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Seth Meyers fires back at Trump for 'racist' attack on civil rights icon John Lewis

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donald trump john lewis late night with seth meyers nbc

Seth Meyers argued that President-elect Donald Trump is being hypocritical when attacking critics who say that his presidency isn't legitimate in Monday's edition of "A Closer Look" on NBC's "Late Night" show.

Trump's most prominent critic of the moment is John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon. Recently, Lewis said that he considered Trump's presidency "illegitimate." Trump shot off a series of tweets attacking Lewis' work in his district, which includes much of Atlanta. Meyers believes that Trump's statements are both racist and conflict with statements Trump had previously made about Lewis' district.

"If you’re wondering whether it’s racist to assume Lewis’ district is ‘crime-infested and falling apart’ just because he’s black, the answer is a hard yes," the host said. “Of course, as usual, Trump isn’t even being consistent. He felt a little differently about Lewis’ district, which includes most of Atlanta, back in 2006 when he wanted to build a high-rise there, saying, 'It’s a great location in a great city, I’ve loved Atlanta for years.' I guess I’m not surprised, Trump changes positions more often than a porn star with a bad back."

In response to Lewis, Republicans are arguing that no one disputed the validity of Barack Obama's presidency. Of course, the public record would show that isn't true.

"What kind of morally bankrupt person would question the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency? You’ll never guess," Meyers toyed with viewers as a photo of Trump popped up on the screen. "Oh, you guessed already? How fast did you guess? Was it right away, like before I even asked? You guessed right away, right?"

In response, Trump's incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asserted that Trump had stopped questioning Obama's American citizenship, and constitutional eligibility to serve as president, two years ago. Once again, the public record would show that statement to be false. Trump finally closed down his years-long "birther" campaign against Obama in a speech in September of last year.

"First of all, it wasn't two years, it was two months ago," Meyers said. "Second, you don't get to brag about that. 'For two of the president's eight years in office, Donald Trump did not think [Obama] was born in Africa. Why can't you give him credit for that?'"

Watch the video below:

 

SEE ALSO: 'The Good Fight' producers say Trump 'gives shape' to the new spin-off

DON'T MISS: Jimmy Fallon took on Trump in a biting Golden Globes opening monologue

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NOW WATCH: 'It's just me following orders from my friend, President Obama' — Steve Harvey recaps his meeting with Trump


Stephen Colbert looks back at Tump's busy MLK weekend of tweeting

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Stephen Colbert Trump

Stephen Colbert used his opening of Monday's "The Late Show" to look back on the busy Martin Luther King Jr. weekend President-elect Donald Trump had.

It originally was to include Trump visiting the National Museum of African-American History on Monday, but those plans were changed due to "scheduling issues."   

“In a way that might be good. The last thing we need is Trump learning more about segregation,” Colbert said.

But many believed Trump canceled his visit to the museum due to his tweets early Saturday morning calling Congressman John Lewis "All talk, talk, talk — no action." 

Lewis, a civil rights icon who was alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in his historic march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery in 1965, got in the crosshairs of Trump after he said in an interview with "Meet the Press" that he didn't feel the president-elect was a "legitimate president."  

“John Lewis is all talk, talk, talk, unlike a real leader like Trump who’s all tweet, tweet, tweet,” Colbert said.

Colbert also found time to mention a story that was widely shared over the weekend, reporting that the Trump administration is possibly looking to move the press out of the White House, where they have had a spot inside since Teddy Roosevelt was in office.

“So there you have it, the free press joins Trump’s enemies list," Colbert said. "Along with intelligence agencies, civil rights leaders, Meryl Streep, and non-absorbent hotel mattresses."

Watch Colbert's complete opening below:

 

SEE ALSO: THE A-LIST: The 20 most powerful stars in Hollywood right now

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NOW WATCH: The story of 'Slender Man' — the internet’s creepiest urban legend

'I got out of the El Chapo business': Why a high-profile Hollywood director turned down a project about the Sinaloa kingpin

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Peter Berg Hollywood director

Erstwhile Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is currently languishing in a jail near Ciudad Juarez, in northern Mexico.

While Guzmán is unlikely to go anywhere but a US jail in the near future, some of his henchmen appear to have been shopping the cartel boss' legacy around Hollywood.

Peter Berg, director of such muscular action movies as Patriots Day, Lone Survivor, The Kingdom, and Friday Night Lights, was attached to an adaptation of a New Yorker article documenting the hunt for the Mexican kingpin.

Berg was reportedly slated to direct "The Hunt for El Chapo" after Universal picked up the rights to the movie in late 2014. But Berg says he has stepped away from the project — a decision prompted by the characters such a movie would involve.

"I got out of the El Chapo business," Berg told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview earlier this month. According to Berg, his Los Angeles boxing gym, Wild Card West, put him in contact with some of Guzmán's associates after the kingpin's jailbreak in July 2015:

"At the boxing gym, we have a lot of Hispanic fighters from Mexico. Two days after [El Chapo's] escape, two of my fighters came in and asked if they could talk to me, and then told me that El Chapo wanted to meet with me. That's when I realized, Hollywood thinks it's a cool idea to make a movie."

"[But] this is a very dangerous group of individuals. And this is my gym, where I work out and train, and my child comes in. I said, 'Tell Mr. Chapo, first of all, good job on your escape. I will not be making a film. I wish him all the best.'"

Among dysfunctional Hollywood projects, the "El Chapo" movie is a special case.

The kingpin himself, who received movie offers while he was in prison, decided to pursue the project on his own. He reportedly played a major role in pushing the film, contacting producers while he was on the run between July 2015 and his capture in January 2016.

el chapo kate del castillo sean penn

Guzmán contacted Kate del Castillo, an Mexican actress best known for her portrayal of a woman cartel boss, after she expressed support for him on Twitter. She was the only person the Sinaloa chief trusted to guide the project. Sean Penn heard of del Castillo's connections to Guzmán through a mutual friend and contacted her about interviewing Guzmán.

Penn was roundly excoriated for the uncritical nature of the interview, and he himself expressed "terrible regret" for failing to start a conversation about the drug war.

The sordid details around the "El Chapo" movie also touched on other Sinaloa cartel members and Hollywood denizens. Mauricio Sanchez Garza, who's accused of money laundering on behalf of the cartel, was arrested in January 2016 came out of the investigation into Guzmán's efforts to produce his own biopic while on the lam.

Sanchez Garza had his own nefarious silver-screen ambitions, however. He and a partner orchestrated a kidnapping scheme to force a business partner to sign over their rights to the screenplay to "Mary, Mother of Christ," a prequel to "The Passion of the Christ."

SEE ALSO: 'El Chapo' Guzmán's henchmen were able to build not one, but 2 tunnels to break the kingpin out of jail

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NOW WATCH: 1 YEAR LATER: Here’s what may come next for 'El Chapo' Guzmán

Why the worst movies of the year always come out in January

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monster trucks paramount pictures

January might be known for having NFL playoffs and the Sundance Film Festival, but it's also when movie theaters become flooded with titles the studios have little hope of success for — in the movie business, it's known as the "dump month."

This January is no different. Paramount's $125 million kids action movie "Monster Trucks" was made in 2014 and after changing the release date three times, the studio finally settled on the dump month to release it. And to no one's surprise, the movie opened this past holiday weekend with only $14.6 million on over 3,000 screens.

And misery loves company. Coming out later this month is "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter," which also had numerous false starts before finally getting a January 27 release date.

January isn't just home for big-budget duds. Movies that didn't cut it during award season are also thrown into the mix. Ben Affleck's disappointing gangster movie "Live by Night" also opened over the weekend to just a paltry $5.7 million on 2,822 screens. And Matthew McConaughey's lackluster "Gold" opens wide January 27.

Live By Night Warner BrosIn the past, February has also been considered a dump month, but things have improved of late. "Deadpool" opened over President's Day weekend last year and broke box-office records (it's more astounding that it's an R-rated movie). This year also looks promising for February as titles like "John Wick: Chapter Two," "The Lego Batman Movie," "A Cure for Wellness," and Jordan Peele's directorial debut "Get Out" are all highly anticipated.

But why has January still been a dumping ground for Hollywood? Rotten Tomatoes editor-in-chief Matt Atchity points out that it's a combination of things. Bad weather and folks tightening the belt financially after spending a lot during the holidays are a couple reasons audiences steer clear of the multiplex. However, Atchity points out that the studios also have other priorities this time of year.

"The awards contenders hit wide release this month," he told Business Insider, "so I think the studios release their weaker films to stay out of the way of their awards contenders hitting national platforms."

Oscar contenders like "La La Land" and "Hidden Figures" have both had strong national rollouts since the calendar turned to 2017.

Liam Neeson in TakenSometimes studios find diamonds during dump month: Back in 2009, "Taken" opened in the last weekend of January with few figuring it would make any noise. However, the Liam Neeson revenge movie won its opening weekend and went on to earn over $225 million worldwide (it had a $25 million budget) and spawned two sequels. In 2014, the Ice Cube/Kevin Hart comedy "Ride Along" turned out to be a big winner. Also budgeted at $25 million, it took in over $150 million worldwide. It also spawned a successful sequel.

Studios aren't willing to plant one of their huge tentpole movies in January, but Atchity believes mid-level movies like "Taken" and "Ride Along," titles that can be appealing worldwide, are the best movies to release this time of year.

"I think there's fertile ground there for the right film," Atchity said. "But it's still pretty risky."

SEE ALSO: 9 artists who reportedly turned down performing at Trump's inauguration

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Chelsea Handler explains why she's leading a march against 'predator-in-chief' Trump

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chelsea handler donald trump sundance march

Chelsea Handler says she's leading a march against President-elect Donald Trump to protest his stance on women's rights and health inititatives.

"Women are under a right-wing political assault," Handler wrote in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, "and I intend to fight back with all my might against a Republican president, a Republican Congress, and the radical, religious right who are drooling to defund Planned Parenthood health services nationwide."

The Netflix talk show host, who has been a vocal critic of Trump, will lead the march in Park City, Utah, on January 21 during the Sundance Film Festival. As it's the most important film festival in the United States, coverage of the protest march will benefit from the many celebrities and media in attendance.

There will also be womens' rights marches in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and internationally.

With Trump as president and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, Planned Parenthood and its supporters acknowledge that the potential for defunding it has a better chance now and have been preparing for the fight.

"Let’s teach our Predator-in-Chief a lesson that he can’t do anything he wants, and that he can’t trample all over the rights of America’s 162 million women and girls," Handler said.

Handler points out that men should join the protest as they're also helped by Planned Parenthood, which provides services ranging from colon, prostate, and testicular cancer screenings to STD testing and treatment to men.

"There is a movement happening," she wrote. "There is a groundswell of passion and conviction rising among women and men. We have an opportunity right now to stand together and use our voices to fight for the very rights women fought for and won years ago."

Read Handler's full guest column about the womens' rights march at The Hollywood Reporter.

SEE ALSO: Seth Meyers fires back at Trump for 'racist' attack on civil rights icon John Lewis

DON'T MISS: Chelsea Handler explains why she left E! and how her Netflix show is 'a different level'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'It's just me following orders from my friend, President Obama' — Steve Harvey recaps his meeting with Trump

A&E boss says Scientology is harassing her over Leah Remini's TV show

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leah remini scientology books ae

Scientology has allegedly taken its attack on A&E docuseries"Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath" straight up to the top of the network.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that during her keynote address at the National Association of Television Program Executives in Miami on Tuesday, A+E Networks President and CEO Nancy Dubuc said that Scientology has been harassing her on social media.

"My personal Twitter is all anti-Leah," Dubuc said. "My friends think it's wild."

It's so overwhelming, Dubuc suspects the church could be paying for negative social-media posts about the show.

The hourlong, weekly docuseries follows actress Leah Remini as she teams with other former Scientologists to uncover the organization's history, secretive practices, and alleged abuses against its members. The church has declined to take part in the A&E show and has refuted the claims of its participants as false.

"We're very proud of her," Dubuc said of Remini. "It's a courageous thing to do."

Previously, Remini accused Scientology of trying to shut the show down and ruin her reputation in Hollywood. She demanded it pay her $1.5 million in damages.

For Dubuc and the cable channel, the show's giant ratings may make the harassment worth it.

It premiered back in November to 2.1 million viewers. Of that, 1.1 million viewers were in the cable network's target audience, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. That made the series A&E's best new series launch since the premiere of "Big Smo" more than two years ago on June 11, 2014.

Scientology representatives didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: How Scientology leader David Miscavige rose to power, according to insiders

DON'T MISS: How Scientology costs members up to millions of dollars, according to Leah Remini's show

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NOW WATCH: 7 famous people reveal why they are Scientologists

The 18 most exciting movies at this year's Sundance Film Festival you need to see

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Sundanec Film Festival Michael Loccisano Getty

It’s that time again when Hollywood heads to the ski town of Park City, Utah, to showcase the best that independent film has to offer at the Sundance Film Festival.

Last year’s fest gave us the world premieres of current award-season staples like “Manchester by the Sea” and “OJ: Made in America.” We’ll find out when the festival kicks off on Thursday what titles will jump from obscurity to our must-see list for the rest of 2017, and we'll be writing about it in real-time.

Here are 18 movies we think you’ll want to seek out.

SEE ALSO: The "Deadpool" writers reveal everything you want to know about the sequel

“A Ghost Story”

Following his first studio movie, Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon,” indie-film titan David Lowery has secretly made a low-budget thriller starring Casey Affleck as a ghost who returns home to watch over his grief-stricken lover, played by Rooney Mara. Expect a gothic feel, which Lowery has built his career mastering.

A24 will release later this year.



“An Inconvenient Sequel”

A decade after Al Gore brought climate change to the nation’s attention with the Oscar-winning “An Inconvenient Truth,” his follow-up comes to Sundance at a crucial moment in the history of climate-change awareness. With the Trump administration perceived to push back on the progress made to save the environment in the last 10 years, Gore returns to shed light on a topic that can’t be ignored.

Paramount will release later this year.



“The Big Sick”

Produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Michael Showalter (“Wet Hot American Summer”), this comedy follows the hilarious but poignant relationship a Pakistan-born man (Kumail Nanjiani, “Silicon Valley”) has with his American girlfriend (Zoe Kazan). The movie is based on the real-life relationship Nanjiani has with fellow comic Emily V. Gordon. With all the talent involved, expect to hear a lot about this one. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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No one wants to buy Celine Dion's lavish Florida mansion, which has gotten $34 million in price chops since 2013

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Celine Dion

Another year, another price chop for Celine Dion's extravagant Jupiter Island property.

The price for the lavish house now stands at $38.5 million after a series of price chops over the last four years, according to The Wall Street Journal. It was originally asking $72.5 million in 2013.

The singer had previously lowered the price to $45.5 million after her husband, René Angélil, died last year.

Dion and her late husband bought the lot for $12.5 million in 2005 and the adjacent mansion for $7 million in 2008. They then razed the existing home to build the current spread.

The 5.5-acre property has views of the Atlantic Ocean, a four-bedroom guesthouse, a simulated golf range, pool house, and three separate pools. The main residence alone measures close to 10,000 square feet, with five bedrooms and a custom-designed walk-in closet. That closet even has an automated rack for clothing, as well as an automated carousel for shoes. 

Dion is selling the property because she spends most of her time in Las Vegas, where her residency at Caesars Palace will continue until 2019, according to the WSJ.

Cristina Condon of Sotheby’s International Realty now has the listing.

Megan Willett contributed to a previous version of this post.

SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos reportedly just dropped $23 million on the biggest home in Washington, DC — see inside

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Welcome to Celine Dion's 5.5-acre compound on Jupiter Island in Florida.



The singer is selling the property for $38.5 million.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty



She and her late husband custom-designed the property themselves after buying two lots and razing one of the existing homes.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The biggest game coming to Nintendo's new console is gigantic and gorgeous

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The biggest video game company in the world, Nintendo, is on the verge of releasing a new video game console. It's called the Nintendo Switch, and it arrives on March 3 for $299. 

The gimmick with the Switch is simple: It's a portable game console and a home game console, all at once.

Nintendo Switch

But a neat gimmick isn't enough to sell a game console, and Nintendo knows it. For a console to sell, it needs games. To that end, Nintendo has an elfin ace up its sleeve in "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." 

The game is gorgeous, massive, and arriving alongside the Switch on March 3.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

With just a few weeks to go until the game launches, we've put together everything we know right here:

SEE ALSO: I played Nintendo's new game console, the Switch — this is what it's like

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Let's start with the simple stuff: This is Princess Zelda. The design on her necklace is trademark of the series, echoing designs tracing back to "Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time."



Princess Zelda appears to play several roles in "Breath of the Wild" — here she is looking more warrior than princess:



And here she is in despair:



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

'Throwing Shade' stars say their new TV show won't just target Republicans

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throwing shade tv land

"Throwing Shade" stars Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi say they aren't giving up the edge fans of their podcast have become accustomed to just because they're moving to television.

"Stuff will get bleeps and maybe blurred, but they’ve let us go pretty much, nearly in every situation I think, as hard as we want to, which shocked us," Safi, a.k.a. "Homosensual," told Business Insider of the light censoring for their new show on TV Land.

Gibson, a.k.a. "Feminasty," interjected, "We got butt-plugged OK without being blurred. It's all about context."

Alums of the renowned Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, the duo have been hosting the "Throwing Shade" podcast for nearly five years. It has also aired as a video series on Funny or Die, which is now a producer on the TV show. Taped in different cities in front of live audiences, the show debuts Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. on TV Land.

"This year I think we did 21 cities," Safi said, "and so we knew we were good at live shows and at sketch, and so we knew that those were the two things we wanted to bring to the show."

"What’s great is like we do live-to-tape, so we can do something with an audience in front of us," Gibson added. "If a joke doesn’t work, we know that instantly, we can have that instant feedback, make the show better."

While the show focuses primarily against attacks on women's and gay rights, the hosts say that conservatives won't be the sole targets of their biting criticism.

"It’s not always us versus them, them versus us, but there can be kind of middle ground," Gibson said. "We’re going to be talking about women who do awful things and gay people who do awful things. So it’s really just an attack show."

That doesn't mean it's always easy to be find the "middle ground." For example, the show is working on a segment called "The Right Is Right," which will shed light on conservatives who are doing something the hosts believe "is making sense." But it's proving to be a challenge.

"Yeah. By the way, we haven’t found one example of that yet," Safi said.

Get a taste of what to expect on the TV show. Watch the latest "Throwing Shade" podcast on Funny or Die below:

SEE ALSO: Chelsea Handler explains why she's leading a march against 'predator-in-chief' Trump

DON'T MISS: Seth Meyers fires back at Trump for 'racist' attack on civil rights icon John Lewis

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: PUTIN: The people behind the Trump dossier are 'worse than prostitutes'

Apple Music execs hate the word 'utility' — and it says a lot about what they're trying to build (AAPL)

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jimmy iovineApple really, really doesn’t want people to think of Apple Music as a utility.

You might think its streaming service, which provides access to a vast catalog of music and playlists, is a handy internet utility. But you'd be wrong, according to Apple Music executives. Very wrong. 

"We're fighting 'free,’” Apple Music exec and music heavyweight Jimmy Iovine said Saturday at TCA, referencing the free tiers of competitors like Spotify and Pandora. “So a simple utility where, 'here's all the songs, here's all the music, give me $10 and we're cool,' is not going to scale."

That argument isn’t entirely sound. Spotify has over 40 million paying subscribers, as of September, and its future as a business isn’t going to hinge on the freeloaders. Same with Pandora, which is set to soon launch a premium on-demand tier. Paying customers will determine who wins and who dies in the music-streaming business, and Apple Music has 20 million of them as of December.

But Iovine’s broader point is that Apple Music has to set its brand apart.

Music is a commodity when every streaming service offers more or less the same catalog of songs and functions. "Apple Music" has to mean something to consumers. And defining what that "something" is may be the most pressing question for Apple as it tries to establish itself in the streaming music business.

Beyond personalization

In an interview with Complex published Monday, Apple Music’s content chief, Larry Jackson, outlined his initial goal with the product:

“Make something that’s the intersection of all things pop-culture. To make it more than just a utility. I like to think of it as a place where the best creative thinkers in music can congregate and come up with different ideas.”

There’s that word again: utility.

Utility is the enemy.

Competitors like Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora seems to be betting on their hyper-personalization to lift them out of the utility realm. Spotify, in particular, has had a cult hit with its Discover Weekly playlist, which gives you a fresh slate of songs every week aligned with your taste.

But Apple Music is going in a different direction. Apple has signed up some of the biggest names in music, from Drake to Taylor Swift, to make Apple Music less of song database and more of an artistic meeting of the minds — where Apple is intimately involved.

Here’s an example: Jackson himself co-wrote a 20-minute music video for Drake called "Please Forgive Me." To do the video, Drake “uprooted his life to go to Africa for seven days in the middle of BET [Awards] week … All for an idea we had,” Jackson said.

That is much more than just a weeklong exclusive window for an album on Apple Music.

The Netflix playbook

Perhaps a better touchstone for understanding Apple Music’s vision isn’t its direct music competitors, but rather, Netflix.

Netflix began as a place you could watch an expansive catalog of movies and TV shows ( on DVD and later on streaming) that weren’t particularly exclusive to Netflix or infused with its brand. But Netflix has transitioned more and more toward producing its own original shows, moving up the content food chain. On the way, it has built a brand that is both distinctive and has mass appeal.

You could imagine a similar trajectory for Apple Music.

Iovine has said that Apple has “no interest in being a label,” citing the fact that labels “manage hundreds of groups.” “We don’t, nor could we,” he said.

But the role of the music label in the future is being questioned, especially since big artists like Frank Ocean, who works with Apple, are trying to extricate themselves from label deals. And perhaps Apple doesn’t need to step in and become Frank Ocean’s new label, but merely fulfill some of the functions the label once did, and let Ocean's management team pick up the rest.

There is a common misconception that Netflix “makes” most of the shows it brands as Netflix originals. In fact, it only produces a small fraction of them, buying the rest from studios. Lionsgate, for instance, makes “Orange Is the New Black.” Netflix is moving toward producing more shows in its own studios, but the process has been a slow one.

Apple could ease into music in a similar way, branding releases and videos as Apple Music exclusives, but having each deal be crafted in different ways, based on the type of resources Apple could provide.

Regardless, all would all serve to build up Apple Music’s brand.

The stars

The Netflix analogy isn't a perfect one.

Where Apple already seems to vary substantially from Netflix is in cultivating specific personalities. Netflix doesn’t have a roster of stars that are closely associated with the brand. Apple seems to be trying to create one already, especially with Taylor Swift and Drake. And it’s not just about their albums, but rather a whole host of creative endeavors, like the previously mentioned music video.

That mandate could even spread beyond music.

"At Apple Music, what we're trying to create is an entire cultural, pop cultural experience, and that happens to include audio and video," Iovine said Saturday. "If ‘South Park’ walks into my office, I am not going to say you're not musicians, you know? We're going to do whatever hits popular culture smack on the nose. We're going to try."

In 2016, Apple announced it would launch a video series based on the "Carpool Karaoke" sketches on James Corden's "Late, Late Show." The show does relate to music, but the draw is Corden's personality, and the format he created. (It's also not produced by Apple, but rather by CBS Television Studios).

If Apple can succeed in creating a compelling roster of stars associated with the Apple Music brand, that will be bad news for competitors. Sophisticated algorithms that learn listeners' musical tastes are great for retaining loyal customers, but no streaming music service has yet figured out the most powerful sales pitch for attracting first-time users. 

 

SEE ALSO: Netflix climbs to an all-time high ahead of earnings

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NOW WATCH: Here is the stunning $1.5 billion stadium being built for the Atlanta Falcons

Jerry Seinfeld taking 'Comedians in Cars' and 2 stand-up specials to Netflix

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Kristen Wiig Jerry Seinfeld Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Trailer Crackle

Crackle is now in Jerry Seinfeld's rearview mirror.

The comedian is taking popular web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," to Netflix. The new deal will also include two original stand-up specials for the streaming giant.

All past episodes and 24 new episodes of "Comedians in Cars" will debut in late 2017 on Netflix. The stand-up specials are also set to debut later this year.

"Comedians" is currently in its ninth season at Crackle. It features Seinfeld joining celebrity friends for a cup of coffee and a drive in a classic car while sharing stories along the way.

“Jerry is known the world over as both a great TV innovator and beloved comic voice," said Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos in a statement. “We are incredibly proud to welcome him to the Netflix comedy family.”

This is a huge loss for Crackle. "Comedians in Cars" is its most well-known series and a three-time Emmy winner.

Just last week, Business Insider sat down with Crackle General Manager Eric Berger  at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles. During the interview, we asked about the importance of Seinfeld to the company. He acknowledged that the comedian and his web show opened doors for it, but preferred to focus on its larger slate of shows. With Seinfeld's departure, we can now see why.

"I think 'Comedians' is a great program that did break through for us, as one of the longer-form, premium content shows on Crackle," he told Business Insider. "But it's opened the door for a slate of other great programming that we have right now."

The deal with Seinfeld is just the latest sign that Netflix is beefing up its comedy stable. It recently announced that Amy Schumer would be doing her next stand-up special for the streaming video company. She joins comedy greats Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, who previously signed deals with Netflix.

SEE ALSO: Amy Schumer is bringing her next stand-up comedy special to Netflix

DON'T MISS: Watch the new trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jerry Seinfeld got real with President Obama about being famous

Netflix is really bad for DVD sales, according to new research

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Reed Hastings at DealBook

Having movies available on Netflix is really bad for DVD sales, according to new academic research.

In 2016, subscription streaming video from the likes of Netflix overtook disc sales for the first time, at $6.2 billion to $5.4 billion. Netflix pays billions to license TV shows and movies, so the rise of subscription video isn't inherently a bad thing for the movie industry.

But a new academic study, pointed to by TorrentFreak, suggests that having a movie on Netflix can depress DVD sales in a major way.

To try and figure out the effect Netflix has on DVD sales, the researchers looked at a "natural experiment" that took place when Epix, a movie and TV distributor, moved its streaming catalog from Netflix to Hulu, which has a much smaller subscriber base, in 2015.

So what happened? 

“Our difference-in-difference analyses show that the decline in the streaming availability of Epix’s content leads to a 24.7% increase in their DVD sales in the three months after the event,” the paper said.

As soon as its movies got yanked off Netflix, Epix saw a big boost in DVD sales.

The researchers found that the cannibalization effect was "stronger for DVDs released more recently and for movies with better box office performances.” The takeaway here is that licensing a large back catalog of movies to Netflix might not have the same negative effect on sales as giving your marquee new releases up.

These findings might help explain why Netflix's roster of movies has languished in the past few years. 

Research in 2016 showed that Netflix's selection of IMDb's 200 highest-rated movies had gone down in the previous two years by a substantial amount, as had its total catalog of movies. Netflix might be finding that the fees demanded by savvy movie execs, to offset any dip in DVD sales, aren't worth it, especially when Netflix's content boss Ted Sarandos says people spend about 1/3 of their time watching movies no matter how good the catalog is.

Another point to note for the DVD market is that the growth of "electronic-sell-through," which is the digital equivalent to buying a DVD, seems to have stalled. ITunes, and other EST platforms, grew 5.4% in 2016, down from 18% in 2015, and 30% in 2014, according to Digital Entertainment Group (via Variety).

This suggests that the industry shouldn't look to that revenue to step into any breach in the DVD market, and that the idea of "owning" a movie might be facing its own natural pressure as people get more comfortable with the subscription model.

SEE ALSO: How Apple is taking a page out of the Netflix playbook with its Apple Music strategy

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Bleacher Report's cofounder talks about why the men's media category is broken, and the 'forgotten art' of getting search traffic

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Dave Nemetz InverseDave Nemetz, the cofounder of upstart sports site Bleacher Report, has never paid too much heed to conventional media wisdom.

Now, as he ramps up Inverse, a year-old site aimed at young men, Nemetz is once again throwing out the traditional playbook. 

While many new media companies, led by the archetypal BuzzFeed, have rushed to embrace the huge distribution offered by social media outlets like Facebook, Nemetz is more skeptical. And there are certain elements Nemetz thinks many startups have overlooked in their rush to ride the Facebook tidal wave.

One is Google search, which served as a centerpiece at Bleacher Report early on (to the tune of half of BR's traffic).

“I love search,” Nemetz told Business Insider. “It’s a forgotten art … and can become very big over time.”

Building over time is particularly important for Inverse, whose bread-and-butter topics are science and innovation. Reporting on topics like virtual reality — before they become truly mainstream — means it can be an uphill battle to get them to pick up steam on social media, which is often dominated by the conversation of the day.

In contrast, “search rewards you for being early,” Nemetz said.

Another element that Nemetz thinks has been neglected by other media startups is the “owned and operated” website. Nemetz described Inverse’s main page as its flagship store, where he gets by far the best margins. He said the team has put in a lot of work on the tech side to make sure it loads quickly.

What do men want?

Inverse’s focus on male readers may have invited the company to be more creative about online distribution and social sharing. 

The conventional internet wisdom is that women rule social media, and share more than men. Inverse reaches 75%-80% men, a proposition that would make grabbing enormous scale on places like Facebook relatively more difficult. But that's not Nemetz's goal.

And because women have been seen as inherently “better” readers for many new media companies, the men’s space has languished, according to Nemetz. He sees it as an opening.

As to the concept of being a men’s interest site, Nemetz thinks the entire category is broken.

“[Men] don’t really identify with the prescriptive, aspirational [publications],” he said. The idea of telling someone how to live to become a specific type of man has lost steam. “I don’t think [it] rings true,” Nemetz said. The idea for Inverse is to be a bit like Wired magazine when it first started, and become a discovery channel for those with a future-focused lifestyle.

But, video

Still, Inverse isn’t completely flying in the face of media trends. Inverse raised $6 million in Series A funding in September, a big piece of which Nemetz will use to build a video team, including Mike Calabro, who was recently hired from NowThis to oversee social video.

Inverse’s team now numbers about 30 full-time staff and 25 freelancers, a much more balanced ratio than Nemetz had in the early days of Bleacher Report, which relied primarily on “contributors,” many of whom were unpaid.

The growth in staffers has necessitated a move out of Inverse’s townhouse in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, where it began its life, to a new office in Soho.

2017 will show whether Inverse can continue to grow while keeping its focus on young men, and whether it can put together a compelling story for advertisers.

SEE ALSO: Netflix is really bad for DVD sales, according to new research

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Stephen Colbert blasts Trump for taking off his first weekend as president

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When President-elect Donald Trump told the Times of London that his first day as president wouldn't be until Monday after being sworn in as president on Friday, you just knew it would be the latest material for the late-night shows to hammer Trump. And that's exactly what Stephen Colbert did to open "The Late Show" on Tuesday.

Stating that his first order of business as president will be creating "strong borders" around the US, Trump added while speaking to the Times of London:

"Day one — which I will consider to be Monday as opposed to Friday or Saturday. Right? I mean my day one is going be Monday because I don’t want to be signing and get it mixed up with lots of celebration," Trump said.

"He's going to do a lot of stuff... eventually," Colbert said. "He apparently thinks the president gets Saturdays and Sundays off.

"I don’t understand how it’s that confusing," Colbert continued. "How do you mix up signing with celebrating? 'I'm sorry, I thought I was giving out an autograph; instead, I accidentally gave back the Louisiana Purchase.'"

Watch Colbert's entire opening below:

 

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Lewis Black mocks Trump's celebrity-free inauguration: 'as exciting as birdwatching'

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Lewis Black Trump inauguration final

Lewis Black showed up on "The Daily Show" for his latest "Back in Black" segment on Tuesday night, just in time to give us his thoughts on the entertainment that will be at President-elect Donald Trump's Friday inauguration.

"It's shaping up to be as exciting as birdwatching with a tax attorney," Black said.

The planners of the inauguration have reportedly had trouble locking down A-list talent, leaving Trump with acts like "America's Got Talent" singer Jackie Evancho and 3 Doors Down. And parties to follow will include the 1980s cover band the Reagan Years.

"Personally, I don't give two sh--s whether famous people are lining up to serenade the new president," Black said. "I got my tickets and I'm going to go no matter what because I want to be there when Trump touches the Bible and his hand catches on fire."

Watch Black's complete "Back in Black" segment below:

 

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The hilarious scene that didn't make it into 'Deadpool' but may be in the sequel

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deadpool fox

Given that they worked on the “Deadpool” script for six years, it’s easy to understand that some of the material from screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick didn’t make the final cut.

But the good news is there’s a sequel on the way.

The two took a break from working on the script for “Deadpool 2,” which should begin shooting this year, to talk to Business Insider, and they reveled a scene that will show up in the sequel.

“I shouldn’t say this because we may put it into the sequel, but there was a moment where Ryan is karaokeing ‘The Gambler’ to an action sequence where he is kicking major a--,” Wernick said, referring to the 1978 hit Kenny Rogers song

“He and I just absolutely loved it and I have a cut of it on my phone,” Wernick continued. “I sometimes watch it.”

One reason “Deadpool” became a breakaway success of 2016 (taking an opening-weekend record with its $132.4 million, and going on to earn $783 million total worldwide) is that audiences loved the Marvel character’s self-deprecating, meta style that broke all the rules of how we watch comic-book movies.

Reese, Wernick, director Tim Miller, and star Ryan Reynolds constantly created material on the spot for their character. The Kenny Rogers bit is just one example of the treasure trove of material at their disposal for the sequel.

“There’s a ton of stuff that didn’t make it into the first movie that will be in the second movie,” Wernick said. “There’s new stuff coming up all the time, too.”

SEE ALSO: The "Deadpool" writers reveal everything you want to know about the sequel

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Seth Meyers: The big problem with Trump's plan to replace Obamacare

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donald trump repeal obamacare late night with seth meyers nbc

One of the first major campaign promises President-elect Donald Trump says he'd like to fulfill is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, so Seth Meyers dedicated Tuesday's "A Closer Look" segment to the topic.

Meyers started the segment by replaying clips from Trump's campaign in which he repeatedly said that he intends to "win on health care," which the "Late Night" host found vague.

"What does 'win on health care' even mean?" Meyers said. "The only time I ever consider myself winning on health care is when the nurse calls me in before anyone else in the waiting room."

Trump hasn't been very open about what his Obamacare replacement would be. Meyers pointed to a recent interview in which Trump would only say that his plan was in the "final strokes" and would be for "everyone."

"Trump talks about policy like he’s trying to get off the phone with someone," Meyers joked. "'Yeah, no, health care, it’s going to be great. For who? Um, everybody. Look, I’m going to let you go. Goodbye.'"

Despite the ambiguity of the health care plan and the reported 23 million people who will be affected by the Obamacare repeal, Republicans are moving forward on it. And although Obamacare opponents say the plan is flawed, Meyers played a clip from a recent town hall by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. During it, a man who claimed to be a lifelong Republican and worked for the Reagan and Bush campaigns said that he owed his life to the coverage Obamacare gave him.

"Republicans want to forget that the whole reason we have Obamacare in the first place is because health care sucked before," Meyers said. "Sure, Obamacare isn't perfect, but it's better. Obamacare is like a fireman who carried you from a burning building. But on the way out, he banged your head on the door frame. Sure, you have a headache now, but at least you're not on f---ing fire."

Watch the video below:

 

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