When asked if the demon attack happened “in the milieu of journalism,” former Fox News anchor told John Heers of the “Christianities?” YouTube channel, “No, in my bed at night and I got attacked while I was asleep with my wife and four dogs in the bed and mauled, physically mauled.”

“In a spiritual attack by a demon?” asks the interviewer. “Yeah, by a demon,” Carlson says.

The two men are standing in a woodsy setting when the camera cuts to a humble cabin, implying that that’s where the alleged incident took place a year and a half ago. We see footage of a few black and white dogs — who apparently fell down on the job as watch dogs — followed by Carlson shooting a rifle from inside the cabin at … whatever’s out there.

He says that his attacker was “something unseen that left claw marks on my sides,” and that the marks are “still there.” He adds that he woke up, unable to breathe, but found that his wife and dogs — who are very light sleepers — had not woken up.

He elaborates, “I had these terrible pains on my rib cage and my shoulder,” and saw that he had “four claw marks on either side, underneath my arms and on my left shoulder and they’re bleeding… actual claw marks.”

Carlson adds, with a laugh, “I sleep on my side, so I wasn’t clawing myself. I don’t have long nails. And [the marks] didn’t fit my hands anyway. But yeah, that happened.”

The newsman continues that he’d never heard of anything like that happening, but, “I knew it was spiritual immediately.” He says he still does not understand “to this day” exactly what happened. The following day, he thought it was all a dream.. until he saw blood on his sheets.

He called his assistant, an Evangelical Christian, who told him, “Yeah, yeah, that happens. People are attacked in their bed by demons.”

Carlson relates that he was then “seized with a very intense desire to read the Bible.” Nowhere in the nearly 4-minute clip does Carlson show off his supposed scars from the hellish nocturnal encounter.

The post Tucker Carlson Claims a Demon ‘Mauled’ Him While He Was Sleeping appeared first on TheWrap.

“[Malia’s] first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals, and she didn’t use Obama on the, as director, in the credits it said Malia Ann. She used her middle name and didn’t put Obama on there,” Obama shared during an appearance on the sports and entertainment podcast “The Pivot.”

At the time, cohost Ryan Clark asked Obama how he encourages his daughters to achieve success on their own without using the Obama family name. Contrary to the implication of the question, Obama said his children avoid receiving any assistance from him or their mother Michelle Obama.

“The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all. I mean, they, they’re very sensitive about this stuff. They’re very stubborn about it,” Obama said, adding that he’s inquired with Malia about her decision use just her first and middle name for her flick.

“I was all like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are.’ And she’s all like, ‘You know what, I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association. So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that,” Obama explained.

Obama then reflected on the time when he was heavily involved in politics, sharing that he told media to not bother his girls.

“Growing up the press was pretty good — I basically made a deal with the press pool, the White House press Corp, and I said, ‘You can follow me around, you can talk about me, you do whatever you need to do, leave my children alone because they have the right to grow up. They didn’t choose this. Let them grow up,'” Obama said. “And to the credit of the press, they did leave them alone. Now as they’ve gotten older there’s been some paparazzi stuff going on, and it drives them nuts because their attitude is we’re not looking for all that. So they’re grounded.”

We got to see the first glimpse of Malia branching out beyond her last name when she helped pen Donald Glover’s hit Prime Video thriller “Swarm.” She was credited on the show, which was her writing debut, under the name Malia Ann.

The post Barack Obama Says Daughters Malia and Sasha ‘Go Out of Their Way’ Not to Benefit From His Name: ‘They’re Stubborn About It’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

During Thursday’s episode of the ABC talk show, the women called up a clip of Trump at a recent rally, where he told his crowd that his team encouraged him not to say that he’s going to “protect women.”

“Well, I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not,” he said in response.

“He also grabs them whether they like it or not,” host Sara Haines retorted as the clip ended.

Meanwhile, moderator Whoopi Goldberg needed a moment to collect herself, before she ripped Trump for his choice in phrasing.

“When you say ‘whether you like it or not’ tells women a lot about who you are,” she said. “And why they’re gonna stay away from you. See, because with you, clearly, no doesn’t mean no. ‘Whether you like it or not’ means ‘I’m gonna do it whether you want it or not.’ That’s not the message you want to send women right now.”

At that, host Joy Behar chimed in with a “technical” question, that she was legitimately seeking an answer to.

“Can you protect women and assault them at the same time?” she asked.

Whoopi quickly replied that technically, a person could physically protect a woman while still emotionally assaulting her, which the women all agreed was not actually protection.

Host Sunny Hostin quickly chimed in to refresh the audiences memory on Trump’s past degradation of women, most of which happened publicly.

“Does he think that women are so unsophisticated that we don’t know what he’s saying?” she asked, prompting Behar to respond in the affirmative.

“He thinks we’re stupid. He does. He doesn’t have respect for women,” Behar said. “Look at the way he treats women. He has no respect, he thinks we’re stupid, he thinks we don’t understand our own rights, and he’s gonna fail on Tuesday.”

“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

The post ‘The View’ Hosts Scoff at Trump’s Threat to ‘Protect Women’: ‘Can You Protect Women and Assault Them at the Same Time?’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The wiki-driven company that owns brands like GameSpot, Metacritic, GameFAQs, Screen Junkies and TV Guide was forced to lay off more staffers on Wednesday due to market changes. The organizational update did not affect one specific website.

The layoffs are just the latest since Fandom acquired the suite of sites in October 2022 for a reported $55 million. The first round of cuts then came less than four months later in January 2023.

At least two writers confirmed their dismissals on X, with a third stating this is the fourth round of layoffs since the 2022 acquisition. Read the tweets, below:

TheWrap has reached out to Fandom for comment.

More to come…

The post Fandom Lays Off More Staff in Latest Restructuring appeared first on TheWrap.

On Tuesday night, Harris spoke at the Ellipse — the same spot where, on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol to try and block the certification of the election that he fairly lost.

During her speech, Harris called on voters to reject Trump once again and promised to be a president for all Americans, even those who don’t vote for her. And it was that message of unity and promise of working across the aisle that stood out for Farah Griffin.

“These remarks hit me last night, I gotta say,” she said during the first segment of the day. “I found myself getting a little bit emotional watching them, because the last time we saw a major national figure speak from the Ellipse, outside of the White House, it was Donald Trump on January 6.”

The host was able to recall the day perfectly clearly, remembering that she was with her in-laws, having already resigned from her job within the Trump administration. Farah Griffin shared she was particularly horrified by Trump calling out his VP Mike Pence at the time.

“I just had this pit in my stomach, thinking ‘You just put him in so much danger. There is a mob there of people who are ready to go march up because you told them to,'” she said. “So this imagery of standing and reclaiming that space — also, showing a woman in front of the White House, looking presidential, I think was incredibly powerful … the message is what resonated with me.”

Farah Griffin noted that, at this point, Trump is doing nothing to appeal to voters who might’ve supported Nikki Haley (primarily women), like herself, and added that all he’s doing is “spewing lies” and “teeing up another January 6.”

“And I hope folks remember that,” she warned.

“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

The post ‘The View’: Alyssa Farah Griffin, Longtime Republican, Admits She Got ‘Emotional’ Watching Harris’ Closing Message appeared first on TheWrap.

The partnership with the tech giant will give Spotter’s clients access to new IP and monetization opportunities, ranging from content development to retail and more. It will also allow them to extend their content and creativity through new channels, such as Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, Twitch and Amazon Live.

Financial terms of Amazon’s investment were not disclosed.

According to Nielsen, creators accounted for more than 1 billion hours of YouTube content streamed globally on connected TVs each day as of February.

“Spotter’s track record of empowering Creators is exceptional in our industry. We are thrilled to join forces to support the Creator economy in innovative ways whether it’s on Prime Video or via our dynamic commerce offerings,” Amazon MGM Studios TV head Vernon sanders said in a statement. “This initiative will give us the opportunity to bring even more compelling content to our global customers, while fostering the growth of today’s most influential Creators, by forging new opportunities for them to thrive.”

Founded in 2019, Spotter Capital offers customized content licensing for creators, an AI-powered creative suite called Spotter Studio to help drive viewership, engagement, and monetization opportunities, and Spotter Ads, an advertising insight and analytics platform to connect creators with brands.

The company has a premium catalog of over 725,000 videos that is generating more than 88 billion monthly watch-time minutes. To date, Spotter has provided over $940 million to support creators.

“We are excited to partner with Amazon and take our mission even further, offering our Creators exceptional opportunities to monetize their brand, content, and build lasting connections with audiences,” Spotter founder and CEO Aaron DeBevoise added. “Amazon is forward-thinking in recognizing the immense potential of the Creator economy, and together, we’re excited to explore new opportunities to invest in Creators and drive deeper engagement and growth.”

The post Amazon Bets on Creator Economy With Investment in Spotter, Firm Behind MrBeast and Try Guys appeared first on TheWrap.

And the Los Angeles Times has lost approximately 18,000 subscribers since owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, with similarly suspicious timing, canceled that paper’s planned endorsement of Harris, Semafor reported.

That amounts to approximately 10% of WaPo’s paying customers. And while the Los Angeles Times hasn’t been hit quite as hard as the Post, it has still lost approximately 4.5% of paying customers.

It’s the latest bad news for two media giants plunged into existential crises by billionaire 0wners that show no signs of slowing down.

In Los Angeles, after Soon-Shiong vetoed the Harris endorsement, as well as a series laying out the case against Donald Trump, at least three high profile editorial writers resigned in protest, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Greene. The Times newsroom guild has also called the matter out, as did more than 200 staffers in an open letter published Friday.

Initially, Soon-Shiong falsely blamed the LA Times editorial board for canceling the decision. After being called out as a liar by several former employees, he defended the move in a softball interview conducted by a Times reporter that was notable for avoiding any acknowledgement of the substance of criticism. Meanwhile, his daughter has also thrown gasoline on this fire with repeated claims, which the billionaire himself says are false, that the matter is somehow a statement on the Gaza war.

In D.C., WaPo has been hit by its own exodus of high profile talent, while some of its biggest luminaries, including Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, are bitterly criticizing leadership, as well as Bezos himself.

Bezos defended himself Monday in an op-ed where he cited the growing lack of trust Americans have in media for the decision that has, quite literally, cratered reader trust in Washington Post. He also appeared to suggest some kind of agreement with right wing conspiracy theories about voting machines, denied his other businesses and business interests influenced the decision, and then denied that endorsements even matter.

If his intent was to quell the crisis, he failed. Among other things, “The Wire” creator David Simon, himself a former reporter, canceled his Washington Post subscription as a direct result of Bezos’ Op-Ed.

“I wasn’t going to join 200,000 others and cancel my subscription because doing so won’t hurt Bezos — he paid more for his yachts than his newspaper — and, yes, the Post newsroom where good people, and some friends still labor continues providing meaningful journalism,” Simon wrote in part. “But, my god, this man’s insipid defense of his own transparent cowardice is provoking.”

Simon indicated he would re-subscribe if Bezos “ever releases his grip on what needs to be an independent newsroom and editorial board… But this kind of abuse of a public trust by a publisher is unacceptable.”

The post Washington Post Has Lost 250K Subscribers, LA Times 18,000 Since Owners Axed Kamala Harris Endorsements appeared first on TheWrap.

TheWrap was also nominated for Best Entertainment Blog for founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman’s WaxWord and Online Journalist of the Year for Jeremy Fuster, who comprehensively covered Hollywood’s double strikes last year. Waxman was also nominated for “An Israeli Director Feels ‘Stabbed in the Back’ by the Global Left.”

Business editor Alexei Barrionuevo and former media reporter Natalie Korach received a nomination for “Death in the Desert: When Hamas Came to an Israeli Rave, Friends Perished.”

Senior film reporter Umberto Gonzalez was nominated for Celebrity Investigative for his dive into Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming “Red One” and questions surrounding the film’s budget crisis as well as Johnson’s own fame and work ethic. Gonzalez and senior writer Drew Taylor were also nominated for their look into A24’s expansion strategy.

Taylor also received a nomination for “The Final Days of ‘Coyote vs. Acme’: Offers, Rejections and a Roadrunner Race Against Time.”

Executive editor Adam Chitwood was also nominated for his profile on Bill Hader’s “emotional” experience following the conclusion of “Barry.” Chitwood and Taylor were nominated for their piece on 4k Blu-ray collectors and physical media. Chitwood received a third nomination for “Seth Meyers Embraced ‘Flights of Fancy’ to Turn ‘Late Night’ Into One of TV’s Best Shows.”

Executive awards editor Steve Pond was nominated for a personality profile of his own, his lengthy look at Martin Scorsese’s final years of his prolific career.

Senior TV reporter Kayla Cobb was nominated for her look into the “horrific” conditions surrounding the first season of the Netflix reality series “Squid Game,” while Fuster was also nominated for his reporting about the end of the WGA strike and his reporting about the mental health toll on union members.

Cobb received a second nomination alongside TV reporter Loree Seitz for the pair’s look into the increased interest in women’s sports and the rise in advertising as a result.

Reporter Andi Ortiz was nominated for her explainer of Wendy Williams’ conservatorship, and Matthew Creith was nominated for his Norman Lear obituary. Jeff Vespa and Tatiana Leiva received a nomination for their cover photo of Lily Gladstone.

The post TheWrap Earns 18 Nominations From National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, Including Best Website and Journalist of the Year appeared first on TheWrap.

For comparison, The NYT has a market cap of $9.25 billion; The Times’ shares are up 1.5% during trading on Tuesday.

Trump Media’s stock was halted multiple times on Tuesday, as betting markets favor Trump to beat Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Election Day next week.

Tuesday’s jump for Trump Media — which trades on the Nasdaq under the DJT ticker symbol — comes after the stock has already been on a red-hot run of late. Over the last month, Trump Media shares have more than tripled, increasing 231% during that time. By midday Tuesday, the stock was trading at $53.34 per share.

The Times, meanwhile, has had a nice year of its own — its stock is up 17% in 2024.

From a macro standpoint, Trump Media’s surge comes at a time when the public trust in mainstream media has cratered. A Gallup survey from earlier this month found only 31% of respondents expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media to accurately report the news — a new all-time low. In 1976, 72% of Americans felt that way. At the same time, nearly one-third (32%) of Americans regularly get their news from YouTube, up from 23% in 2020, a recent Pew survey noted.

You can read more about how political pundits like David Pakman and Megyn Kelly are racking up big views on YouTube by clicking here.

The post Trump’s Media Company Is Worth More Than The New York Times appeared first on TheWrap.

The key figures to know: The Washington Post’s app downloads in the U.S. increased 12% week-over-week when comparing this past Saturday and Sunday to the previous weekend, per Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm that specializes in mobile app data.

At the same time, WaPo’s daily active users in the U.S. increased 10% last weekend compared to the weekend before.

Amazon’s app appears unfazed by the Post’s decision not to endorse a Democratic candidate for the first time since 1988, too. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.) Its downloads increased 11% last weekend compared to the weekend before, according to Sensor Tower.

“Downloads for Amazon and Washington Post both jumped this past weekend, potentially indicating that the contentious decision by the Post is generating support from a new audience,” said Kara Lee, brand & digital advertising analyst at Sensor Tower.

That new audience could be offsetting the 200,000 people who canceled their WaPo subscriptions after Bezos nixed the paper’s plan to endorse Harris last week (up to 250,000, according to NPR’s Tuesday report). A number of left-leaning readers jumped on X to say they were ditching their subscriptions in the aftermath.

The paper was also skewered by members of the media, including former executive editor Marty Baron and reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, for its decision to not back Harris against Donald Trump.

Bezos, in an editorial published on Monday, defended the paper’s decision not to endorse a candidate.

“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos said, instead arguing that they “create a perception of bias.”

The post Washington Post App Downloads Jump 12% After Non-Endorsement appeared first on TheWrap.