David Zaslav says okay, fine, the writers are "right about almost everything"
Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav remains one of Hollywood's most hated executives, continues to put his foot in his mouth
If you were a wealthy Hollywood executive who had inadvertently become the face of studio greed, you might want to resist commenting on the relative salaries of the laborers with whom you were recently locked in a long-term battle. Yet Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav can’t help himself. “They are right about almost everything,” he says of the writers strike in a recent The New York Times profile. He’s doing well so far, but then: “So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset.”
Oh, brother. Despite the Times profile suggesting Zaslav wanted to be a bridge between executives and creatives during the strike, it seems the big boss can’t help but sneak in a majorly backhanded compliment. The backlash online to this “overypaying” remark was swift. “[Dude] really has the gall to say this shit after the strikes, fucking billionaire asshat,” tweeted Moonrise Kingdom’s Jared Gilman. “Hahaha! WE’RE overpaid?! The strike is over and he’s still giving us material,” posted The Tick writer and WGA strike captain Susan Hurwitz Arneson. “It’s not an overpay. The money belongs to the workers in the first place,” wrote New Girl writers room alum Nick Adams.
Zaslav immediately positioning himself as a villain (inadvertently or otherwise) as soon as both strikes ended is pretty typical of him, as the New York Times profile lays out. It’s a portrait of a man who wants to be part of the Hollywood scene, to entrench himself in the tradition of a grand studio legacy, and to be part of the future of entertainment. Except the Zaslav way is to slash and burn while throwing nouveau riche parties with seemingly little awareness of the bad optics at every turn.
Take his company’s latest move, to shelve a completed Wile E. Coyote movie that was apparently testing well with audiences. In the wake of the resolved strikes, the decision reminded everyone why Zaslav and W.B. got such a bad rap on the picket lines in the first place. And though the movie may end up being saved from total obscurity after all, he managed to alienate creatives further and outsource a fundamental W.B. property in Looney Tunes—burning bridges and tossing legacy out the window in one fell swoop.
Despite a pretty ruinous reputation and not particularly promising financials (don’t worry, the company had great cash flow during the strike), don’t expect to see Zaslav abdicate the throne any time soon, per the NYT. The W.B. board reportedly still has complete confidence in him, and “D.Z. loves running this!” his good friend Barry Diller says. “Are you kidding? He’s the happiest clam in the universe.” As for Zaslav himself, he tells the outlet, “We’ve got great assets here. Great artillery in this incredible fight. And during moments like this, maybe more than any other time, everything is possible. Everything is possible.”