WBD CEO David Zaslav Unable to Avoid Writers’ Strike Jeers at Boston U

I think we learned exactly the kind of leader that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is over the weekend. Zaslav’s the kind of leader who wants his people to know that he feels their pain. So when CNN CEO Chris Licht spent most of last week still getting lit up in the press & on social media for the infomercial he gifted Donald Trump earlier this month, Zaslav sprang into action to show Licht that he knows what it’s like to be publically ridiculed. And he did that by showing up on Sunday to deliver Boston University’s commencement address. In the middle of the ongoing WGA/AMPTP strike. So you can only imagine how well that was received. But, hey – it bought Licht about 10 minutes for a power nap.

There was serious pushback to having Zaslav speak at the occasion from WGA members as well as BU faculty, staff & alum, and that displeasure was on display earlier today. While an official picket line was set up some distance from the stage from where Zaslav would speak, the pro writers’ message easily made its presence known during Zaslav’s 22-minute speech. On the picket lines and in the skies above the event (thanks to some plane messaging), the message that was being sent to Zaslav wasn’t tough to discern: “DAVID ZASLAV: PAY YOUR WRITERS.” During the livestream of the event, Zaslav would pause on a number of occasions to allow the shouting and protesting to have its run (with some of it occasionally a bit naughty), though where the loudest protests were coming from wasn’t evident on the university’s stream. Following the speech, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO issued the following statement to Deadline Hollywood from Zaslav: ” I am grateful to my alma mater, Boston University, for inviting me to be part of today’s commencement and for giving me an honorary degree. As I have often said, I am immensely supportive of writers and hope the strike is resolved soon and in a way that they feel recognizes their value.”

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