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John Oliver explains America's massive 'new drug crisis' and what caused it

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John Oliver Opioids YouTube HBO

On Sunday's episode of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," the host focused his main story on a major problem affecting the US: opioids. 

From painkillers to heroin, these drugs hit the country hard and fast

“As of 2015, an estimated 2.6 million Americans were addicted to them, and they’re now involved in almost 30,000 overdose deaths a year in the US," Oliver said in the segment.

Oliver points out that the gateway drugs are often Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Percocet, which doctors have been handing out like candy for years. Patients get so hooked on them that in some cases they'll do anything to get them when they have "healed."

In the segment, Oliver shows one clip in which a group of men talk about the lengths they've gone to get these drugs, including purposely breaking their hands or having their friends break their arms with bats.

Oliver throws the blame on drug companies like Purdue, which released Oxycontin in 1996 and exploded on the market as the company encouraged doctors to give the drug to their patients whose pain wasn't just post-surgery or end-of-life-related, but also ones who suffered arthritis and back aches. The company also assured the public that there's only a small chance of getting addicted.

Watch the complete segment below:

 

SEE ALSO: "SNL" mocks the third and final debate with some help from guest host Tom Hanks

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NOW WATCH: 'Media rigging the election!': Trump slams SNL for mocking his debate performance


John Oliver makes a bet with Donald Trump on the election and offers to give up his Emmy

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john oliver last week tonight donald trump emmy hbo

John Oliver has made Donald Trump a proposition that could result in wins for everyone even if the Republican candidate loses the presidential election.

Oliver's offer comes after Trump's performance at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York last week. The annual charity event, which benefits Catholic Charities, traditionally features speeches from the two presidential candidates in which they roast themselves and one another.

"Trump is basically an insult comic writ large," the "Last Week Tonight" host said on Sunday's episode. "It is hard to imagine a philanthropic event he'd be better suited for — other than, of course, a charity groping booth. And yet somehow he completely lost the room."

Trump was booed several times for apparently going too far in insults about Clinton and being unable to read the crowd. But Oliver thinks he figured out the real reason why the real-estate mogul flopped.

"Perhaps the reason Trump did so poorly is that the Al Smith dinner is supposed to involve a healthy share of self-deprecation, and he's almost pathologically unable to acknowledge any flaw or fault," Oliver said.

That's when Oliver brought up the moment in last week's presidential debate when Trump showed just how deep his inability to accept loss goes. It was when Clinton mentioned that he called the Emmy Awards "rigged," because he failed to win one for "The Apprentice." 

"Of course he wants an Emmy," Oliver, who won his first Emmy for his HBO series earlier this year, said. "It's a woman, it's gold, and it's proportionate to his tiny hands.

That gave Oliver an idea for getting Trump to peacefully accept the transfer of power to Clinton if he loses the election.

"I have a proposition for Donald Trump. Let's bet on the outcome of this election," Oliver said. "I will take the side that you win. You take the side that you lose. That way, if you lose, you still win. And as for the stakes of the bet, I have something I know that you want."

At that point Oliver held his Emmy.

"She's so small. She's so shiny," he said. "You don't even have to take her furniture-shopping. Take the bet, Donald."

Watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: 'SNL' mocks the third and final debate with some help from guest host Tom Hanks

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert mocks Donald Trump's latest election comments: 'The p---y has grabbed us'

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NOW WATCH: 'I guess you didn’t send her invitation by email': Trump gets booed while taking jabs at Clinton for charity

Why MTV's president is stepping down after only a year

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sean atkins president leaving mtv

Sean Atkins is stepping down from his role as president at MTV. He had only been in the job for about a year.

Atkins made the announcement in a memo to staff on Monday morning, which Business Insider has obtained from MTV.

"I apologize for the shock to your Monday morning, but I have some news to share that will come as a surprise," Atkins wrote. "I have decided to step down from my post as President of MTV.  I’ll be consulting on the transition through January in an advisory role."

Deadline reports that Atkins decided to leave after he was informed by his boss, Viacom Music and Entertainment Group president Doug Herzog, that the company was planning to place an executive above him. 

MTV is expected to name Atkins' replacement as early as Monday. According to Deadline, the frontrunner is Chris McCarthy, who has spearheaded a ratings revival at VH1 and Logo as their current president.

For now, MTV had no comment to Business Insider on Atkins' announced departure.

During his short tenure at the ratings-challenged network, Atkins worked at reinvigorating its music tradition and relaunching MTV News; adding new programming, such as critical favorite "Loosely Exactly Nicole"; and focusing on its digital offerings in order to capture the network's target younger viewership.

Atkins was named MTV president last September. Previously, he was a digital-media executive at Discovery Communications.

Read Atkins' full memo to staff below:

"I apologize for the shock to your Monday morning, but I have some news to share that will come as a surprise. I have decided to step down from my post as President of MTV. I’ll be consulting on the transition through January in an advisory role.

I will leave it to Doug to fill you in on the details, but suffice it to say this was in no way an easy decision for me. This has been an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience, and I thank every single one of you for that. I am so proud of what this team has accomplished together. We’ve filled the creative pipeline with so many new projects and producers. Amazing projects like 'Sweet/Vicious,' 'Stranded with a Million Bucks,' 'Signed and Going Off' are just around the corner. We’ve moved aggressively to recapture music as our muse with projects like 'Made in Compton,' 'Wonderland,' and 'Virtually Famous' just to name a few. We’re taking the time and care to do smart thinking around the brand and vision for MTV, including bringing in new media and creative agencies to back our new brand campaign. We’ve continued to invest into our future with the successful growth of our Snapchat Discover channel, social footprint and MTV News. And we’ve continued to be an incredible social voice with our 'Elect This campaign' and launch of our new documentary unit. This tremendous creative effort is a recipe for success and it will pay off.

I’m so deeply impressed with the team here and so grateful to have been part of it. You have unbelievable drive and dedication, unstoppable creative passion and are relentlessness in attacking challenges from every possible angle. This speaks volumes about the amazing MTV culture and your commitment to this brand.

Thank you so much, and a special word of thanks to my incredible senior team, for pushing and inspiring me every day.

You will all be in very good hands as I move on, I assure you. And I promise I will be watching and cheering as you continue to build up from the great foundation we created together.

- Sean"

SEE ALSO: MTV is undergoing a huge revamp to return to its music roots

DON'T MISS: Here are the ratings that have Viacom execs worried about their ailing TV networks

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NOW WATCH: The 'Catfish' guy reveals how to spot fake people online

A day in the life of Genius' Rob Markman, whose job working with artists may be one of the coolest gigs in music right now

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Rob Markman Genius.com 24

The music annotation website once known as Rap Genius has expanded radically since three Yale alums launched it in 2009.

Today, the re-branded Genius.com hosts crowdsourced annotations of a wide variety of written materials, including song lyrics, news stories, Shakespeare plays, and even the internet itself. But the site's recent expansion into video and other media platforms has produced some of its most compelling content yet.

Far from its humble beginnings as a lyrics site, Genius now regularly attracts high-profile artists for guest annotations and new projects. The site's artist relations team, Rob Markman and Brian Hernandez, works to facilitate inventive multimedia features with some of the biggest names in music. That means a typical day of work might mean meeting with top artists like Lil Wayne and Christina Aguilera, hanging out at recording studios, and getting backstage access to concerts.

Business Insider shadowed Markman, Genius' head of artist relations and a veteran music journalist, as he and his team produced the first installment of their brand new "IRL" video series, featuring an epic interview with producer and rap mogul DJ Khaled.

Take a behind-the-scenes look at Markman's incredible job at Genius:

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of Robbie Myers, the high-powered editor of one of fashion's most important magazines

Markman joined the site in August 2015 from MTV News, where he was a senior hip-hop editor.

With an extensive list of industry contacts from a prominent career in music journalism, Markman now works with record labels and publicists to bring high-profile artists to Genius. His focus is to find innovative ways for artists to discuss their music and the stories behind it.



"What I try to do when I talk with labels and publicists and different reps about artists is to find the one really good idea," he said. "What's the really good conversation that we can have that will be impactful. I always look at it like a Rubik's Cube. With every artist there's that really good idea, and it's trying to unlock it and find it."



At the offices of Genius in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, nearly 60 employees keep the website and its many projects running.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This new music streaming app targets avid fans

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Music StreamingThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

A new Los Angeles-based music platform called Stashimi wants to help music lovers stay better connected with their favorite artists. By using web crawlers that scan information across more than 100,000 data sources, the Stashimi serves as a centralized hub to get real-time updates from musicians, breaking industry news and information about trending songs and artists. Here’s how it works:

  • All in-one-platform to match the wants of music fans. Stashimi has partnered with over 50,000 artists that users can track and receive real-time news and social post updates on. It also provides access to a catalog of 8 million music videos pulled from YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo, as well as songs from Spotify, SoundCloud and online radio. The app can also be used to track music charts, see and buy tickets to events, and purchase artist merchandise.
  • Aggregating artist updates from web and social feeds. Stashimi pulls information in-real time from sources across the internet, from music blogs and entertainment websites to Facebook and Instagram (but not Twitter for now). This spares users from having to seek out news across a fragmented online ecosystem, which could be particularly useful for those working in the music industry, as well as passionate fans.
  • Updating you in real time with no promotion or favoritism. The app then collates all of its aggregated information in a single, reverse-chronological feed. Content is displayed according to recency, rather then algorithmically determined. This has been an issue on Facebook, where musicians struggling to reach fans organically must pay to promote their posts.
  • Helping users filter information down to the essentials. The internet has unleashed an explosion of information – every day humans create close to 225 million tweets, 80 million blog posts, and 20,000 new songs. Stashimi only shows updates from artists you’ve chosen to follow, to help users stay on top of their favorite music and spare them from noise. 

To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the Digital Media Briefing newsletter. Click here to learn more about how you can gain risk-free access today.

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The AT&T-Time Warner deal is a blow to companies like Apple that want slimmer TV packages

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Jeff Bewkes

A merger of AT&T and Time Warner could be a death sentence for the “skinny bundle,” or the idea of selling smaller TV packages that only include the good stuff.

When people complain about cable, a common gripe is having to pay for hundreds of channels they don’t use. The “skinny bundle” solution to this problem has been a hot topic in the pay TV industry recently, as companies from AT&T to Google to Hulu try to push out new internet TV packages. Apple has spent years trying to assemble a skinny bundle, but has never quite gotten it together.

Other companies have succeeded, notably Sling TV, which offers a core 25 channels for $20 per month, delivered over the internet.

But there has been pushback against the idea. TV networks generally don’t like the skinny bundle, and prefer to sell a bunch of their channels at once — from horrible to marquee. As Variety’s Janko Roettgers points out, Disney went so far as to take Verizon to court over the company’s plan to leave ESPN out in the cold in a smaller package. (For the record, Verizon’s CEO would sell “skinny bundles exclusively” if he could).

Not interested

This brings us to the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Unlike Verizon, AT&T isn’t a fan of the skinny bundle. Last week, AT&T’s SVP of strategy and business development, Tony Goncalves, told Business Insider that he simply didn’t think skinny bundles made economic sense. The reason is that to succeed in pay TV, even in the new streaming landscape, scale is key.

“We can’t get to scale with skinny bundles,” Goncalves said.

AT&T’s new DirecTV Now package, which the company thinks will be its primary TV platform in 2020, will not be skinny. End of discussion.

So AT&T doesn't like skinny bundles, and the inclusion of Time Warner into its corporate family will likely make it dislike them even more.

Regulation

If the AT&T-Time Warner deal goes through, there will almost certainly be limits imposed by regulators. Perhaps Time Warner will not be allowed be allowed to provide content exclusively to AT&T without soliciting outside offers.

But if both AT&T and Time Warner as opposed to skinny bundles, the power they exert over that future would be hard to regulate. Skinny bundles are an innovation, a chance some companies want to take. If AT&T-Time Warner, an enormous player that spans both sides of the aisle, isn’t interested in that structural change, it could potentially kill the skinny bundle's momentum — quietly.

As Recode’s Peter Kafka noted this summer, Apple has spent years trying to assemble a skinny bundle to sell directly to customers, but lately the company has changed its tune. Apple's big TV plan now revolves around building an advanced TV guide that will tie content services like Netflix, HBO, and ESPN together. But it's not clear that Apple has totally given up its dream of putting together a TV package. In fact, Apple reportedly talked to Time Warner about its own merger just a few months ago. But an AT&T-Time Warner merger could mean the final death knell for any vestige of Apple’s “skinny bundle” ambitions still floating around in Cupertino.

The "skinny bundle" dream might be over before it's even really begun.

SEE ALSO: Netflix is taking on another $800 million in debt

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NOW WATCH: China just showcased the world's most human-like robots, and they show how close we’re coming to Westworld reality

Martin Scorsese's long-awaited movie with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino has a shooting start date

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Matin Scorsese Robert De Niro Theo Wargo Getty final

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro built their legend by collaborating together in some of the greatest movies ever made, including "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," and "Goodfellas."

And though they are always talking about working together again, De Niro has not starred in a Scorsese movie since 1995's "Casino." 

Finally, it looks like that will change. 

In an interview with Variety, Oscar-winning production designer Dante Ferretti — who has worked on numerous Scorsese projects including the most recent, "Silence" — said that the long-awaited crime movie "The Irishman," which would not just re-team Scorsese and De Niro but will also star Al Pacino, could begin shooting early next year.

"I never say, ‘I’m going to do this or that’ until it’s signed," Ferretti said. "Theoretically we’ve talked about shooting this film next year in February or March."

"The Irishman" is an adaptation of the Charles Brandy book "I Heard You Paint Houses," which looks at hitman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, who allegedly told Brandy for the book that he killed Jimmy Hoffa.

The film is also set to star Scorsese regulars Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci.

According to its IMDb page, De Niro will play Sheeran and Pacino will play Hoffa, but currently there's no confirmation of that particular casting.

Scorsese and De Niro have been wanting to make the project for years. When I interviewed De Niro in 2011, I brought it up, and he said it all came down to finding a time when his and Scorsese's schedules were open.

STX Entertainment bought international rights to the film during this year's Cannes Film Festival for a reported $50 million, and since then news on the project has been quiet, outside of a hint that Pesci may not be in the film.

Business Insider asked Adam Fogelson, head of STX Entertainment's movie division, in August if Pesci had signed on and he answered, "I cannot report that that has happened as of yet. But [the movie] is coming together in a way that people will be very excited to join it."

STX Entertainment did not immediately reply to Business Insider about confirmation on the start date of "The Irishman."

SEE ALSO: Here's everything coming to Netflix in November that you need to watch

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NOW WATCH: Watch Alec Baldwin mock Trump's mic issues on 'Saturday Night Live'

One number perfectly shows how excited people are for Nintendo's new game console

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On October 20, Nintendo revealed its new game console: Nintendo Switch.

It's an entirely new concept from Nintendo — a hybrid home console and portable. You can play the same games on your TV that you play on-the-go. Simply pick up the tablet-like console, attach a couple of controllers, and you're off to the races

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo's the Disney of video games, with Super Mario as the iconic Mickey Mouse. The company is beloved the world over by adults who grew up with Nintendo classics like "Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda," and by kids who are enjoying new classics like "Splatoon" and "Animal Crossing." 

But that didn't stop Nintendo's last console from cratering. The Wii U sold just 13 million units across four years — by comparison, Sony's more expensive PlayStation 4 game console launched a year after the Wii U, and has sold more than 40 million units in less time. And the Nintendo Wii — the second most popular console ever released by Nintendo — sold over 100 million units in its lifetime.

To say that the Wii U is a failure is a massive understatement.

Even still, Nintendo fans are passionate, loyal, and — most of all — forgiving. Look no further for proof than the insane number of views that the Nintendo Switch reveal video has on YouTube:

Nintendo Switch (YouTube)

It's by far the most-viewed video that Nintendo's ever released, including the reveal of the company's latest "Legend of Zelda" game and the introduction of the Nintendo 2DS handheld console.

The video was released on October 20, and it's already collected over 17 million views. Which is to say the video has been watched over 17 million times in the past three days. Serious business!

Here's the video in question:

In fairness, this is the reveal video for Nintendo's first all-new game console in nearly five years.

Moreover, Nintendo's been teasing out teensy bits of information about its new console across the past year:

  • It was previously codenamed Nintendo NX and described as, "a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept," by late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
  • Nintendo said it wants a return to the broad appeal its consoles once enjoyed. The idea, Nintendo said, is to "create a new platform that will be accepted by as many people around the world as possible."
  • Beyond those two tiny teases, Nintendo repeatedly said it would announce more in 2016.

All of which is to say: Nintendo's most hardcore fans were primed and ready for a big announcement. Apparently their interest is infectious, as tens of millions of people flocked to the video as well.

SEE ALSO: We just learned a lot more about Nintendo Switch, the new game console from Nintendo

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NOW WATCH: Nintendo just showed off the Nintendo Switch — an entirely new console


Why the 'Deadpool' sequel is suddenly in big trouble

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On Saturday, "Deadpool" fans were hit with a major body blow when news broke through Deadline that director Tim Miller has left the sequel due to creative differences.

The person who led one of the most unlikely hit movies in recent memory with the first "Deadpool," Miller is obviously leaving big shoes to fill as the film's studio 20th Century Fox seeks to replace him.

According to Deadline, Miller hadn't formerly signed on to do the sequel, which is still in script development, but was planning to return. The movie is slated for release in 2018. It's reported that Miller and Fox left on good terms. 

But the drama doesn't sound like it was between Miller and the studio, but rather Miller and his star. 

TheWrap reports that Ryan Reynolds, who plays the "Merc with a Mouth," has been given some perks since renegotiating his deal for the sequel, including allegedly having casting approval. Miller and Reynolds, who have not been on speaking terms since the release of "Deadpool," the story indicates, hit a wall in their relationship when Miller wanted to cast "Bloodline" star Kyle Chandler to play character Cable, but Reynolds didn't. The studio went with Reynolds, according to TheWrap.

Tim Miller Ryan Reynolds Kevin Winter GettyFox is now in the difficult position of trying to find a director for one of its biggest films, which is compounded by the fact that Miller had his fingerprints all over the predecessor.

Miller, who is also known for his visual effects work, did much of the original "Deadpool" film's VFX touchups in postproduction for free, according to TheWrap. That gave "Deadpool," which was made for under $60 million (peanuts compared to other superhero movies), a polished look that most projects wouldn't have at that figure. 

It's not time to hit the panic button just yet, since "Deadpool" screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are working on the sequel, but now attention shifts even more to Reynolds to make sure "Deadpool 2" succeeds.

Getting the power to have say on creative aspects like casting and tone will lead either to him being hailed if the movie does incredible business, or to the blame being heaped on his shoulders.

"Deadpool" opened in February this year and beat all expectations as it broke numerous box-office records, including the biggest opening for an R-rated movie of all time ($132.4 million). The movie went on to make over $780 million worldwide.

20th Century Fox did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.  

SEE ALSO: Ricky Gervais: Donald Trump's presidential campaign is "a joke that got out of hand"

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NOW WATCH: Here's everything we know about 'Westworld' — HBO's mysterious new sci-fi series

Here's the first clip of Dwayne Johnson singing in Disney's upcoming 'Moana'

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The Rock can carry a tune!

Disney has released the first clip of Dwayne Johnson singing in its upcoming animated movie, "Moana," and it's pretty impressive. 

Johnson plays Maui in the movie, a demi-God who travels with a young girl named Moana who has set sail for a fabled island. 

In the movie, Johnson sings the song "You're Welcome," written by "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Here's a clip of the song from the movie:

Disney also released this clip of Moana's first encounter with Maui.

"Moana" opens in theaters November 23.

SEE ALSO: Martin Scorsese's long-awaited movie with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino has a shooting start date

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Arnold Schwarzenegger says he would've run for president in the 2016 election if he were eligible

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arnold schwarzenneger run for president adweek

Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly wishes he would have been able to run for president this year.

"If I'd been born in America, I would've run," Schwarzenegger, who is ineligible to be US president because he was born in Austria, told Adweek in a new cover interview. "Because now? This was a very good time to get in the race."

After the leaking of the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was heard bragging about groping women, Schwarzenegger announced on Twitter to his nearly 4 million followers that he would not be voting for the real-estate mogul.

"For the first time since I became a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for president," he wrote.

Adweek suggested Schwarzenegger might have been similarly successful as Trump at marketing himself in a presidential race. As California governor, Schwarzenegger was known to use stunts and gimmicks to get people's attention — something he learned as a young man in the 1960s.

"I realized early on in bodybuilding that you have to be able to sell yourself, your ideas, your position to the public," he said. "You have to set yourself apart, whether it's policy or movies. How do you make them remember you?"

Fiscally conservative and socially liberal, Schwarzenegger would certainly have rocked the boat if he were allowed to run in this race.

"I didn't love politics, but I love policy," he said.

Read the whole article on Schwarzenegger at Adweek.com.

SEE ALSO: John Oliver makes a bet with Donald Trump on the election and offers to give up his Emmy

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NOW WATCH: Arnold Schwarzenegger: Republicans need to stop treating climate change like a political issue

Here’s what AT&T would get from Time Warner

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AT&T has agreed to acquire Time Warner in a deal worth $85 billion. That’s a lot of money! It’s also the second mega acquisition the Dallas-based telecoms giant has made in as recent years — last July, it finalized a $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV, which it is now using to launch an over-the-top TV streaming service.

But whereas that deal was about expanding how AT&T feeds you content, this one is about taking further control of what content goes through its pipes in the first place. As chart from Statista shows, though, AT&T is paying a pretty big premium for Time Warner. Though it’s still huge, the media titan's three major segments — Warner Bros., HBO, and Turner — brought in roughly $29 billion in revenue last year. That’s not as much! And it comes at a time where big media companies look more and more threatened by the internet.

There are other concerns beyond that, too. For one, AT&T will have to go through a heavily scrutinized dance with the federal government to get the deal approved, especially since there have been concerns over how Comcast has treated competitors after acquiring NBCUniversal in a similar deal a few years back.

Then, if it does pass, AT&T would likely have a hard time leveraging its new properties to gain a competitive advantage. Big movies and TV shows need to be everywhere to make as much money as possible, and nobody wants to be strong-armed into buying DirecTV Now or AT&T’s mobile service to watch “Game of Thrones” or CNN.

So the questions left now are: Why bother? And is it really worth this much? Right now, the respective CEOs are saying the right things, and potentially looking to the future. Maybe AT&T will tout its own "Binge On" style service that lets you stream HBO over its mobile network for free, as sketchy as that practice continues to be. Whatever the case, it remains to be seen whether or not all of this money will ever pay off.

att time warner revenue chart

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's bet on the cloud appears to be paying off

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NOW WATCH: Here's why the time is always 9:41 in Apple product photos

Drake had a star-studded birthday party, and Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and John Mayer were all there

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taylor swift katy perry john mayer at drake party

There was no shortage of A-list guests at the 30th birthday party of Drake.

The rapper celebrated his milestone birthday in Los Angeles on Sunday, and those in attendance included Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and John Mayer, People reports.

That's surprising, given that Taylor Swift and Katy Perry have been noted rivals in the past — Swift's "Bad Blood" is reportedly about the other pop star. They've also both dated Mayer.

Drake had 150 friends and family at the bash, and Swift brought a posse that included model Karlie Kloss and the sisters who make up the band Haim, according to People's sources.

Other notable attendees included Jamie Foxx and Zoe Kravitz. Close Drake collaborator Rihanna was, however, noticeably absent.

SEE ALSO: The 20 best new TV shows ranked, according to critics

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NOW WATCH: Darth Vader appears in Disney's final trailer for the new 'Star Wars' movie 'Rogue One'

Rap mogul Suge Knight is suing Dr. Dre for $300 million, claiming Dre tried to murder him

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Suge Knight

Suge Knight has filed a lawsuit against Dr. Dre, claiming that Dre hired a hitman in an attempt to murder Knight, TMZ reports.

Knight is the rap mogul who cofounded Death Row Records, which at one time included Dr. Dre on its roster. Knight alleges in the new suit that Dre hired a hitman to kill him because Knight had a lifetime management deal with Dre, which entitled him to 30% of Dre's entertainment earnings.

Knight further claims that Dre ordered the alleged hit because he was trying to cut Knight out of earnings for Beats By Dre, in part because Apple, which bought Beats for $3 billion in 2014, didn't want to do business with Knight.

The alleged hit was to happen during the weekend of the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Knight claims, when he was shot several times.

Knight also alleges that in 2015, when Knight hit two men with his car, killing one and injuring the other, he was attempting to get away from an ambush. He claims one of the men was ordered to murder him. Knight is currently in jail on a charge of murder.

Knight is suing for $300 million, or 30% of Dre's $1 billion take in the sale of Beats to Apple, according to TMZ.

A lawyer for Dr. Dre told Business Insider in a statement, "Given that Dre has had zero interaction with Suge since leaving Death Row Records in 1996, we hope that Suge's lawyer has lots of malicious prosecution insurance."

SEE ALSO: The 20 best new TV shows ranked, according to critics

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NOW WATCH: Letterman rips Trump, calls him a 'damaged human' who should be 'shunned'

The new 'SNL' 'Black Jeopardy!' is the best sketch on the show in years

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"Saturday Night Live" is in a shaky time right now, with veteran cast members having left, but it righted the ship for its best sketch in recent memory on Saturday night.

If you missed the relatively short "Black Jeopardy!" sketch, which didn't get as much attention as the presidential debate satire, take seven minutes to change that. Hilarious, sharp, and topical, it's the best comedic take on the current presidential election we've seen on TV this year.

"Black Jeopardy!" has showed up on "SNL" before, usually playing up the cultural differences of contestants in a battle of stereotypes. That's true here, but in a Donald Trump-inspired way: Tom Hanks is the sole white contestant on the game show, wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.

But it turns out as the sketch goes on that the black contestants and host and the white Trump supporter have a lot in common: a distrust of authority and elections, a love of curvy women and Tyler Perry films, and an ability to get a good deal from their local "guy."

The delirious, cleverly written sketch insists that we're more alike than different as Americans. Until, that is, the biting final moment, when the final category shows up: "Lives That Matter." The black contestants look at Hanks' Trump voter awkwardly, and he stares silently.

"It was good while it lasted," Kenan Thompson's host says.

The sketch, written by “Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che and "SNL" co-head writer Bryan Tucker, leaves us to imagine what Hanks' character thinks about which lives matter, but it's a pointed jab at how class and race play important — and sometimes very different — roles in shaping attitudes and beliefs around the current presidential election, in which Trump has amassed support among working-class whites.

Interestingly, the sketch also has fans broadly among political thinkers and writers. Fox News contributor Stacey Dash approves:

As does a former Jeb Bush campaign staffer:

Slate political writer Jamelle Bouie had some thoughts about the sketch's meaning:

And the Washington Post summed it up by calling it "SNL's best political sketch this year."

Watch the full sketch below:

SEE ALSO: The 20 best new TV shows ranked, according to critics

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Obama burns Trump on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live': 'At least I'll go down as a president'

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President Barack Obama had some burns for Donald Trump during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Monday night.

“Do you ever actually laugh when you watch Donald Trump?,” Kimmel asked Obama, who responded that he does, most of the time.

"I don't tweet at 3 a.m. about people who insult me," Obama added.

In one segment, Obama read some mean tweets about himself.

"Barack Obama, bro, do you even lift?," read one tweet. "Well, I lifted the ban on Cuban cigars — that's worth something," he said.

One tweet was from Trump himself: "President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States!"

"At least I'll go down as a president," Obama quipped.

He jabbed Trump again later when talking about actor Bill Murray's recent visit to the White House. After Murray beat Obama in a game of putting golf balls into a glass, Obama said "He won repeatedly ... The glass was rigged!"

Obama was traveling on the West Coast Monday to attend fundraisers supporting Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. His motorcade was spotted leaving film executive Jeffrey Katzenberg's home Monday night.

He has also been making the rounds in battleground states on behalf of Clinton and a number of down-ballot Democrats.

On the campaign trail, Obama has taken a considerably more foreboding tone toward Trump, joining other Democratic all-stars like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and others calling Trump unfit for the White House.

Watch a clip from the show below:

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NOW WATCH: 'Women have had it with guys like you' — Elizabeth Warren rips Trump for his 'nasty woman' remark

Netflix's CEO has a warning for AT&T and Time Warner (NFLX)

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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is fine with AT&T buying Time Warner — as long as it doesn't end up hurting Netflix in an "unfair" way.

"We want to make sure it doesn't give an unfair advantage to HBO," Hastings said at the WSJDLive conference on Monday. "If it's open competition, we love that."

The main concern for Hastings is that AT&T might make data run faster for channels and services it owns. Hastings wants "HBO's bits" and "Netflix's bits" to be treated the same. In other words, he wants net neutrality, a concept that is seen by many as central to maintaining a free and open internet.

Net neutrality "hasn't been AT&T's favorite topic," he said. "If they got there … good things might happen."

In net neutrality, all pieces of data running across a network like AT&T's are treated equally, and therefore move at the same speed. Netflix benefits from net neutrality since it doesn't have to pay companies like AT&T to move its data into a "fast lane." That is unlikely to change anytime soon.

But where an AT&T merger with Time Warner could hurt Netflix is in "zero rating" — when certain services, like Netflix or HBO, don't count toward a user's data cap. This can make those services more attractive because people aren't hit with huge overage fees. (Video eats up a lot of data.)

And as long as AT&T's policy is consistent, it can charge companies a fee to be zero rated. That could be a relative advantage for AT&T-Time Warner. For instance, in the case of HBO, that fee would simply be moving from one side of the conglomerate to the other. For Netflix, on the other hand, that would be money lost.

Beyond net neutrality, Hastings thinks the merger could affect Netflix in a few ways.

"There's a lot of AT&T investment in content, so that could make things tougher," Hastings told CNBC. "On the other hand, it's probably going to get easier for us to recruit Time Warner executives, which are a very talented bunch."

SEE ALSO: The AT&T-Time Warner deal is a blow to companies like Apple that want slimmer TV packages

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Samantha Bee slams Donald Trump's pro-life comments: He's 'confused abortions with bear attacks'

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Samantha Bee took issue with Donald Trump's comments about abortion during the third and final presidential debate last week.

First, she issued a correction for the debate moderator, Fox News' Chris Wallace, who used the phrase "late-term partial-birth abortions" in his question on the subject.

"'Partial-birth abortions' aren't a thing," Bee said, speaking into a bullhorn for emphasis, on Monday's episode. "It's a nonmedical term the National Right to Life Committee made up in the '90s for a procedure that was outlawed in 2003 by the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act."

The host explained that Wallace mistakenly used the phrase in place of "late-term abortion." Bee cites a Vox article stating that "only 1.3% of abortions happen at or after 21 weeks."

"And guess what?" Bee said. "It's not because women are selfish sluts who wake up in their third trimester and decide, 'Not into this. I want a procrast-abortion.' It's usually because the tests done at that point reveal a fatal birth defect or serious risk to the mother's life."

If Bee believed Wallace got it wrong, she didn't have high expectations that Trump would make it right.

Here's what Trump had to say about the issue during the presidential debate: "You can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb on the ninth month, in the final day. And that's not acceptable."

To which Hillary Clinton responded, "Well, that is not what happens."

Bee agreed with Clinton, "Yeah, no kidding. It sounds like Trump has confused abortions with bear attacks. Removing a baby from the womb in the ninth month isn't an abortion, it's a birth. And I'm sure Donald Trump would love to outlaw it. It makes the p---ies too gross and scream-y for grabbing."

Watch the whole segment below:

SEE ALSO: John Oliver makes a bet with Donald Trump on the election and offers to give up his Emmy

DON'T MISS: 'SNL' mocks the third and final debate with some help from guest host Tom Hanks

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NOW WATCH: 'You can take that baby at 9 months': Trump keeps repeating a grossly inaccurate claim about late-term abortions

Will Ferrell hilariously shows up on 'Kimmel' as beloved Cubs announcer Harry Caray

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You never know when Will Ferrell will suddenly pop up, and Monday night was another example of that.

Known for making sudden appearances on all the late-night shows, Ferrell showed up on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" dressed as one of his most beloved characters from his "Saturday Night Live" days: the late, great Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray.

Imitating Caray's legendary voice and disheveled beer-sipping look, Ferrell dusted off his act in celebration of the Cubs making it to the World Series for the first time since 1945 (the Cubs play game one Tuesday night against the Cleveland Indians).

Ferrell, as Caray, pointed out to Kimmel (whom he called "Johnny," "Jeffrey," or "Timmy" during the sketch, never Jimmy) that the Cubs hadn't won the World Series since 1908.

"In 1908 our president was Theodore 'Huxtable' Roosevelt," Ferrell's Caray said. "America's top export was Fruit Roll-Ups, and the No. 1 television show was 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.'"

Kimmel responded, "None of that seems accurate at all."

Kimmel then pointed out to Caray that he's been dead since 1998.

"Holy cow, I'm dead!" Ferrell's Caray responded.

But Kimmel wanted to know whether Caray had been following the presidential election in the afterlife and what he thought of Donald Trump.

"Donny Trump," Caray said, "I knew him when he would sneak into the press box and throw Kennedy half-dollar coins at the Dominican players. Trump's got those tiny mitts. He looked like he was flinging silver dinner platters with those things."

Watch the complete Ferrell appearance below:

SEE ALSO: Obama burns Trump on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!": "At least I'll go down as a president"

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President Obama read some of the meanest things said about him on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'

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President Barack Obama came back for a second round of abuse when he did Jimmy Kimmel's classic "Mean Tweets" segment on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Monday night.

They may not be the worst things said about the Democratic president, but they're certainly some of the funnier insults thrown at Obama. For added effect, Kimmel had R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" playing in the background.

Among the barbs from Twitter:

"Barack Obama is the Nickelback of presidents."

"I bet Obama likes mustard on his hotdogs because hes gross"

"Barack Obama is the sharknado of presidents. Louid, stupid, and over-yped! #Sharknado4."

"Barack obama dances like how his jeans look."

Obama made clear he thinks the joke about his jeans is "so old." And, of course, he left a spot for Republican candidate Donald Trump's own tweeting about the president.

Watch President Obama's full "Mean Tweets" segment on Kimmel below:

SEE ALSO: The 20 best new TV shows ranked, according to critics

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NOW WATCH: Watch Alec Baldwin mock Trump's mic issues on 'Saturday Night Live'

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