Smash Notes

Why Did Megyn Kelly Turn Down Ari Emanuel and Later Call the Other Agent a Disaster?

Megyn Kelly tells Ari Emanuel she learned a lot from the story of him rolling the calls. Years earlier he called her nonstop, trying to represent her. She phoned some of his clients. One grizzled newsman loved him and did not even like to think about breaking up with Ari Emanuel. She says Ari Emanuel is irascible and rageful to outsiders, but he would take a bullet for his clients.

She still did not sign. She says she got a million phone calls from Ari Emanuel, and most people give up, the way Larry David did: stop calling and he would sign. A CAA agent had solicited her for years and was trying to close, so she felt some loyalty and went with him. She calls the choice a disaster. CAA abandoned her when the trouble hit at NBC. Newspapers were calling her a racist for saying blackface was treated differently in the seventies than it is today. CAA sent flowers. She says she did not need flowers. She needed someone to rattle cages at NBC. A lawyer later did the fighting, and she tells Ari Emanuel she could have used him.

The Megyn Kelly Show · The Mystery of Talarico's DISAPPEARANCE, and Ari Emanuel on Secrets of Hollywood, the Value of "Rage," and Meghan Markle | Ep. 1415 · at 54:11 · ·Transcript

People

On this episode

Related episodes

Plays this note, then the next one on the page.