On Thursday, The Times published another report from Mr. Smith that, last year, Ozy hired a team to make a talk show for the cable network AE — “The Carlos Watson Show,” hosted by Mr. Watson. Guests were told the show would air on AE, and the show’s executive producer was told it would premiere in August 2020 in prime time.
The problem: AE said there was no such deal. The executive producer resigned after finding out, writing to Ozy’s leaders: “You are playing a dangerous game with the truth. The consequences of offering an AE show to guests when we don’t have one to offer are catastrophic for Ozy and for me.”
Here’s what we know about the turmoil at Ozy.
Mr. Watson said the show was being produced for AE, then YouTube Originals. Neither happened.
When the executive producer, Brad Bessey, resigned, he told the show’s staff that the program was not, in fact, going to be shown on AE. Mr. Watson then told the people on the Zoom call that “The Carlos Watson Show” would eventually wind up on AE, according to Mr. Bessey and one other person on the call. Until that time, Mr. Watson added, the show would appear on YouTube as part of its YouTube Originals, a slate of programming made by professional studios and paid for by YouTube.
“The Carlos Watson Show” ended up appearing on Ozy.com and on YouTube, although not as a YouTube Original. A YouTube official confirmed that the show was not a YouTube Original. Mr. Watson and an Ozy spokesperson did not reply to requests for comment.
Read more about the proposed AE show →
The chairman of Ozy’s board stepped down.
Marc Lasry, the chairman of Ozy’s board and a hedge fund manager who is also a co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, resigned on Thursday, four days after The Times reported that someone from Ozy appeared to have impersonated a YouTube executive during a conference call with Goldman Sachs bankers while the company was trying to raise $40 million.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/business/carlos-watson-npr.html
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