Ari Emanuel Didn't Appreciate Brian Williams' Nosey Questions
The brothers Emanuel recently sat down for an interview with NBC's Brian Williams that aired on Friday's episode of Rock Center. But one of the brothers -- probably the most famous one -- didn't like it when Williams asked them some tough questions.
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Of the three brothers, Ari is likely the most famous. He's the Hollywood agent Jeremy Piven famously portrayed on Entourage for all those years. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff and current mayor of Chicago, would be next. But it's Ezekiel the bioethicist who wrote the book on the family, Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family. But Ari was the only one who wrote NBC and Williams a legal letter requesting they not air some of the more "contentious" parts.
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The three met with Williams in a New York bar for the Rock Center interview. But, according to the New York Post and The Hollywood Reporter, Ari took issue with some of the questions Williams asked. In particular, Ari didn't like it when Williams brought up his reputation as an uncompromising, aggressive jerk Hollywood agent and the family's connections to Israel. (Their father was from Israel.) Ari wrote the letter after he was upset the interview was treated "like Meet the Press," the Post says, when he thought it was going to be a bit lighter; just him and his brothers joking around and talking about eldest Ezekiel's book. The Post reported Ari "confronted" an NBC executive about it while attending a Saturday Night Live taping with his client Justin Timberlake, but THR says that definitely didn't happen.
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The network denies changing the tone of the piece because of the letter. There are few signs the interview was contentious in the piece that aired. It opens with the brothers arguing, which we're told is their favorite pastime, while laughing and highfiving each other. Ari swears at one point, but anyone familiar with Ari via Entourage would see that as normal. Rahm also has a famously filthy mouth.
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