The story was titled, “How Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Became Public Enemy Number One in Hollywood.”
And the tale, penned on freelance for GQ by New York Times culture writer Jason Bailey, doesn't end there.
The internet was baffled when the story, originally posted by GQ on Monday, was taken down and replaced without explanation with a shorter, milder profile of the controversial WBD CEO. (Roger Friedman and his Showbiz 411 blog were the first to notice this.)
Then things got even more interesting. According to one Penske showbiz trade, Bailey had asked for his byline to be removed after WBD complained and GQ started complying with edits, which included taking “most hated man” out of the headline.
As Deadline noted, it’s unusual for a publication of GQ’s stature to remove a post without explanation and replace it with one with an entirely new byline. That second post was ultimately taken down, as well. (We visited GQ Monday evening and couldn’t find either.)
“A piece published by GQ on Monday was not properly edited before going live,” the magazine said in a statement. “After a revision was published, the writer of the piece asked to have their byline removed, at which point GQ decided to unpublish the piece in question. GQ regrets the editorial error that led to a story being published before it was ready.”
WBD responded: “The freelance reporter made no attempt to reach out to Warner Bros. Discovery to fact-check the substance of the piece before publishing — a standard practice for any reputable news outlet. As is also standard practice, we contacted the outlet and asked that numerous inaccuracies be corrected. In the process of doing so, the editors ultimately decided to pull the piece.”
Later Wednesday afternoon, another Penske trade, Variety, weighed in with an absolute bombshell: GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch is producing a film — at Warner Bros.! — titled The Great Chinese Art Heist. According to the trade, the film is based on a 2018 GQ article by Alex W. Palmer. Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) is reportedly attached to direct.
And yes, Welch was reported to have been directly involved with the decision to take down Bailey's story.
As your Journalism 101 professor might tell you (besides “don’t go into journalism”), this is a major conflict of interest.
GQ doesn’t appear to have released another statement following the Variety report about Welch.
Beyond the headline change, the updated version of the piece reportedly excised Bailey’s comparison of Zaslav to the role of “Edward Lewis” (played by Richard Gere) in the 1990 romantic comedy classic Pretty Woman.
In the film, Gere’s character explains to love interest Vivian (played by Julia Roberts) that he makes his money buying companies, dismantling them, then selling the pieces.
"So you don't make anything and you don't build anything," Vivian responds.
"And that's perhaps why David Zaslav is earning a concerning reputation so far," Bailey wrote, tying in his analogy. "He's out there carrying on like a mogul, but based on his performance to date, he's only good at breaking things."
