:58 one of the greats. 67:00 And I just, he runs the company. 67:03 I'm like his employee. 67:04 I lay into him that he's a horrible boss. 67:08 He's a piece of shit. 67:10 I don't even know why. 67:12 I mean, I'm just an idiot. 67:15 But, you know, it is what it is, it's kind of with all the craziness of this book and 67:21 all the heartbreak and the physically deterioration at times and at the end, it turned out to be 67:29 a nice book. 67:31 Oh, well, I mean, you're such a complex character because you've got the rage, the 67:35 rage and piece of it down and there's plenty of stories in the book. 67:38 Again, it's called roll the calls about that. 67:41 But then there's also this softer side, 67:43 the guy who gets up, and you told me this 67:44 when we were talking years ago, 67:46 the guy who gets up and meditates for 20 minutes a day, 67:50 you do the sauna, you talk about your Dr. Com, 67:54 the psychiatrist that you've been seeing for many years 67:58 to try to manage your feelings. 68:00 So you're not all sharp elbows, 68:02 you are aware that the rage may not be 68:06 absolutely wonderful for your mental health at all times, 68:09 and it's possible you should explore it. 68:11 You don't want to lose it. 68:12 But you're attuned to sort of the mental health piece 68:15 in a way that people might find surprising. 68:18 So has Dr. Com helped you? 68:20 Well, I think Dr. Com got me on this whole kick 68:23 about the, he called it the ego project. 68:26 It worked and I was working on it with him. 68:31 Other, which I talk about in the book, other, 68:35 I then went to India and met with people there 68:38 to try and kind of deal with it and realize that if we wanted to really get to a better 68:44 place at the company and me as a leader, that rage and aggression were not going to enable 68:50 us to get even farther. 68:53 Cut to, I also then did some hallucinogenics to also help, which I think helped a lot. 69:02 And I mean, I think probably if you talk to the people at the agency of the new 69:06 company, I started TKO, they would say, there's like a 69:10 ridiculous still amount of rage. That being said, I do know 69:15 when I'm on the field and working and my beautiful new 69:19 wife, Sarah Stoudinger Stodd. And I do know when I'm off the 69:24 field. And she tries to not that that's a lot. She would 69:28 like it to be more that that balance has helped me when I'm 69:34 on the field to really go for it. 69:36 And it's made it better. 69:42 I'm putting that in quotes. 69:42 Stott is a great brand, by the way. 69:43 She's a fashion, she's doing air quotes. 69:48 Sarah is a fashion designer 69:49 whose brand Stott is amazing, by the way. 69:51 I absolutely love this brand I work all the time. 69:55 Did not realize until now that she was your wife, 69:58 but amazing. 70:00 So one of the surprising things to me in the book 70:03 was your best friend is a guy who may be familiar 70:07 to our audience, or at least he's been the best friend 70:10 for a large part of your adult years. 70:12 Peter Berg. 70:13 Yeah. 70:14 You talk about this guy, Pete. 70:15 Yeah. 70:15 And it turns out to be Peter Berg, 70:17 who our audience may know as the man behind 70:21 Friday Night Lights, the man behind Lone Survivor, 70:25 an incredibly talented director. 70:26 He's got a new book, he's got a new movie out 70:28 coming out in about a month and a half. 70:31 It's called Mosquito Call. 70:32 What is it? 70:33 So the guy that wrote military related. Yeah, the guy that wrote Friday Night Night Buzz Bissinger 70:41 wrote Mosquito Bowl. Yeah, I know him. Brian Grazier and actually my son Ezra produced it. Pete wrote and 70:47 directed it. And it's about what happened in World War Two at Okinawa and Japan. And these kids that 70:57 were, you know, kind of college superstar football players go there and what happens 71:06 to them. And I think it's one of the great war movie anti-war movies. And Pete Berg, 71:13 I think this is his greatest movie he has ever made. 71:17 Very timely. Very timely if that's what it actually is. 71:21 is upsetting, emotional, this is his best movie, 71:26 Mosquito Ball. 71:29 We know Marcus Luttrell and I love Marcus Luttrell 71:33 and of course, The Lone Survivor is his story, 71:35 among others, and we asked him about Peter Berg 71:37 and he was a big fan and his brother, too, 71:39 so it's funny, like the connections you make 71:42 and who makes a difference in your life, 71:44 but I love that you guys have this lifelong friendship. 71:47 We were in college together. 71:49 Yeah. 71:49 He was on your couch or you were on his? 71:51 And he married us before we went to our, we went to San Tropez and Larry David ended 72:00 the ceremony, but he first married us earlier. 72:05 And I'm a ride or die guy with Pete Burke. 72:09 I love that. 72:11 I see, he seems like such a good guy is thrilled to see the, the acquaintance. 72:15 Everyone's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. 72:19 They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. 72:23 But what if you're looking to lose weight but are not interested in painful weekly injections, 72:27 especially when you hear about some of those intense side effects? 72:31 That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called LEAN, and the results could 72:35 be remarkable. 72:36 LEAN says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your 72:40 blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite and cravings 72:45 so you are not as hungry. 72:46 But listen, lean is not for the casual dieter with only a few pounds to lose. 72:51 The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more 72:56 pounds to lose. 72:57 You can get started with 20% off and free rush shipping, adding lean to your healthy 73:03 diet and exercise plan. 73:05 Visit TakeLean.com and enter MK for your discount. 73:08 That's promo code MK at takeleane.com. 73:11 If you run a small business, you know that managing daily cash flow is one of your biggest 73:16 ongoing hurdles. 73:18 Whether you are handling unexpected equipment repairs, purchasing bulk inventory, or waiting 73:22 on unpaid invoices, timing is everything and traditional banks simply move too slow. 73:28 Between weeks of tedious paperwork and endless corporate red tape, legacy lenders can 73:33 easily stall your momentum when you need capital the most. 73:36 First, that's why you need to check out Cardiff. 73:39 Cardiff delivers high-speed working capital directly to business owners without the delay. 73:45 Their simple online application takes just three minutes, and checking your options will 73:50 not affect your personal credit score. 73:53 With over 20 years in business and more than $12 billion funded nationwide, Cardiff 73:58 understands how entrepreneurs operate and they stand behind American founders every step 74:03 of the way. 74:04 If your business has been open for at least one year and generates at least 20 grand per 74:08 month in revenue, you can secure up to $500,000 in working capital. 74:14 Approval in minutes, funding the same day. 74:17 Head to Cardiff, C-A-R-D-I-F-F dot C-O slash M-K today. 74:24 Real growth, fast funding, Cardiff, borrow better. 74:28 I'm Megan Kelly. 74:29 Every day on the Megan Kelly Show we bring you the news and this summer we're bringing 74:33 and use something extra. 74:35 Before I was a journalist, I was a lawyer. 74:37 I've spent 20 plus years now covering crime and the law. 74:41 So I built a true crime series 74:43 that I always wanted to listen to. 74:45 We're calling it MK Confidential. 74:47 And there we cover cases that you've heard about 74:49 like John Benet Ramsey, Chandra Levy, 74:52 the DC Snipers, Scott Peterson, 74:54 and some that you haven't. 74:56 One case per week, five episodes, Monday through Friday. 75:00 New episodes every weeknight, 75:01 search for the Megan Kelly show 75:02 So wherever you listen to podcasts and you will find MK Confidential. 75:38 It's me Megan Kelly. I've got some exciting news. I now have my very own channel on Sirius XM 75:45 It's called the Megan Kelly channel and it is where you will hear the truth unfiltered with no agenda and no apologies 75:51 Along with the Megan Kelly show you're gonna hear from people like Mark Halperin, Link Lauren, Maureen Callahan, Emily Joshinsky, Jesse Kelly 75:58 Real clear politics and many more. It's bold, no BS news. Only on the Megan Kelly channel, Sirius XM 111 and on the Sirius XM app. 76:07 Now, you do not have this charitable loving heart toward everyone in Hollywood. 76:17 Can we talk about Jeffrey Katzenberg? 76:22 Because I'll tell you something about Jeffrey Katzenberg to kick it off. 76:26 I met him in Hollywood back in 2015, 16, and he told me personally, I will make sure 76:33 Hillary Clinton wins. 76:35 I will personally, I will donate whatever it takes to get her across the finish line. 76:39 And we all know how that worked out and I know you've had your own dealings with him 76:44 Could you could you give us your opinion here is my opinion? I hope I'm probably not true 76:50 But I hope in most of my career 76:56 With my incidents I don't punched out 77:00 When we started the company 77:04 There's a story about what happened with the Lakers and what he tried to do 77:09 He stole your ticket. 77:11 Yeah, tried to. 77:12 He tried to. 77:13 There's a story about how people in Hollywood make money. 77:17 Back then was TV packages and my partner, David Greenblatt at the time, put a package 77:23 together. 77:24 When we were just in Denver, there was five or six of us and sold it to DreamWorks and 77:30 Jeffrey, they wouldn't pay our package, which is economically when you're starting 77:34 out like a lifeblood for a lot of what we do in Hollywood. 77:40 Writers Guild got rid of them, but that's a different story. 77:46 And throughout, I mean, I just, it's very hard and maybe people won't say it how they 77:52 feel about Jeffrey. 77:53 I don't mind saying it because I think my story is probably if you kind of pull the 77:58 courtroom back, a lot of people feel this way. 78:01 But at the end of the day, the worst thing for me is I came out and my brother worked 78:06 for Obama. 78:08 I don't want to get into politics, but you know, Biden was there. 78:12 He got elected. 78:14 And we were all seeing what we, you know, our lying eyes, our eyes were not lying 78:18 like Ruth Bader Biden. 78:20 I said it a year beforehand and Jeffrey was raising money for him, saying exactly 78:25 what he said about Hillary, about Biden, and he was doing everything he could. And he said to me, 78:32 you know, do you want a meeting with him? You know, I was, you know, I give, I'm a Democrat. 78:38 Or do you want to give a million dollars? And I said, and I'll set up the meeting. I said, 78:42 do you think I need through you so you get credit to meet President Biden? I said, 78:48 my brother worked in the White House. I mean, I could have gotten to, I could, 78:51 at a million dollars, anybody could get me a meeting. I don't need you to do it and 78:54 take credit. And I was screaming at him about Karen Bass too. And after the 79:03 election, and he then when we all realized this is not going well, this is 79:07 bad, he was saying that he had his ear and could do everything. He then did 79:12 nothing happen. He couldn't get him out, didn't didn't get him out and couldn't 79:18 couldn't get him on the phone or whatever the reasoning was. And then 79:22 Then afterwards, he was like, election was over, and he washed his hand in the situation. 79:31 So I realized, and I probably realized it, but it came like, he does things mainly, one, 79:38 he punches down, two, he does stuff not for the reason, but for how it reflects on him. 79:46 Not for me. 79:48 Do you think there was someone more responsible for trying to cover up Joe Biden's mental 79:54 infirmities outside of Washington DC than Katzenberg? 79:58 I think there was a lot of people trying to do it, but you know, I don't know. 80:01 I just know he kept on saying that he could get me in a room and he had his ear and he 80:05 was working on stuff. 80:06 And I mean, I think you realize this in the book. 80:11 I'm a guy that is not afraid to express his opinion to people and if something's 80:16 going wrong, at least have the conversation. And if you're representing something over here 80:23 that you can do, and that's why you're raising money and you have this, that and the other 80:28 thing. 80:28 When it comes time to sit on that wall, Jack Nicholson, you need me on that wall, you 80:35 want me on that wall, get on the wall and do your job. Don't it, don't when you 80:41 reportedly behind the scenes saying for months before Biden was bounced out like get someone else 80:47 anyone get get someone else in there i do this i do this conference in september called the weekend 80:55 and um ron clain was on stage my brother screamed at me and this is way before and i just said 81:02 you know we do not need ruse vader biden and he and i got in a terse conversation 81:08 And, um, I was screaming from the top of my lungs, you know, this can't be good. 81:15 You know who you like this time around? 81:17 Well, I don't know. 81:18 I think it's, uh, I think my brother, Rom, said it. 81:20 He was very funny about it. 81:22 You know, it's going to be 31 flavors. 81:25 And, um, who knows? 81:27 I don't know. 81:29 He's one of them. 81:30 Well, I, listen, I am praying my brother is one of them. 81:33 Um, I don't think whether be him, um, in the Clinton administration and what he did trying 81:41 to get peace with Arafat, whether it be in the Biden, I mean, in an Obama situation, 81:46 whether getting us through, uh, the financial crisis and, um, and, uh, passing Obamacare 81:54 and we can, you, you can talk to him about that and my brother Zeke about that. 81:58 I had to talk to Zeke about that many times or when he, when he was, when he was 82:03 a congressman and what he did there in getting Democrats elected. 82:06 I think he did an incredible job as a mayor in Chicago and fighting the unions for kids 82:12 and school, the teachers union, and then learning everything about our allies in Asia as the 82:19 ambassador to Japan. 82:20 I don't think anybody has, whether it be how the White House works, how a city works, 82:25 how Congress works, and fighting for, 82:30 fighting against teachers and for better education for kids. 82:35 I don't think anybody in the current possible, 82:40 if my brother decides to run, 82:41 is better suited for what we need right now. 82:46 What, give me one word, one word that comes to mind 82:50 when you think about Rahm Emanuel. 82:53 You know, my parents always said to us, 82:55 make the world a better place. 82:57 I can see it in my brother, Zeke. 83:00 My brother, Ram, wants to make the place 83:03 of the world a better place. 83:06 He fought for kids in Chicago. 83:09 He made that place a better place for business. 83:12 He made mistakes and took responsibility. 83:16 He, I think he did the same thing 83:18 when he was ambassador. 83:20 he did the same thing in the White House. 83:23 And he's a man committed to helping people. 83:28 And... 83:28 He told me it was authenticity, he thinks. 83:32 That's what will, that's what will set him apart. 83:35 And then there's a rare supply. 83:38 If he decides to run, as he said, it will be 31 flavors 83:42 and he will be Rocky Road. 83:44 And that's what we need. 83:47 All right, well, we look forward to seeing whether 83:49 You're gonna have a brother in the White House or at least as a Democratic nominee that process is about to unfold soon as we get past these midterms 83:56 All right, another one I got to ask you about because you write openly about Harvey Weinstein 84:01 You were not impressed even before his downfall. Could you describe describe him physically? First of all, let's just say the following 84:10 There was nobody as it relates to movies and television 84:14 that had better taste in material than Harvey Weinstein. 84:18 Nobody, I mean, he was, he had better taste than anybody. 84:22 You can, I mean, it's, just look, he had more, 84:24 I mean, he was incredible for where he was. 84:28 I, we didn't, we were a small company. 84:31 We didn't know anything that was going on to this extent. 84:39 At one point he came, comes up, 84:41 We're about a month and a half old, two months old. 84:45 He summons us to the peninsula, his shirts, backwards, food, and he says he's made a deal 84:50 for us, this small little agency, for $10 million that William Morris is going to buy 84:56 us. 84:58 Like, who the fuck are you? 85:00 Nobody asked you to do that. 85:02 And he was probably getting, you know, it's inside Hollywood. 85:05 He was getting a deal from William Morris, getting stuff, and he's going to make this 85:08 thing happen. 85:08 and he's gonna push us around and do all this. 85:11 And I'm like, F you, that's not happening. 85:18 And yeah, I mean, I had many run-ins. 85:20 He screwed around with a movie that Mark Wahlberg was in. 85:28 And he was rough. 85:31 I mean, he was rough. 85:34 But this whole other world that he was living, 85:37 I mean, disgusting. 85:41 And I think people knew it, that had been in the business and been in business with him 85:46 that represented him, I mean, in the agency business. 85:51 Our competitor, CAA, was representing him, so they knew it, they were whatever. 85:58 And yeah, it's gross. 86:01 Not, not, not, not, not, not a, not cool at all. 86:07 Well, the physical descriptions of him in the book are hilarious talking about like just 86:11 how slovenly and slob, what a slob he was, which seems like the opposite of you. 86:17 It must have felt kind of disdainful whenever you had to deal with this guy who, as you 86:22 point out, was talented and ultimately powerful. 86:26 He was really, really talented and really, really powerful because he was a guy that 86:30 always had projects that were nominated for Oscars, you know, and so you needed to get 86:36 your actors in there. 86:38 My competitors at the time had just taken over CAA from Mike Govitz and Ron Meyer and 86:42 Bill Haber, so they needed that to keep potentially clients. 86:46 And I think, well, time will tell. 86:48 Let's not draw any conclusions, but I do think some funny business was going on, 86:53 but that's okay. 86:54 Meaning you think CAA looked the other way? 86:57 Is that what you're saying? 86:58 Yeah. 86:59 But you know, that's what, that's just an opinion. 87:02 The courts will figure it out. 87:06 There's cases coming up and we'll see. 87:09 Oh. 87:10 Do you think things have changed since his downfall in Hollywood? 87:15 Do I think things have changed? 87:18 I'm hoping. 87:21 I mean don't you think the casting couch will always be there? 87:23 I'm hoping not. I'm hoping not. That would be sad. 87:29 It's like at Fox when they made us all go through sexual harassment training and I sat there thinking 87:34 they're using this for ideas. This is not being unleashed on the people the way the management 87:42 thinks it is. It just seems to me that there's going to be a next creepy director who's using 87:47 the Harvey Weinstein thing for ideas. I hope not. That would be sad. 87:55 So it would be a very, very upsetting. 87:59 Did you have, you don't have to tell me who it was, 88:01 but did you have anybody come to you 88:02 after Harvey was outed as just a creep, pig, gross man? 88:08 Tell you stories that you've found shocking? 88:11 Well, I mean, I read, I mean, you could read it all, 88:15 like all the different stories. 88:17 But did you have anybody come to you and say, Ari? 88:20 No, I don't remember really, 88:21 But they'll all take your breath away like who does that? 88:28 What do you make can I ask you about this because this has been the news lately any thoughts on child actors 88:33 All right, because it's like every day you seem to have another story of another one OD'ing or having an implosion 88:39 And we talked a lot with our audience about how just just dangerous 88:44 It is to put your kid into a Hollywood lifestyle at a young age you've seen it all so what do you think here's what I would say 88:50 You know you 88:53 Kids might want to be in the music business, in the movie business, in the television business. 88:59 Parents make decisions. Parents have a responsibility in that decision to kind of protect them. 89:07 Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. Those incidents are sad. 89:16 And I'm lucky I have four beautiful kids. My ex-wife and I scored touchdowns. 89:23 I think society has a role to play. 89:26 I think the industry has a role to play 89:28 and I think parents have a role to play 89:29 and people in power have a role to play. 89:32 And sometimes, and it's really sad 89:33 and we can all talk about this, 89:36 people get abused and that's not great. 89:39 And I don't think that's the only reason, 89:44 but it's a sad outcome. 89:46 I don't, if you wanna be an actor, you wanna be great. 89:48 I mean, that's, but there's, 89:50 people have around you have to also 89:52 trying to be supportive and that takes a lot of different forms and so I mean it's not really the 89:58 agents who are known for you know taking advantage of the young Hollywood actress it's it's like 90:05 those who are doing the movies and have the power over them on the set it's just so disturbing I 90:09 want to keep going though okay so let me ask you this something that's always that I've always 90:15 wondered about you since you are you are you got sharp edges no question but my experience 90:20 with agents is most of them are total and complete suckups 90:27 to the point where it makes you uncomfortable. 90:31 Suckups, you know, like to the talent, 90:34 to where you like, you feel uncomfortable, 90:35 like stop, stop with all the fake praise. 90:38 I know what's happening, like don't do that. 90:40 Do you do that? 90:41 That doesn't seem like you. 90:42 No, I mean, I think the job of an agent 90:49 is to ride or die with your client. 90:53 The definition, I'm getting paid my percentage 90:56 for my opinion. 90:57 Now, at the end, I will give my opinion. 91:01 If you don't agree with my opinion 91:03 or you only agree with Slavo, you're the CEO, 91:06 whether it be a writer, director, actor, musician, 91:08 whatever, we're all gonna decide what the end game. 91:12 But in the process, I'm gonna give you my opinion 91:16 because that's what you're paying me my tenth percent for and then once we make the decision 91:23 and we're all on the street we're driving we're going that way and so at the beginning 91:30 I definitely give my opinion and then I live with the I mean I live I you know we live with 91:38 the country and I have sometimes with my opinion and I won't mention the clients I have said 91:43 certain things that have gotten me fired long time clients and it's okay it is 91:52 what it is well what one opinion you gave speaking of Peter Berg was he was 91:57 being considered you write in the book roll the calls for the a directing role 92:02 for American beauty yeah starring Kevin Spacey and that Benning and the one 92:08 thing you said to him was do not whatever you do when you go into this 92:12 meeting where they're considering you, pitch for the lead female role, your current girlfriend. 92:17 This is now giving me anxiety. 92:18 And Ari, what did he do? 92:19 This is giving me anxiety. 92:21 Tell us what he did. 92:24 You know, he was pitching it all, was going right and I prepped him and he did it and 92:32 he then calls me and he says they all lean back and he didn't, you know, get the job. 92:38 And I said to him, you know, we had a plan. 92:40 We were running a route down and out. 92:41 I said, what made you go up, down, out, and up? 92:45 Like, what are we doing here? 92:49 And, but I would say, like in the book, 92:52 it looks like a crazy mess, this book, in my life. 92:57 At the end, the book's great, I think, 92:59 and I've had a great life. 93:01 It is great. 93:01 And Pete Berg has had an incredible career. 93:04 And his talent. 93:05 And he had an incredible girlfriend. 93:07 Tell us who he was dating, who he pitched. 93:09 He pitched Madonna. 93:15 Yeah, you know, so, but he's his career. 93:19 They say love is blind, it could also make men blind. 93:22 Yes, he landed on his feet as did Madonna. 93:25 But yes, I can see why that would have been a source of aggravation to you. 93:29 Alright, let's talk, speak of aggravation. 93:31 Let's talk about Larry David. 93:32 So Larry David, you wore him down. 93:35 Is that how you get most of the clients? 93:37 Because I remember when you were calling me, it was relentless. 93:39 It was not. 93:40 I didn't get you though. 93:41 It turns out that's your thing. 93:42 I didn't get you. 93:43 I mean, what the fuck? 93:45 I would have been a great agent for you. 93:47 Incredible. 93:48 I would have been your bet. 93:50 I would have been incredible. 93:52 I met your husband. 93:53 I met Roger Ailes. 93:54 I met everybody. 93:55 I was like, I think I'm going to get there. 93:58 No. 93:58 Yes. 93:59 Do you remember that you sent Roger Ailes something after meeting with him? 94:02 Do you have any memory of this? 94:04 Did I send him a shovel? 94:05 He told you that he grew up digging ditches. 94:07 Yes. 94:07 Yes, yes. 94:09 He told you that he grew up digging ditches in Ohio. 94:13 He made some, he insulted you somehow 94:16 about like you shovel shit. 94:18 He said, I'm a Democrat and you know, 94:24 and my brother's a Democrat and da-da-da, 94:27 and he said, like as if he worked with his hand 94:31 and came up from nothing as if I didn't. 94:36 I'm f you like, and you know, he gave this whole long speech about digging ditches, whatever. 94:43 So I sent him a shovel. 94:45 Yes, it was so good. 94:47 I've done a lot of those. 94:48 If memory serves, I've done a lot of those gifts. 94:50 He made some snide comment to me about you, like, oh, you know, he, he shovels shit and 94:54 I told you and then you sent him the shovel. 94:57 Like you wouldn't back down to anybody and it was a good nature sort of ribbing. 95:02 But yeah, Roger would have preferred 95:03 I remain unrepresented forever. 95:06 He did not like the talent getting connected with agents 95:08 at all. 95:10 And that's where I am now, frankly, 95:11 to end the audience notes that it's lovely 95:13 to be independent, not have to, no offense to you, 95:16 I never had you represent me, 95:17 but in general, I'm very anti-agent. 95:20 Wow. 95:22 This book didn't help you get over that. 95:23 I had some bad experiences, sorry. 95:24 This book didn't help you get over that. 95:27 It's, listen, you, the man I like, 95:30 like you, the agent I respect, but agents in general, nothing but bad experiences, I just 95:36 off. 95:37 I would say to defend a profession that I am in and I have started in and even though 95:43 I do other things now, agents, it's an incredible occupation in that you take an artist, you 95:53 take their dreams, you figure out a financial situation to make that happen, getting them 96:00 economics and the freedom to make what they want to make. 96:03 You defend them, and then you make sure 96:07 that when conflict happens, you get through the conflict, 96:13 and then great things come out of it. 96:15 If you do it well, it is in and of itself 96:19 one of the great art forms. 96:22 And it's on the business side of it, but without it, 96:28 I think it's a very difficult for artists to be protected. 96:32 Hollywood is, yeah. 96:34 I think in news, it's a lot easier. 96:36 And you know, if you're talking about it now, 96:38 I think it's getting harder in news 96:39 because of what's happening. 96:43 Oh, that could be. 96:44 I don't know, with me, 96:44 I only ever used an agent to negotiate a deal 96:47 like toward the end of my time in cable news. 96:50 And it was pointless 96:51 because I can negotiate my own deal. 96:53 Not everybody can or wants to, 96:55 but I just always felt like it's just a waste of your money 96:58 because unless you're gonna really use your agent 97:00 and Hollywood makes sense 97:01 because you're going from project to project, 97:02 you got a lot to manage in news. 97:03 It's like you sign a three year deal. 97:05 Why give away whatever. 97:06 Here's the thing. 97:06 I wanna keep going. 97:07 I'll keep going. 97:09 We gotta talk about Meghan Markle. 97:11 I'll get it back to Larry David. 97:13 So you recently told the Sunday Times 97:15 it was a great thing that you were no longer 97:18 having to think about her. 97:20 Why, why is that great? 97:21 listen, I got a busy life. She is finding her voice. I'm happy for her. The great thing I hope as a 97:31 parent of starting William Morris Endeavor is there's people here that they can handle stuff 97:39 and handle clients. And for me, I just had a lot on my plate with I've started a new company. I 97:47 I run TKO, I have clients, and it was better to let them deal with her and execute against 97:58 her needs and her desires, and I'm happy that everybody's doing it. 98:02 For me, I couldn't occupy, I didn't want it occupying my brain. 98:09 And when I'm involved in somebody constantly, when I wake up in the morning, clients occupy 98:13 my brain, that's what happens, and I just didn't want to do that anymore. 98:16 more. Having nothing about her, I just needed to move on to other things I was doing. 98:22 Did you find there was a big appetite for her services? 98:26 Well, I mean, you know, I think there's a bunch of things that our people are doing 98:32 for her now. So that's a good thing. I'm just not involved. I'm not involved. And 98:38 not in a bad way. I just have a lot on my plate. And I have to be rageful at all 98:44 all those things, I can't, you know, I can't be grateful. 98:48 I know, just saying, you did represent her and then somehow you didn't and clearly you 98:53 made that decision. 98:54 I just had to shift my focus to other things that were a priority for me. 99:01 Things that actually could get bookings and make money for you. 99:05 And the great thing is, I hope I've done it with my own children, my fourth kids, 99:11 you have to let them grow up. 99:13 I don't want to be a helicopter parent. 99:15 And here at the agency, agents can go do their job. 99:20 They've been taught really well. 99:23 They're doing their job. 99:25 Fantastic. 99:29 It doesn't seem to be going that well actually, 99:32 but I don't think that's the fault of your agency. 99:33 I think she's actually getting booked 99:35 and there's reality stuff and TV stuff. 99:38 They're doing stuff. 99:39 I don't know about it. 99:40 Really? You are so full of it. This is the first thing I've had you. I got you on the 99:47 ropes. You are full of it. You've had me on the ropes for now 42 minutes. What are you 99:51 talking about? Okay, I will let you off the hook and I'll bring you over to Safer Ground, 99:57 which is Larry David. Yeah. 99:59 You wore him down. He decided to represent you. And is it true what this stuff about 100:05 what he allegedly said at your wedding that he called you a mutant, a freak of 100:08 nature and even the C-word? 100:10 The C-word multiple times. 100:12 My mom, who has lost her hearing, couldn't figure out what he was saying. 100:18 It was one of the, first of all, Larry David is truly a gift. 100:27 One of the funniest people ever, creators of all time. 100:31 time, the show he just finished actually for the Obamas and HBO was, I think, unbelievably 100:39 inventive and hysterical skits. 100:42 And he's a really great friend. 100:46 And yeah, he went on, he, he, he roasted me. 100:51 And what did you, what did your mom think he called you? 100:54 I don't remember what she thought, but it wasn't the word he said. 101:02 I think it was couch, she thought he was calling you a cow. 101:06 Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. 101:08 Sweet mom. 101:10 All right, let me do a couple of quick hits with you. 101:13 Can you give me a couple quick answers? 101:15 You can pass if you feel you must. 101:19 Who has got the biggest star power in a room? 101:24 Just generally. 101:26 in Hollywood, like Hollywood people? 101:29 Yeah, you know them all. 101:30 Like you've been in the presence of all these major stars. 101:32 Who's got the biggest star power in the room? 101:35 Well, as an actor on serious stuff, 101:41 probably Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, 101:48 Wayne Johnson, and the band crew. 101:52 That makes sense. 101:54 Who is the biggest ass in the room? 101:57 On comedy, it's Adam Sandler. 102:00 Yeah. 102:01 Adam Sandler. 102:03 Who's the biggest ass in the room? 102:06 I think most people in Hollywood would say me. 102:12 That's rough. 102:13 Who's the biggest diva? 102:17 I won't deal with the diva. 102:19 So I don't really, I don't know. 102:21 It just has to be a bad thing. 102:22 I don't know. 102:23 Diva can be. 102:24 I don't know. 102:24 I don't, I don't, I don't, I won't, no longer in my life will I deal with Adiva.
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