September 30, 2025 • 16 mins
On today’s episode, Variety’s Jennifer Maas explains the $55 billion buyout deal that will see Electronic Arts be taken over by three private equity firms. And music reporter Thania Garcia discusses Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show gig and why it’s such a significant decision for the Puerto Rican superstar.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Tuesday, September thirtieth, twenty
twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co
editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Situta. I'm in LA.
He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around the
world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode, Variety's
(00:37):
Jennifer Moz explains the fifty five billion dollar buyout deal
that we'll see Electronic Arts be taken over by three
private equity firms, and music reporter Tanya Garcia discusses Bad
Bunny super Bowl halftime show gig and why it's significant
for the Puerto Rican superstar at this moment in time.
(00:58):
But before we get to that, here are a you
headlines just in this morning that you need to know.
Daniel Eck has been bumped upstairs at the streaming giant
he founded, Spotify, has named two new co CEOs, Gustave
Saunderstrom and Alex Norstrom. Eck will serve as executive chairman.
(01:19):
He founded the company in two thousand and six at
the age of twenty three. A synthetic starlet named Tilly
Norwood has Hollywood in a tizzy. In all seriousness, the
anger in the industry, stirred up by a Dutch woman's
brazen effort to launch an AI actress has the creative
guilds in the industry and many more people fired up
(01:41):
and angry. This is going to fuel more legislative efforts
to force disclosure when AI tech is used in content.
Versant has set an eleven year rights deal with the WNBA.
Versant is the new company about to be formed after
NBC Universal spins out USA Network, MSNBCCNBC and other linear
(02:04):
cable channel. Steel is separate from NBC Universal's Mega NBA packed.
It's great news for the WNBA. More TV money brings
the players another step towards parody with the mail players.
Another thing that is giving Hollywood fits is President Donald
Trump's pledge to impose a one hundred percent tariff on
movies shot outside the United States. All of these fast
(02:28):
moving stories and so much more can be found on
Variety dot com. Right now, now we turn to conversations
with Variety journalists about news and trends in show business.
Jennifer Moss Variety's business writer for TV and Gaming unpacks
the fifty five billion dollar buyout offer fielded for Electronic
(02:52):
Arts by two big private equity players plus Jared Kushner's
Affinity Partners. EA was founded in nineteen eighty to buy
Trip Hopkins and a handful of other former Apple employees.
Nearly forty five years later, EA found itself in the
awkward position of being too big for another gaming heavyweight
(03:13):
to acquire, but not big enough on its own to
compete head to head with the biggest of the big
in the space, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Jennifer Mozz, thanks
for taking time out, big news on your beat. And
there'd definitely been sale rumors around Electronic Arts for a while,
(03:35):
but nonetheless the deal that came to fruition still had
plenty of surprise elements. Let's start at the very top.
What do you think is most significant for the gaming
business about this deal? That has an unusual structure. It's
not typical M and A. It's a couple of private
equity companies coming together to do a fifty five billion
dollar buyout. EA will be going private. What's the what
(03:59):
are you hearing in circles about all this.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
There's a lot of shock just because this is such
a big deal and it's such a big change, and
it's definitely the biggest private buyout in this space evering
for the most part, at this point, the big dogs
are PlayStation owned by Sony, Xbox owned by Microsoft, and
then Nintendo, and those are companies that also have consoles
(04:21):
attached to them, And then when we look at someone
like EA, the closest comparison is like a Take two
Interactive or Ubisoft, where those don't have consoles attached to them.
They're big publishers and they're publicly traded, but they don't
have the same scale that a Nintendo or PlayStation or
Microsoft have because they don't have a console tied to.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Them, very much like vertical integration in television. That's a
significant difference from other giants in this space. What are
some of the biggest franchises that EA has?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Madden is a huge one for them In sports in general,
EA Sports as a division has so many. They have
college football, they have Madden, they have within the larger
EA Sports, they have what was previously known as PIFA.
They have NHL games, they have PGA games. On top
of that, they have the SIMS which I love, which
(05:12):
has spanned many iterations over many years. And then Battlefields
is the big, big one for them. They've had multiple
Battlefield games. This is the first one in a little while.
Battlefield six comes out in October and that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
One for that. So the deal announced Monday morning involves
three major partners, the Public Investment Fund or PIF, which
already had a stake in EA, silver Lake, which is
the parent company of Endeavor, and TKO is the home
of UFC and WWE the acronym soup here. And then
the third, a smaller partner in the larger deal, is
(05:49):
Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, so an interesting mix of personalities.
Kushner's comment even says that he's a gamer and now
his young kids are gamers. The buyers were effusive about
Andrew Wilson and very explicit that he will continue as CEO.
Egon Durban, who is the one of the leaders of
silver Lake and his quote called Wilson a quote extraordinary
(06:13):
CEO who has doubled revenue, nearly tripled EBADAH, and driven
a fivefold increase in market cap during his tenure, which
is going on a little more than ten years. What
is Wilson's reputation in the gaming business. Do you think
the EA employees will be happy that he's going to
stick around, at least for the near term. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
None of this was about thinking that EA was being
run poorly. Wilson is very highly respected.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's hard to.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Be a gaming company CEO and not have some critics,
But on the whole, he's considered very competent and very
good at.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
His job, and the partners have said they expect this
deal to close fairly quickly in June of next year.
What do you think people in gaming are going to
be really watching for during this merger closing, During the
sale closing process, which won't be as public as if
EA was going to continue as a public company. What
do you think that the industry is going to be
(07:06):
watching for as it goes through this sale process.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
But for the most part, I think it'll be more
of a consumer conversation surrounding if this delays any games
for whatever reason, If this shifts titles around, we know
Andrew Wilson will still be in charge. If they keep
on schedule with everything they have dated, and if they
start to date more things soon. Game companies like to
be very, very strategic and careful when they're going to
(07:32):
now doubt be the main thing people.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Are looking at. Certainly, no shortage of activity in this area. Jenny,
thank you for being on the case. Of course. Now
we turn to Tanya Garcia, Variety music reporter and our
chief Bad Bunny correspondent. Bad Bunny is going to the
(07:55):
Super Bowl, and Tanya explains why that's a big deal
for him and his legion of fans. Donia Garcia, thank
you so much for joining me today. Thank you for
having me. I'm so excited. Big news for an artist
that you have covered in depth for Variety, including with
your fantastic cover story in June. Listeners, if you didn't
(08:15):
read it, literally stop everything. Go find the first week
of June issue of Variety. You cannot miss the cover.
The photo is so great. But so the big news
from Monday was Bad Bunny is going to grace the
Super Bowl in February. February eighth up in northern California
at Santa Clara Stadium where the forty nine Ers play.
(08:37):
We'll see if the forty nine ers will be in
the Super Bowl. That would be super cool for them.
DONI if for somebody who's covered Bad Bunny, you put
him into context for you know, for listeners and fans
that may not know the significance of what he's meant
to reggaeton, what he's meant to Puerto Rico, especially in
the last couple of years. From your trips to Puerto Rico.
You tell me the entire island is by behind him.
(09:00):
So what was your first thought when you got the
word of the Super Bowl news?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Oh my god, even you just recounting everything now, my
heart is racing and I've been talking about this news
NonStop ever since we got it. It's an incredibly solid
and strategic move on behalf of jay Z and Rock Nation,
who are obviously in charge of organizing the entertainment for
the halftime show the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny is internationally recognized.
(09:27):
He's a global superstar that sings in Spanish, and the NFL,
you know, over the last few years, has poured in
a lot of resources and time and money and attention
into attracting a more international audience. So this is such
a solid move and it's incredibly exciting move for many reasons.
And I'm just buzzing about it super exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I could see it. But you're right. I love that
your first point was about the larger strategy here for
the NFL, which is very true. NFL fans know that
they play overseas games. Oh at least once or twice
a year, We're going to see more than It seems
very clear that this is just a stroke of genius.
People that will not watch one minute of the Super
Bowl will come to watch his halftime show, no question,
(10:08):
and the several hundred million people that are sitting there
watching the halftime show are going to know these hit
songs that are out there. Does not achieve that level
of global sales without having immense popularity among a range
of demographics and audiences. He's probably the only artist that
could hit all those points for the NFL and for
the fans all at once. You'd mentioned Jay Z obviously.
(10:31):
I know he's famously now been an advisor to the NFL,
But do you have a cendy that he was the
champion of getting Bad Bunny up there?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Bad Bunny he started his career in trap music and
hip hop, and he has always been very honest about
who his inspirations were. I can't imagine what it was
like for him to get that call from Jay Z
giving him, you know, the green light that he that
he's able to do this. I do think that it's
again like it's a really smart move on behalf of
(11:00):
this team. Earlier this month, another reggaeton icon, Carol g
was contracted to do the halftime show in Brazil for
the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Chargers game, and
it was a great move. That performance was everywhere. Bad
Bunny is a streaming juggernaut, like most streamed artists globally
(11:21):
for consecutive years. It makes perfect sense that the NFL
would host him as they're sort of polishing their international appeal.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And of course, the other thing that just makes this
so timely in a heartbreaking way, is that Bad Bunny,
part of coming into his own as an artist, as
a Puerto Rican as somebody who has the courage of
his convictions, has said, I will not record in English.
I sing in Spanish and that is the language I
will sing in. And that's a big statement on multiple levels.
(11:52):
Also a big statement was what he said earlier in
the year, which utterly heartbreaking. Bad Bunny is not booking
tour dates in the U United States because he is
concerned about ice raids at his concerts. Just want to
let that sink in. This is where America is right now.
It breaks my heart. It's just mind boggling to think
(12:12):
that the person could be invited onto one of the
biggest stages in the world is and is courted for
that gig, but many of his fans in certain cities
are living in fear, whether they are citizens, whether they
are undocumented citizens.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It's a stark contrast to what's happening to Latinos and
really to several communities of color across this country. It
makes perfect sense for him.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
To agree to do this.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I've seen a lot of rhetoric since this news came
out about his decision to not bring to toward the
United States. Why would he choose to say yes to this?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
But to me, it's.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Extremely obvious why he would say yes. A variety broke
the news that he wasn't going to do any US states.
He said that the US was to him, quote unquote unnecessary,
and he later went on to admit, as you say,
he had a fear that these ice raids would target
his concerts.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And the answer there.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Of why would he would choose to do it. It's
pretty simple. He is a politically charged artist. His latest
Latin Grammy nominated album De Bethiadama's Photos, which translates to
I should have taken more photos, is all about fighting
to preserve his Puerto Rican heritage in the face of
erasure threats. It's against all bigotry, and most of all,
(13:27):
it's done in the spirit of cultural celebration. And so
I'm really excited because we can expect to see some
of these motives.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It's about to see the Puerto.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Rican flag, elements of Latin culture all over that field
on February eighth.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's super exciting and it's meaningful. It's representation. It's meaningful. Tanya.
I know you have grown up like meat in southern
California and it's very, very hard to see what is
happening on the streets of La things I never thought
I would see. I want to end this on a
positive note. I think you have made a couple of
recent trips to Puerto Rico to see Bad Bunny in
(14:04):
his residency. Tell me what the vibe is like in
Puerto Rico and what it meant to you to see
him in his hometown.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Oh my god, it it meant the world because you
can read and absorb media from this island, about this island,
from Bad Bunny, from so many different places. But it's
one thing to read about it, and it's another thing
to be there in person and to speak with the
locals and to really kind of capture how much meaning
this artist.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Has brought to them.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
He's been able to really personify Puerto Rican pride in
a way that is so palpable to anybody, doesn't matter
where you're from. Going to that show, it felt borderline spiritual,
the collectiveness that he brings for the people of his island.
And I'm looking forward to seeing that translated on that
(14:56):
football field, because that whole performance is going to be
entirely in Spanish, and that within itself sends a powerful
and incredibly meaningful message on behalf of Latino's generally everywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
There's no question it's a choice by the NFL, and
I think it's a good one. This is why we
need artists, and this is why we need people that
have clout and to stand up for themselves and who
they represent and what they believe in. This will be
a really interesting cultural moment I know we will be
talking more about it. Tanya, thank you so much for
making those tracks to Puerto Rico and delivering that cover story. Folks,
(15:32):
the cover photo is so great. It is truly suitable
for framing. It's framed in Tanya's office. Thank you so much.
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. Jimmy Fallon launches an unscripted series on
(15:52):
NBC tonight on Brand. Fallon describes it as Shark Tank
meets The Apprentice meets Project Run. It looks like fun
for those of us that obsess over marketing messages and
the Great Austin City Limits Music Showcase series returns to
PBS for season fifty one on Saturday night, October fourth.
(16:14):
Phineas makes his first solo appearance on that legend Phineas
will make his first solo appearance on that legendary stage
to kick the season off. Before we go, congrats to
Duty Schwab. She's been named Chief People Officer of UTA.
She is a human resources alum of Apple and Disney.
(16:35):
And one more thing before we go, Happy birthday, Mary
Anne Lyttleton. I miss you. Thanks for listening. This episode
was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions
from Jennifer mas and Tanya Garcia Stick's next hick Picks.
Please leave us a review at the podcast platform of
your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for another episode
(16:58):
of Daily Variety.
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Tuesday, September thirtieth, twenty
twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co
editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Situta. I'm in LA.
He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around the
world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode, Variety's
(00:37):
Jennifer Moz explains the fifty five billion dollar buyout deal
that we'll see Electronic Arts be taken over by three
private equity firms, and music reporter Tanya Garcia discusses Bad
Bunny super Bowl halftime show gig and why it's significant
for the Puerto Rican superstar at this moment in time.
(00:58):
But before we get to that, here are a you
headlines just in this morning that you need to know.
Daniel Eck has been bumped upstairs at the streaming giant
he founded, Spotify, has named two new co CEOs, Gustave
Saunderstrom and Alex Norstrom. Eck will serve as executive chairman.
(01:19):
He founded the company in two thousand and six at
the age of twenty three. A synthetic starlet named Tilly
Norwood has Hollywood in a tizzy. In all seriousness, the
anger in the industry, stirred up by a Dutch woman's
brazen effort to launch an AI actress has the creative
guilds in the industry and many more people fired up
(01:41):
and angry. This is going to fuel more legislative efforts
to force disclosure when AI tech is used in content.
Versant has set an eleven year rights deal with the WNBA.
Versant is the new company about to be formed after
NBC Universal spins out USA Network, MSNBCCNBC and other linear
(02:04):
cable channel. Steel is separate from NBC Universal's Mega NBA packed.
It's great news for the WNBA. More TV money brings
the players another step towards parody with the mail players.
Another thing that is giving Hollywood fits is President Donald
Trump's pledge to impose a one hundred percent tariff on
movies shot outside the United States. All of these fast
(02:28):
moving stories and so much more can be found on
Variety dot com. Right now, now we turn to conversations
with Variety journalists about news and trends in show business.
Jennifer Moss Variety's business writer for TV and Gaming unpacks
the fifty five billion dollar buyout offer fielded for Electronic
(02:52):
Arts by two big private equity players plus Jared Kushner's
Affinity Partners. EA was founded in nineteen eighty to buy
Trip Hopkins and a handful of other former Apple employees.
Nearly forty five years later, EA found itself in the
awkward position of being too big for another gaming heavyweight
(03:13):
to acquire, but not big enough on its own to
compete head to head with the biggest of the big
in the space, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Jennifer Mozz, thanks
for taking time out, big news on your beat. And
there'd definitely been sale rumors around Electronic Arts for a while,
(03:35):
but nonetheless the deal that came to fruition still had
plenty of surprise elements. Let's start at the very top.
What do you think is most significant for the gaming
business about this deal? That has an unusual structure. It's
not typical M and A. It's a couple of private
equity companies coming together to do a fifty five billion
dollar buyout. EA will be going private. What's the what
(03:59):
are you hearing in circles about all this.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
There's a lot of shock just because this is such
a big deal and it's such a big change, and
it's definitely the biggest private buyout in this space evering
for the most part, at this point, the big dogs
are PlayStation owned by Sony, Xbox owned by Microsoft, and
then Nintendo, and those are companies that also have consoles
(04:21):
attached to them, And then when we look at someone
like EA, the closest comparison is like a Take two
Interactive or Ubisoft, where those don't have consoles attached to them.
They're big publishers and they're publicly traded, but they don't
have the same scale that a Nintendo or PlayStation or
Microsoft have because they don't have a console tied to.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Them, very much like vertical integration in television. That's a
significant difference from other giants in this space. What are
some of the biggest franchises that EA has?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Madden is a huge one for them In sports in general,
EA Sports as a division has so many. They have
college football, they have Madden, they have within the larger
EA Sports, they have what was previously known as PIFA.
They have NHL games, they have PGA games. On top
of that, they have the SIMS which I love, which
(05:12):
has spanned many iterations over many years. And then Battlefields
is the big, big one for them. They've had multiple
Battlefield games. This is the first one in a little while.
Battlefield six comes out in October and that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
One for that. So the deal announced Monday morning involves
three major partners, the Public Investment Fund or PIF, which
already had a stake in EA, silver Lake, which is
the parent company of Endeavor, and TKO is the home
of UFC and WWE the acronym soup here. And then
the third, a smaller partner in the larger deal, is
(05:49):
Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, so an interesting mix of personalities.
Kushner's comment even says that he's a gamer and now
his young kids are gamers. The buyers were effusive about
Andrew Wilson and very explicit that he will continue as CEO.
Egon Durban, who is the one of the leaders of
silver Lake and his quote called Wilson a quote extraordinary
(06:13):
CEO who has doubled revenue, nearly tripled EBADAH, and driven
a fivefold increase in market cap during his tenure, which
is going on a little more than ten years. What
is Wilson's reputation in the gaming business. Do you think
the EA employees will be happy that he's going to
stick around, at least for the near term. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
None of this was about thinking that EA was being
run poorly. Wilson is very highly respected.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's hard to.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Be a gaming company CEO and not have some critics,
But on the whole, he's considered very competent and very
good at.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
His job, and the partners have said they expect this
deal to close fairly quickly in June of next year.
What do you think people in gaming are going to
be really watching for during this merger closing, During the
sale closing process, which won't be as public as if
EA was going to continue as a public company. What
do you think that the industry is going to be
(07:06):
watching for as it goes through this sale process.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
But for the most part, I think it'll be more
of a consumer conversation surrounding if this delays any games
for whatever reason, If this shifts titles around, we know
Andrew Wilson will still be in charge. If they keep
on schedule with everything they have dated, and if they
start to date more things soon. Game companies like to
be very, very strategic and careful when they're going to
(07:32):
now doubt be the main thing people.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Are looking at. Certainly, no shortage of activity in this area. Jenny,
thank you for being on the case. Of course. Now
we turn to Tanya Garcia, Variety music reporter and our
chief Bad Bunny correspondent. Bad Bunny is going to the
(07:55):
Super Bowl, and Tanya explains why that's a big deal
for him and his legion of fans. Donia Garcia, thank
you so much for joining me today. Thank you for
having me. I'm so excited. Big news for an artist
that you have covered in depth for Variety, including with
your fantastic cover story in June. Listeners, if you didn't
(08:15):
read it, literally stop everything. Go find the first week
of June issue of Variety. You cannot miss the cover.
The photo is so great. But so the big news
from Monday was Bad Bunny is going to grace the
Super Bowl in February. February eighth up in northern California
at Santa Clara Stadium where the forty nine Ers play.
(08:37):
We'll see if the forty nine ers will be in
the Super Bowl. That would be super cool for them.
DONI if for somebody who's covered Bad Bunny, you put
him into context for you know, for listeners and fans
that may not know the significance of what he's meant
to reggaeton, what he's meant to Puerto Rico, especially in
the last couple of years. From your trips to Puerto Rico.
You tell me the entire island is by behind him.
(09:00):
So what was your first thought when you got the
word of the Super Bowl news?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Oh my god, even you just recounting everything now, my
heart is racing and I've been talking about this news
NonStop ever since we got it. It's an incredibly solid
and strategic move on behalf of jay Z and Rock Nation,
who are obviously in charge of organizing the entertainment for
the halftime show the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny is internationally recognized.
(09:27):
He's a global superstar that sings in Spanish, and the NFL,
you know, over the last few years, has poured in
a lot of resources and time and money and attention
into attracting a more international audience. So this is such
a solid move and it's incredibly exciting move for many reasons.
And I'm just buzzing about it super exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I could see it. But you're right. I love that
your first point was about the larger strategy here for
the NFL, which is very true. NFL fans know that
they play overseas games. Oh at least once or twice
a year, We're going to see more than It seems
very clear that this is just a stroke of genius.
People that will not watch one minute of the Super
Bowl will come to watch his halftime show, no question,
(10:08):
and the several hundred million people that are sitting there
watching the halftime show are going to know these hit
songs that are out there. Does not achieve that level
of global sales without having immense popularity among a range
of demographics and audiences. He's probably the only artist that
could hit all those points for the NFL and for
the fans all at once. You'd mentioned Jay Z obviously.
(10:31):
I know he's famously now been an advisor to the NFL,
But do you have a cendy that he was the
champion of getting Bad Bunny up there?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Bad Bunny he started his career in trap music and
hip hop, and he has always been very honest about
who his inspirations were. I can't imagine what it was
like for him to get that call from Jay Z
giving him, you know, the green light that he that
he's able to do this. I do think that it's
again like it's a really smart move on behalf of
(11:00):
this team. Earlier this month, another reggaeton icon, Carol g
was contracted to do the halftime show in Brazil for
the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Chargers game, and
it was a great move. That performance was everywhere. Bad
Bunny is a streaming juggernaut, like most streamed artists globally
(11:21):
for consecutive years. It makes perfect sense that the NFL
would host him as they're sort of polishing their international appeal.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And of course, the other thing that just makes this
so timely in a heartbreaking way, is that Bad Bunny,
part of coming into his own as an artist, as
a Puerto Rican as somebody who has the courage of
his convictions, has said, I will not record in English.
I sing in Spanish and that is the language I
will sing in. And that's a big statement on multiple levels.
(11:52):
Also a big statement was what he said earlier in
the year, which utterly heartbreaking. Bad Bunny is not booking
tour dates in the U United States because he is
concerned about ice raids at his concerts. Just want to
let that sink in. This is where America is right now.
It breaks my heart. It's just mind boggling to think
(12:12):
that the person could be invited onto one of the
biggest stages in the world is and is courted for
that gig, but many of his fans in certain cities
are living in fear, whether they are citizens, whether they
are undocumented citizens.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It's a stark contrast to what's happening to Latinos and
really to several communities of color across this country. It
makes perfect sense for him.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
To agree to do this.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I've seen a lot of rhetoric since this news came
out about his decision to not bring to toward the
United States. Why would he choose to say yes to this?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
But to me, it's.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Extremely obvious why he would say yes. A variety broke
the news that he wasn't going to do any US states.
He said that the US was to him, quote unquote unnecessary,
and he later went on to admit, as you say,
he had a fear that these ice raids would target
his concerts.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And the answer there.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Of why would he would choose to do it. It's
pretty simple. He is a politically charged artist. His latest
Latin Grammy nominated album De Bethiadama's Photos, which translates to
I should have taken more photos, is all about fighting
to preserve his Puerto Rican heritage in the face of
erasure threats. It's against all bigotry, and most of all,
(13:27):
it's done in the spirit of cultural celebration. And so
I'm really excited because we can expect to see some
of these motives.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It's about to see the Puerto.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Rican flag, elements of Latin culture all over that field
on February eighth.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's super exciting and it's meaningful. It's representation. It's meaningful. Tanya.
I know you have grown up like meat in southern
California and it's very, very hard to see what is
happening on the streets of La things I never thought
I would see. I want to end this on a
positive note. I think you have made a couple of
recent trips to Puerto Rico to see Bad Bunny in
(14:04):
his residency. Tell me what the vibe is like in
Puerto Rico and what it meant to you to see
him in his hometown.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Oh my god, it it meant the world because you
can read and absorb media from this island, about this island,
from Bad Bunny, from so many different places. But it's
one thing to read about it, and it's another thing
to be there in person and to speak with the
locals and to really kind of capture how much meaning
this artist.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Has brought to them.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
He's been able to really personify Puerto Rican pride in
a way that is so palpable to anybody, doesn't matter
where you're from. Going to that show, it felt borderline spiritual,
the collectiveness that he brings for the people of his island.
And I'm looking forward to seeing that translated on that
(14:56):
football field, because that whole performance is going to be
entirely in Spanish, and that within itself sends a powerful
and incredibly meaningful message on behalf of Latino's generally everywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
There's no question it's a choice by the NFL, and
I think it's a good one. This is why we
need artists, and this is why we need people that
have clout and to stand up for themselves and who
they represent and what they believe in. This will be
a really interesting cultural moment I know we will be
talking more about it. Tanya, thank you so much for
making those tracks to Puerto Rico and delivering that cover story. Folks,
(15:32):
the cover photo is so great. It is truly suitable
for framing. It's framed in Tanya's office. Thank you so much.
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. Jimmy Fallon launches an unscripted series on
(15:52):
NBC tonight on Brand. Fallon describes it as Shark Tank
meets The Apprentice meets Project Run. It looks like fun
for those of us that obsess over marketing messages and
the Great Austin City Limits Music Showcase series returns to
PBS for season fifty one on Saturday night, October fourth.
(16:14):
Phineas makes his first solo appearance on that legend Phineas
will make his first solo appearance on that legendary stage
to kick the season off. Before we go, congrats to
Duty Schwab. She's been named Chief People Officer of UTA.
She is a human resources alum of Apple and Disney.
(16:35):
And one more thing before we go, Happy birthday, Mary
Anne Lyttleton. I miss you. Thanks for listening. This episode
was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions
from Jennifer mas and Tanya Garcia Stick's next hick Picks.
Please leave us a review at the podcast platform of
your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for another episode
(16:58):
of Daily Variety.
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