Nikki Finke To Sharon Waxman: Just Stop It
Right now I am not going to discuss my Deadline Hollywood contract or my relationship with my boss Jay Penske. Why? Because I don’t have to. If that changes, I’ll tell you. (I also didn’t post about this imbecilic digital ad about me which my parent company ran without my knowledge in NYC’s Times Square all week during the recent TV upfronts. See below.) The fact is I’m out of town and about to begin my long-planned summer vacation. And the last thing I want is to be bothered now by a bunch of media and/or moguls asking for comment. As it happens, I was napping in a different time zone when The Wrap crapped on me yet again Sunday night. Nothing new: the desperate Sharon Waxman and her revolving door staff have been writing inaccurately about me for years, and doing it to drive traffic to her failing website, and refusing to correct even the most blatant errors. Last night Waxman sent a joint email to my boss and myself at 6:43 PM. She waited two whole minutes. Then she posted her story about us at 6:45 PM. That’s a rotten thing to do, not to mention bad journalism, and she knows it. And it’s yet one more reason I call her website The Crap. That said, I could pick apart her so-called “shocker” line by line, but I won’t. I’d much rather spend my remaining pre-vacation time writing up some great scoops to post this week. Instead, I’ll simply correct one point from her article to illustrate what a bad reporter Waxman is.
I am stating for the record that there is no truth to her claim that “the most recent conflict between Penske and Finke involved an email that Finke sent to two partners at UTA in the wake of losing a scoop, according to an individual with knowledge of the exchange. The scoop in question was a story in TheWrap about the talent agency seeking an equity investor. In an email to, among others, CEO Jeremy Zimmer, Finke threatened to “f—” the agency, according to the individual. The email was sent to Penske.”
That email doesn’t exist. I repeat, it doesn’t exist. True, I’ve occasionally lost my temper and sent nasty emails to Hollywood. And not once has Jay Penske ever complained to me about them. (He knows I’m a bitch. That’s why he bought me.) But I never sent the email described above. Here’s the entire email exchange between Deadline Hollywood and UTA that day. In fact, my colleague Mike Fleming (who last night penned and posted A Personal Note On Nikki Finke without my knowledge) was first to email UTA about the investment story. Only then did I get involved. Please note my use of the word “please” and no use of the word “f—”. As it happens, I didn’t write the UTA story that day because I got too busy running the site and also knew I needed to cool down. I’ve combined the emails into a single string to avoid repetition:
From: Nikki Finke
To: Jeremy Zimmer
Cc: Mike Fleming
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: Re: MF did NOT threaten you.UTA lied to him and to me about this.
Mike is off today. You need to speak to me, please. [NF's phone number]
I’m writing the minute I’m done with box office now.—
From: Jeremy Zimmer
To: Nikki Finke
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: Re: MF did NOT threaten you.I’ve been trading with Mike. Happy to talk to him when he’s avail. Not sure why you say he was lied to.
—
From: Nikki Finke
To: Jay Sures
Cc: Chris Day; Jeremy Zimmer; Jim Berkus; Peter Benedek; Tracey Jacobs
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: MF did NOT threaten you.Besides, DH doesn’t threaten. It promises…
I’m writing now. Anything you people want to tell me?—
From: Nikki Finke
To: Jeremy Zimmer; Tracey Jacobs; Jim Berkus; Peter Benedek; Jay Sures
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: So let me get this straight…You’ve had a lot of bad news lately, and I’ve protected UTA and individual agents, and yet Mike and I get lied to about this private equity thing? And I don’t even get the courtesy of a phone call today?
—
From: Mike Fleming
To: Chris Day
Cc: Nikki Finke
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: Fwd: UTA Seeks to Sell Stake to Private Equity, Following WME, CAAChris, spoke w jay [Jay Sures - NF]. Didnt mean to start a war but obviously am disappointed by all this. Can u and jay work this out w nikki?
Mike Fleming
Deadline—
From: Nikki Finke
To: Chris Day
Cc: Mike Fleming, Jeremy Zimmer, Tracey Jacobs
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: Fwd: thr story about uta engaging banker to access invesdmtent capital.Not to mention that I’ve asked about this for some time, too, and received denials…
—
From: Mike Fleming
To: Chris Day
Cc: Nikki Finke
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013
Subject: thr story about uta engaging banker to access invesdmtent capital.chris, twice you have denied to me that uta is going in the direction
that caa and wme did, selling a piece to an outside money investor. the
second time, i was in your offices just a couple weeks ago with jim
berkus and tracey jacobs. you all denied it. [Edited]
So, to summarize, readers: If you want the truth, come to Deadline Hollywood. If you want crap, you know where to go.
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