Who, What, When, Where?!: Miscellaneous Celebrity News 2.0

[SunnyBeBe]

Hilarious is up to it again.  The lady is reaching out.  I hope someone helps her. She mechanically pumps both breasts while enjoying her morning coffee.  

 

https://people.com/parents/hilaria-baldwin-pumps-breastmilk-while-drinking-coffee-photo/

Edited August 30, 2021 by SunnyBeBe

[aradia22]

My kingdom for an eyeroll reaction 

[RealHousewife]

1 hour ago, Nicmar said:

I can't wait to see this movie!

I thought it was a good movie. 

[methodwriter85]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:08 PM, GaT said:

Is this like Beyonce & her "writing" credits?

I generally find Beyonce one of the least offensive celebrities, especially now that we're past the era where she's constantly shoved in our faces, but man this still just bothers the shit out of me because she's screwing people out of royalties that she didn't actually earn. (Of course, the flip side is that there'd be no royalties if she wasn't singing it. It's a complicated issue.) It did make me laugh a little when she got passed over for being able to accept an award because she was "5th co-writer" and the Grammys only go up to the 4th. LOL. 

[Vermicious Knid]

WaPost gets it's kicks in, describes Donda as a "horse dewormer of an album." I really want to cut and paste the whole review, it's that good. Er, bad.
 

Quote

 

...His new music contains only one unpopped kernel of cosmic truth: The void is boring.

....Maybe West thinks he’s inventing Jesus-as-edgelord cosplay by inviting these sinners to walk in his dim light, but “Donda” — which features cameos from both DaBaby and Manson — isn’t an album about forgiveness so much as forgetness.

....It’s all pretty gross, yet totally unsurprising, and ultimately not even frustrating enough to be halfway interesting.

....That means more Christian youth-group poetry contest submissions (“It’s hard to be an angel when you’re surrounded by demons”), more elliptical confessions of his slackness (“I don’t do rehearsals, and I don’t do commercials ’cause they too commercial”), more forced levity that only almost feels fun (“If I hit you with a ‘W-Y-D?’ you better not hit me with a ‘H-E-Y’/It better be like ‘Hiiii’ with a bunch of I’s!”).

 

But read the whole thing if you can. As always, non-subscribers get five free articles per month.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Of course, the flip side is that there'd be no royalties if she wasn't singing it. It's a complicated issue.

Yeah, but she's getting money for singing it, nobody else is & she certainly earned all of it. Pretending that she's one of the songwriters to get an equal share when all she does is change a sentence is just wrong.

Edited August 31, 2021 by GaT

[Guest]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I generally find Beyonce one of the least offensive celebrities, especially now that we're past the era where she's constantly shoved in our faces, but man this still just bothers the shit out of me because she's screwing people out of royalties that she didn't actually earn. (Of course, the flip side is that there'd be no royalties if she wasn't singing it. It's a complicated issue.) It did make me laugh a little when she got passed over for being able to accept an award because she was "5th co-writer" and the Grammys only go up to the 4th. LOL. 

You would think singers would be more hesitant to claim songwriting credit after the Blurred Lines debacle. 

[Zella]

25 minutes ago, Dani said:

You would think singers would be more hesitant to claim songwriting credit after the Blurred Lines debacle. 

I think it's gross to glom onto an undeserved songwriting credit, but my understanding is that in the byzantine world of music accounting, songwriting royalties can be quite a bit more lucrative than the royalties you earn as a recording artist, which can account for some of the scramble for them.

Even back to the 60s/70s, you have bands fighting over who gets added as a songwriter for that very reason. I've read that created a lot of conflict in Fleetwood Mac, for instance, as some members who didn't contribute much to the writing started to get angry when they saw how much more the ones who were writing the songs were making because that was where the real money was.

Obviously, Beyonce isn't in the same situation because she's a solo performer now versus an individual band member, but I suspect a big part of why she is included as a writer even when it is dubious is for purely financial reasons. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Zella

[methodwriter85]

13 minutes ago, Dani said:

You would think singers would be more hesitant to claim songwriting credit after the Blurred Lines debacle. 

In any event, Beyonce might want to look up new writers she can fake-write with. I just looked up her chart history and the last time she hit the top 10 was a collaboration she did with Eminem in 2017. Her "surprise video album" from last year didn't seem to generate much chart steam.

I don't think it's actually karma, because in reality it just gets harder for a performer to keep churning out top 10/top 20 hits especially when their age begins with a number higher than 2 (and Beyonce is at that level where she will never be considered a has-been) but I'm going to pretend it is. LOL. 

2 minutes ago, Zella said:

Obviously, Beyonce isn't in the same situation because she's a solo performer now versus an individual band member, but I suspect a big part of why she is included as a writer even when it is dubious is for purely financial reasons. 

Bingo. I guess the songwriters who chose to relinquish their share of royalties feel like they're going to make more money with her singing their song than they would with someone else doing it. (Although that's probably becoming less true than it would have been 5-10 years ago.) 

[Zella]

3 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Her "surprise video album" from last year didn't seem to generate much chart steam.

Yeah I don't listen to Beyonce's music particularly--though I did really like her in Austin Powers!--but when she released Lemonade five years ago, it was absolutely inescapable, whether or not you were a fan. I vaguely remember hearing she'd released something last year, but it also didn't create anywhere near the buzz that used to accompany her. I'm sure the pandemic didn't help, but other things still managed to break through and become a thing, even if temporarily. 

[GaT]

47 minutes ago, Dani said:

You would think singers would be more hesitant to claim songwriting credit after the Blurred Lines debacle. 

Supposedly, she's been doing it since long before "Blurred Lines"

[Guest]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

Supposedly, she's been doing it since long before "Blurred Lines"

Am sure she has. It was common practice for many artists long before Blurred Lines. But with more songs facing plagiarism claims and Robin Thicke having to admit he lied about writing Blurred Lines and defend himself in court I would have thought singers would be more cautious than they seem to be. 

[MsJamieDornan]

5 hours ago, GaT said:

Pretending that she's one of the songwriters to get an equal share when all she does is change a sentence is just wrong.

It happens more than we will ever know in the music business.

[DkNNy79]

7 hours ago, GaT said:

Yeah, but she's getting money for singing it, nobody else is & she certainly earned all of it. Pretending that she's one of the songwriters to get an equal share when all she does is change a sentence is just wrong.

I didn’t know this about her until I found about her beef with Keri Hilson, who has kinda been blacklisted for speaking out about it.

I’ve never been a Beyoncé fan.  I would say I’m indifferent towards her and her music, but I was definitely side eyeing her after this revelation.

[merylinkid]

6 hours ago, Zella said:

s that in the byzantine world of music accounting, songwriting royalties can be quite a bit more lucrative than the royalties you earn as a recording artist,

All the money is in the song writing.   It is why Madonna is still touring.   It is why a LOT of the bands from the 60/70s are still touring.   They ONLY make money when they perform the song.   The songwriters have the publishing rights.  So when it is played on the radio, at the gym, etc.?   All that goes to the songwriter.   Beyonce's millions is not built from her singing, its built from her getting credit for changing a word in a song someone else wrote.

[aradia22]

Side note: Are we still letting white guys do ALL the music criticism? Has anyone else reviewed Kanye's album?

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, Dani said:

You would think singers would be more hesitant to claim songwriting credit after the Blurred Lines debacle. 

I think that's the difference between taking a writing credit and negotiating it.

[Kel Varnsen]

2 hours ago, merylinkid said:

All the money is in the song writing.   It is why Madonna is still touring.   It is why a LOT of the bands from the 60/70s are still touring.   They ONLY make money when they perform the song.   The songwriters have the publishing rights.  So when it is played on the radio, at the gym, etc.?   All that goes to the songwriter.   Beyonce's millions is not built from her singing, its built from her getting credit for changing a word in a song someone else wrote.

Plus on top of a bigger share of when the original song is played, or sampled, songwriters also get paid for cover songs (when the original performer doesn't). So even a Weird Al parody the original song writer gets money for.

[ifionlyknew]

3 hours ago, merylinkid said:

All the money is in the song writing. 

And you get to control how the song is used. It's why some songs are used in commercials and some songs aren't   In 1967 Buick wanted to use the Doors Light my Fire in a commercial.  Three of the Doors consented. Jim Morrison did not.  There was no commercial.

[Zella]

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that writing the songs still doesn't always get you around how convoluted the music business can be, which is why I equivocated a bit in my original post. Yes, as a general rule, you have a lot more control and you make more money off it if you're the writer, but that can still get caught up in the complicated machinations of music publishing companies.

So, it's been only in recent years that McCartney has even been able to acquire the copyrights to the music he wrote with the Beatles. Likewise, the Rolling Stones still don't own the copyrights to their early work they did write. A company created by their one-time manager does. That dude didn't write anything and they had a terrible falling out with him, but no matter how much they sued him over it, he (and now his heirs) still ultimately owns the copyright. 

But I do think modern performers, like Beyonce, are probably in a better position to not end up in those music publishing situations as it's become more common knowledge in the music industry what to do and not do and just benefit from the moolah. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Zella

[ifionlyknew]

6 minutes ago, Zella said:

So, it's been only in recent years that McCartney has even been able to acquire the copyrights to the music he wrote with the Beatles.

Didn't Michael Jackson buy the rights back in the 80s?

[Zella]

Just now, ifionlyknew said:

Didn't Michael Jackson buy the rights back in the 80s?

Yes, he bought them when they came up at auction, which really pissed off McCartney because he was aiming to buy them himself and he'd considered Michael Jackson a friend before that. But then Jackson sold half the rights to Sony and then Sony was able to grab the remaining half from his estate after he died. McCartney then reached a settlement with Sony afterward. 

Perhaps the greatest irony in all of it is Jackson only bought the Beatles catalog based on advice McCartney had given him earlier about how lucrative music publishing could be. I'm sure he wishes he'd kept that bit of wisdom to himself in that moment now. 

[Zella]

As an update to the Jeopardy hosting saga, Richards has now been fired from his position as executive producer of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-fired-executive-producer-jeopardy-wheel-of-fortune-1235052887/

[Blergh]

17 minutes ago, Zella said:

As an update to the Jeopardy hosting saga, Richards has now been fired from his position as executive producer of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-fired-executive-producer-jeopardy-wheel-of-fortune-1235052887/

I guess the big wigs DID decide that all the flak surrounding him would ultimately hurt the production's bottom line. So does this mean that the search for a new Jeopardy host is going to start all over again?

[WinnieWinkle]

18 minutes ago, Zella said:

As an update to the Jeopardy hosting saga, Richards has now been fired from his position as executive producer of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

 

It sounds like it was less fan pressure and more internal stress that finally got him canned.  Either way I'm not feeling much sympathy.  I could have been a little more "hey let's move on" had the things he said been in the distant past and voiced as a teenager.  Learning that they were voiced fairly recently :shrug: another grown ass man who figured he could say and do anything  he wanted about anyone he wanted and never have consequences just found out different.

[ifionlyknew]

33 minutes ago, Zella said:

As an update to the Jeopardy hosting saga, Richards has now been fired from his position as executive producer of both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/mike-richards-fired-executive-producer-jeopardy-wheel-of-fortune-1235052887/

I don't even watch Jeopardy and this news makes me happy.

[Rootbeer]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

Yes, he bought them when they came up at auction, which really pissed off McCartney because he was aiming to buy them himself and he'd considered Michael Jackson a friend before that. But then Jackson sold half the rights to Sony and then Sony was able to grab the remaining half from his estate after he died. McCartney then reached a settlement with Sony afterward. 

Perhaps the greatest irony in all of it is Jackson only bought the Beatles catalog based on advice McCartney had given him earlier about how lucrative music publishing could be. I'm sure he wishes he'd kept that bit of wisdom to himself in that moment now. 

Back in the day, record companies were very cagey with the talent and often required them to sign over rights to their songs as part of their record deals.  Hungry bands, desperate for a record contract, would sign away their rights to their own music all the time; never realizing just how lucrative music publishing is and how owning the rights to a well loved song is far more profitable than performing it on a single record.

McCartney just got the rights to his Beatles' compositions in 2018.

John Fogarty rather famously doesn't own the rights to Proud Mary and other classic Creedence Clearwater songs because the record company received them.  For a long time, he wouldn't even perform the songs because of this.  Eventually, after 50+ years, the rights will revert back to him which is going to happen in the next few years.  In the meantime, someone else has received a fortune for his music.

Bruce Springsteen had to sue producer Mike Appel who produced his first 3 albums, after figuring out that Appel had given himself 90% of the profits from Springsteen's music while The Boss retained 10%.  Springsteen got in trouble with the IRS and was wondering why he didn't seem to have much money after the success of Born to Run which caused him to hire a law firm to look over his contract which he signed in good faith, mainly because he liked and trusted Appel.  He ended up taking Appel to court and reaching a settlement (paying Appel off) so that he could regain the rights to his music.  Springsteen has admitted it was his own fault for being too trusting and figuring that people he considered to be friends wouldn't take advantage.

A lot of musicians and singers were just not business savvy and they got taken to the  cleaners.

It still doesn't seem right, though, that Beyonce won't record anything if she doesn't get a writing credit.   The pendulum has swung in the other direction; but that's not necessarily a good thing, either.  It just allows the performer to take advantage of a songwriter desperate for a break.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Rootbeer

[DearEvette]

Quote

I’m writing to let you know that Mike will no longer be serving as EP of Wheel and Jeopardy! effective immediately. We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.

reading between the lines.... some real shit went down behind the scenes.  SONY was supporting him big time.  So for him to be straight up fired, either there was some terrible stuff already happening and the publicity bubbled it up to the top or he acted out in such a way that even SONY could no longer support him or both.

Edited August 31, 2021 by DearEvette

[Zella]

5 minutes ago, Rootbeer said:

A lot of musicians and singers were just not business savvy and they got taken to the  cleaners.

True. And sadly even some of the business savvy ones still got taken! Sam Cooke by all accounts was a good businessman who knew how much having your own stuff benefited you and wanted that for himself, but he still ended up being tricked into creating a company that he thought gave him ownership over his own music away from the label, only for the paperwork to actually give ownership to his manager Allen Klein. (The same guy who ended up with the Rolling Stones' early work.)

Edited August 31, 2021 by Zella

[aradia22]

Quote

The pendulum has swung in the other direction; but that's not necessarily a good thing, either.  It just allows the performer to take advantage of a songwriter desperate for a break.

I wouldn't say the pendulum has swung in the other direction because TPTB still have more power than the talent. It's just that when the performer doesn't write their own songs, but they have fame/popularity, they can leverage that over songwriters. I think this is a change from when there were popular standards (Gershwin, Cole Porter, etc.) that would be interpreted by all the singers of the day. I don't know how you'd characterize the middle period where, for example, Max Martin was writing for Britney and NSYNC.

[Rootbeer]

13 minutes ago, aradia22 said:

I wouldn't say the pendulum has swung in the other direction because TPTB still have more power than the talent. It's just that when the performer doesn't write their own songs, but they have fame/popularity, they can leverage that over songwriters. I think this is a change from when there were popular standards (Gershwin, Cole Porter, etc.) that would be interpreted by all the singers of the day. I don't know how you'd characterize the middle period where, for example, Max Martin was writing for Britney and NSYNC.

True, it is only the very top line talent like Beyonce, whose name sells records, can dictate to songwriters those terms.  However, I think the main reason she gets criticized is because of the many, many interviews she has done where she seemingly gives herself all the credit for songwriting while failing to mention the literally dozens of others who got writing credits on her albums.  She gave multiple interviews where she spoke of how hard she worked to assert herself as a woman and write so many hits for Destiny's Child while ignoring the fact that many of the songs she claimed to have 'written' were heavily sampled from other people's work and often had a dozen or more writing credits for a single song.  So, it's been problematic for her from the start, she never allowed anyone else to claim credit alongside her.  If she'd ever come clean and admitted that she needs a huge team of writers to produce any of her music- 72 different people with writing credits for Lemonade for example- she probably wouldn't get so much flack.

Other artists, who seemingly have written far more of the content of their songs than Beyonce; people like Taylor Swift, Adele, Drake and others, manage to credit all the help they get with their music from others.  None of them have seemingly taken a cowriting credit for changing a single word in a song or adding some vocalizations like Beyonce has, multiple times, either.

[Dancingjaneway]

The song "I will always love You" is a great instance of where the two combine. Dolly has made MAJOR money off the song. But without the Bodyguard soundtrack/Whitney would that song have lived on like it did? Probably not. Dolly was smart enough to know who should or shouldn't be able to cover her songs. Whitney also landed in a nice spot with the song. I think she would be popular no matter what becuase her voice was IT but I think that song really propelled her to a different stratosphere. That song will always be a part of pop history. I mean whenever you think Whitney you think of that song. 

[Rootbeer]

7 minutes ago, Dancingjaneway said:

The song "I will always love You" is a great instance of where the two combine. Dolly has made MAJOR money off the song. But without the Bodyguard soundtrack/Whitney would that song have lived on like it did? Probably not. Dolly was smart enough to know who should or shouldn't be able to cover her songs. Whitney also landed in a nice spot with the song. I think she would be popular no matter what becuase her voice was IT but I think that song really propelled her to a different stratosphere. That song will always be a part of pop history. I mean whenever you think Whitney you think of that song. 

Dolly has not only made major money off the song, she has always been quick to credit Whitney's voice and talent for making it possible.  Dolly herself had a decent country hit with the song, but she realized that it was the combination of a terrific song and an elite singer that took it to the heights that it reached.  I've frequently heard her praise Whitney's version as far superior and to express gratitude for what it did for her own career and bank account that Whitney recorded it.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

reading between the lines.... some real shit went down behind the scenes.  SONY was supporting him big time.  So for him to be straight up fired, either there was some terrible stuff already happening and the publicity bubbled it up to the top or he acted out in such a way that even SONY could no longer support him or both.

The New York Times has more details. Crew members had an emotional meeting where they confronting Richards over his past behavior and told him that it had imperiled the show’s reputation. Then there was a call with Richards that left some staff members demoralized. Sounds like it was because the crew was pissed and weren’t willing to work for him anymore. 

[Vermicious Knid]

90% of the royalties for Ariana Grande's 7 Rings go to Rodgers and Hammerstein, the original songwriters of Favorite Things. That had enough heft there wasn't any shenanigans with the payouts. I always wonder where they draw the lines sometimes. Wake Me Up is credit to Avicii, with Aloo Black singing. Smooth is credited to Carlos Santana ft Rob Thomas. Following that logic, Britney's song should all be '[Producer's Name] featuring Britney Spears'.

Remember C+C Music Factory? They had a big hit with Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) and people were trying to offer contracts to the model that appears in the video. The vocals were actually Marsha Wash, best known as one half of the Weather Girls (It's Raining Men). She successfully sued C+C Music Factory and Black Box (another group that did the same thing) for failing to provide vocal credits for songs she recorded with them as well as committing fraud by using models to lip-sync her vocals in music videos, stage shows, and televised performances. Not only did she get her credits and royalties, Congress passed legislation for mandatory credits on song releases.

[WinnieWinkle]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

Then there was a call with Richards that left some staff members demoralized.

I haven't see the article you referenced.  Would you mind saying what about the call left people demoralized?  I am going on a limb and suspecting Richards was trying to bully people but I find it so hard to believe that someone in his position at the time wouldn't have been trying to make nice and put on a "see what a nice guy I am" persona.  Mindboggling!

[Kel Varnsen]

6 hours ago, Rootbeer said:

Back in the day, record companies were very cagey with the talent and often required them to sign over rights to their songs as part of their record deals.  Hungry bands, desperate for a record contract, would sign away their rights to their own music all the time; never realizing just how lucrative music publishing is and how owning the rights to a well loved song is far more profitable than performing it on a single record.

Those kind of things were a tough one for me to wrap my head around. On the one hand record companies especially back in the day spent a bunch of money developing acts that went nowhere )way more than the ones that were hits). And it is not like it would be an option for an artist to record, promote and distribute their own stuff.  So the company that does that assumes a ton of the risk. Especially way back in the day when they were doing stuff like paying off radio stations. But at the same time between like the 60's and 2000 the profits that record companies made were insane.

As for biggest song writing credits screw jobs, that has to be Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. They sampled a section of the orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song. They got permission to use the original recording but not permission from the Stones manager who held the copyright for the original version. He sued and they settled out of court and the manager guy ended up getting all the royalties from the song that was The Verve's biggest hit by far.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I haven't see the article you referenced.  Would you mind saying what about the call left people demoralized?  I am going on a limb and suspecting Richards was trying to bully people but I find it so hard to believe that someone in his position at the time wouldn't have been trying to make nice and put on a "see what a nice guy I am" persona.  Mindboggling!

It didn’t say why they were demoralized just that they were. Here’s the link. 
Mike Richards Is Out as ‘Jeopardy!’ Executive Producer

[AgentRXS]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

As for biggest song writing credits screw jobs, that has to be Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. They sampled a section of the orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song. They got permission to use the original recording but not permission from the Stones manager who held the copyright for the original version. He sued and they settled out of court and the manager guy ended up getting all the royalties from the song that was The Verve's biggest hit by far.

Actually in 2019, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger signed over their publishing rights to The Verve: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/23/726227555/not-bitter-just-sweet-the-rolling-stones-give-royalties-to-the-verve

I am huge Sam Cooke fan, so it's safe to say that I think Allen Klein was one hell of a bastard. (I feel that ABKCO's tight grip on his music is what has blocked a biopic from being made all these years.) What a kind thing for Jagger and Richards to do to right that wrong.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

They got permission to use the original recording but not permission from the Stones manager who held the copyright for the original version. He sued and they settled out of court and the manager guy ended up getting all the royalties from the song that was The Verve's biggest hit by far.

Yeah that was Allen Klein, whom I mentioned earlier, the same guy who ended up owning Sam Cooke's stuff by questionable means. He is also considered one of the reasons the Beatles broke up because all of them except Paul McCartney wanted to turn over their affairs to him, and Paul, rather wisely, was like "Uh no." 

Klein's motto was "Don't take 20% of an artist's income. Give them 80% of yours."

In the defense of all the musicians who got taken by him, musicians initially trusted him because he was really good at figuring out how record labels were screwing over his clients, so he could identify all sorts of missing income his clients were owed and then negotiate effectively with record labels. He made his clients a lot of money. He just never disclosed to his clients how much money he was making for himself, and the fallout was always super nasty. 

2 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

I am huge Sam Cooke fan, so it's safe to say that I think Allen Klein was one hell of a bastard. (I feel that ABKCO's tight grip on his music is what has blocked a biopic from being made all these years.)

We just cross-posted! And yes I agree Klein was a hell of a bastard. I'd never even heard of him until quite recently and was astonished at how many music money pies he had his fingers in. 

[aradia22]

Klein sounds like... a terrible person.

[merylinkid]

15 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I haven't see the article you referenced.  Would you mind saying what about the call left people demoralized?  I am going on a limb and suspecting Richards was trying to bully people but I find it so hard to believe that someone in his position at the time wouldn't have been trying to make nice and put on a "see what a nice guy I am" persona.  Mindboggling!

NAH.   He was probably all playing the victim that he lost his "dream job" because of "cancel culture."   Guys like that don't change.  Staff probably HOPED this would be a wake up call.   But since he got to stay on as EVP of the show, he just acted the same way as always with a bit of butthurt for not getting to be host.   Nobody wants to work with that.

[ifionlyknew]

30 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

 Guys like that don't change.

No they don't.  He most likely would not have learned from the fallout from his previous behavior and there was probably worry he would say or do something actionable.  It's one thing to be called out for something but once called out and you continue to do offensive things then you should be out of second chances.  

[Rootbeer]

43 minutes ago, ifionlyknew said:

No they don't.  He most likely would not have learned from the fallout from his previous behavior and there was probably worry he would say or do something actionable.  It's one thing to be called out for something but once called out and you continue to do offensive things then you should be out of second chances.  

Richards also got dumped from Wheel of Fortune.  I suspect the guy was never well-liked and his proclivities to insult and demean women and others were well known amongst the staff at both shows which is why his apologies rang hollow.  Since he had been Sony's golden boy up to that point, people were probably either afraid to call him out on his behavior or their complaints fell on deaf ears.

Once his previous inappropriate behavior became known, I expect the minions were hoping for an acknowledgement of past misdeeds that they were subjected to and promise to do better from Richards and it didn't happen.  He probably only admitted to what was already out there and insisted that it was just a temporary glitch in his otherwise stellar track record.  When it was clear he wouldn't ever admit his flaws let alone apologize or try to change; the people who had been subjected to him on a day to day basis probably decided it was time to call him out and demand his removal.

The fact that a guy who had been executive producing the top two game shows on TV for years apparently got little to no support from the people who worked with him on a day to day basis and, who, in fact, wanted him removed entirely, says a lot about how little he was liked or respected.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Rootbeer

[WinnieWinkle]

Gene Simmon has Covid

So he and Paul Stanley both have Covid now and tour dates have been postponed.  It sounds like they really were trying to do everything right but it makes you think that touring right now with Covid still raging is a pretty bad idea.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Rootbeer said:

The fact that a guy who had been executive producing the top two game shows on TV for years apparently got little to no support from the people who worked with him on a day to day basis and, who, in fact, wanted him removed entirely, says a lot about how little he was liked or respected.

He’s only been the executive producer of Jeopardy and Wheel since 2020 when the longtime EP retired. They only worked with him for months before the Jeopardy host search. That’s also the first time he worked for Sony. 

Before that he was EP for Let’s Make a Deal and The Price is Right which are both CBS shows. It sounds like the culture at Wheel and Jeopardy is less tolerant for bad behavior. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Guest

[ifionlyknew]

3 minutes ago, Dani said:

Before that he was EP for Let’s Make a Deal and The Price is Right which are both CBS shows. It sounds like the culture at Wheel and Jeopardy is less tolerant for bad behavior. 

This is true. We all know how much bad behavior happened at CBS.

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, merylinkid said:

NAH.   He was probably all playing the victim that he lost his "dream job" because of "cancel culture."   Guys like that don't change.  Staff probably HOPED this would be a wake up call.   But since he got to stay on as EVP of the show, he just acted the same way as always with a bit of butthurt for not getting to be host.   Nobody wants to work with that.

That is my take.  From various things I have read it sounds like he just really wanted to be in front of the camera.  His first foray into daytime game show tv landscape was trying out to be host of The Price Is Right where he was pretty much thought to be unimpressive.  But somehow he caught the eye of Sony execs and he was hired to produce PiR behind the scenes where later reports show he was universally disliked and resulted in some lawsuits.  Frankly it also sounds like he was a shit EP.

Fast forward to him being handed Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune where again he was disliked.  But he had the muscle of Sony execs behind him so  it was a grit your teeth and deal with it situation for the staffers.  Sounds like he was a bad/negligent boss at WoF and really was not much a leader.  Might be because only two months into his hiring as EP that Alex Trebek died and his dreams of being in front of the camera again rose up and now he was in a position to make it happen.  And he neglected everything else to chase that dream.

I get the impression that the BTS staff was just very  unhappy with him and that now all the inappropriate stuff he's said and done was now public, that they thought this was the end of him.  But when he still got to keep the EP job even after all that came to light, there was a mutiny of sorts.  Maybe even some powerful people that even Sony couldn't ignore making noise.

 

[Vermicious Knid]

Before ‘Jeopardy,’ Mike Richards Left Tumultuous Legacy at ‘Price Is Right’

I can't even copy all the allegations that are listed, but here's a few:
 

Quote

 

As Sony faces criticism over its handling of the Jeopardy host transition, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with more than a dozen former staffers on the Price Is Right about its workplace culture during the decade that Richards presided as co-exec producer and then executive producer and showrunner, from 2008-2019. The portrait that emerged from these sources — many of whom declined to speak publicly out of fear of retribution in the industry — was of a manager who was more interested in being a host, who ushered out veteran on-set leaders, was the subject of at least two HR complaints to CBS and Fremantle, and presided over budget cuts and loss of benefits to staffers...

After taking over as exec producer in 2009, Richards cleaned house of Barker’s team in a bid to update Price, which celebrated its 50th anniversary with a CBS primetime special in August. Roger Dobkowitz had been with Price for 36 years and created 18 of the show’s iconic games while earning five Emmys and, as showrunner, coached Richards for his hosting audition. He was let go in 2010, a year after Richards became showrunner...Then it was Rich Fields, the show’s third announcer, who was let go after a seven-year run that included the transition from Barker to Carey as Richards plotted a “new direction” for the series....Bente Christensen spent 18 years on Price as an art director and production designer, the last three of them under Richards. She filed a complaint against Richards with CBS HR in 2012. Christensen says this targeting included, but was not limited to, age-related comments as well as micromanaging....

Insiders who worked under Richards observed a pattern during his Price regime. “The staff he replaced the older staff with were all under 27 and we called ourselves the Brat Pack,” says a source who was hired by Richards. “We loved our jobs and loved our mentors and when they became disillusioned, we became disillusioned. When people would leave, they’d replace them with people who were loyal to Mike. It became a vicious cycle.”

 

 

[Bort]

6 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I get the impression that the BTS staff was just very  unhappy with him and that now all the inappropriate stuff he's said and done was now public, that they thought this was the end of him.  But when he still got to keep the EP job even after all that came to light, there was a mutiny of sorts.  Maybe even some powerful people that even Sony couldn't ignore making noise.

My guess is sponsors. That’s really the only motivator I can see here: potential loss of revenue.