CBS’ Nepo-Baby Owner Called Out on Sucking Up to Trump
Billionaire David Ellison is being called out after backtracking on sucking up to the Trump administration as his company pursues a takeover of Warner Bros.
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The 43-year-old Paramount Skydance chief executive, son of Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest men, penned an op-ed last week in The New York Times, in which he vowed he would no longer stay quiet in the face of criticism.
Now Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, wants to know: Oh really?
The Maryland lawmaker, who could become one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington should his party retake the House in November, sent the younger Ellison a on Wednesday challenging him on his claim.
“Last week, in a New York Times op-ed, you pledged to tell your story and stay silent ‘no more.’ This is great news,” Raskin wrote. “Over the past 12 months, I have sent you four letters. You have responded to none of them.”
Raskin invited Ellison to appear for a transcribed interview to share his story and answer committee members’ questions about his “Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels, and streaming services.”
In his op-ed published on August 4, the nepo-baby media executive wrote his own wordy defense of the mega-merger attempt and pushed back on the lawsuit to stop it, all while desperately trying to distance himself from the MAGA president he has spent months cozying up to.
“There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind, but I can share this: I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views,” he continued.
It came after a 12-state coalition filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the $111 billion merger last month, arguing it would reduce competition across cable and movie distribution. The Writers Guild of America filed a separate lawsuit the next day.
But while Ellison pushed back against the criticism that he’s cozying up to the president and attempting to consolidate the media giants into a more MAGA-friendly organization, Raskin suggested his track record after he acquired Paramount last summer and then installed Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief of the conservative digital outlet The Free Press, indicates otherwise.
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On Wednesday, Raskin pointed out that he has repeatedly tried to get information about the merger and plans to take over Warner Bros, the parent company of CNN, “in light of troubling reports that your company is colluding with President Trump and his Administration to curtail media independence, spread political censorship, and suppress dissent.”
The Maryland Democrat has also attempted to get answers about the allegations of political interference in CBS News reporting leveled by fired 60 Minutes staff against network leadership.
“You are creating a media environment conducive to the kinds of authoritarian regimes President Trump favors, like those found in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, or Xi Jinping’s China,” Raskin wrote.
While Raskin has little power to haul Ellison in while Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of Congress, he could wield powerful subpoena powers should Democrats win back the House just months from now.
In a preview of what could come, Raskin vowed the committee would scrutinize how market power abuses harm both competition and consumers and ‘whether the federal antitrust agencies are successfully promoting free competition and innovation—or whether they are using their governmental powers to distort the market and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press, in violation of the First Amendment.“
“Given your promise to break your long silence about these dynamics, I am delighted to invite you to participate in a transcribed interview with the Committee to finally answer the questions we have been asking for the past 12 months,” Raskin wrote.
He called on Ellison to respond to his invitation by August 26 to schedule an appearance.
While the Paramount Skydance CEO has been ignoring Democrats’ demands to date, Ellison has repeatedly visited Washington, D.C. In April, he hosted a dinner for Trump at the Institute of Peace just days before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He has also been spotted on the Hill in recent months, including at the president’s State of the Union address.
Meanwhile, Trump has publicly praised Ellison while calling for CNN to be taken over on numerous occasions.
Paramount Skydance did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on Raskin’s call for Ellison to appear for an interview with committee members.
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