{"id":124971,"date":"2025-08-07T00:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T00:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124971\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T00:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T00:38:10","slug":"paramounts-chris-mccarthy-exit-memo-lauds-mental-health-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124971\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount\u2019s Chris McCarthy Exit Memo Lauds Mental Health Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChris McCarthy<\/a>, who was co-CEO of\u00a0Paramount<\/a>\u00a0Global and president of Showtime\/MTV Entertainment and is leaving after more than 20 years<\/a>, says his \u201cgreatest achievement\u201d at the company was his work around mental health.<\/p>\n

\n\tMcCarthy revealed last month that he wouldn\u2019t be remaining with the company<\/a> after Skydance<\/a> takes control beginning Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur greatest achievement goes beyond entertainment,\u201d he wrote in a memo to staff today, seen by Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said that the company has \u201cliterally helped change how an entire industry tells stories about mental health and in doing so will help generations of audiences to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen the alarming rise of mental health issues became a crisis, we didn\u2019t just sit back, we leaned in. We spearheaded an industry-wide Mental Health Coalition and, together, we\u2019ve driven a nearly 40% increase in mental health storylines which help to normalize mental health and showcase characters coping with issues, getting help and supporting others. Simultaneously, we\u2019ve worked hard to diminish the negative stigma related to mental health and have seen a 15% decrease in harmful portrayals across scripted content. At some point in our lives, many of us will struggle with our mental health, and by increasing positive portrayals, we are helping to decrease the stigma. Through our stories, we are helping people see that there isn\u2019t something wrong with them; rather, they are perfectly human and seeking help is a sign of strength,\u201d he added. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Skydance-Paramount Unveils Senior Leadership Team Across TV, Film & Streaming<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMcCarthy, whose own stint at Paramount was remarked upon by quite a few Deadline commentors, also talked up his work with the likes of Yellowstone\u2019s Taylor Sheridan<\/a>, The Daily Show<\/a>\u2019s Jon Stewart, South Park and RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe talked up the success of MobLand, 1923, and Landman, said with Sheridan, \u201cwe built one of the most successful franchises in TV history\u201d, brought Stewart back to \u201cto speak truth to power\u201d, \u201ccontinued to elevate and celebrate Drag Race globally while others try to silence it\u201d and noted the deal with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker ensured that they \u201ccan continue to point out the inanities and insanities of life for years to come\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s his exit memo:<\/p>\n

\n

With the merger closing tomorrow, I wanted to reach out.<\/p>\n

Back in the 90s, well before social media, MTV was the pop culture center of the world \u2013 and it was the first time many of us got to see ourselves on television. All different types of people, including people like me, who were struggling with their identity. It was then that I realized I wasn\u2019t alone and that MTV was a place many could call home. That is the power of great storytelling \u2013 it not only entertains us but also it has the power to unite, inspire and give us hope. Twenty-two years later, I\u2019m as grateful today as I was walking through these doors in 2003. Together, we made pop-culture history, advocated on behalf of our audiences and built world-class shows that have and will shape culture for decades to come.<\/p>\n

These past years, we didn\u2019t just adapt to change \u2013 we led it. We delivered three of the top four most-streamed shows of 2025: MobLand, 1923, and Landman. With Taylor Sheridan, we built one of the most successful franchises in TV history. We brought Jon Stewart back to speak truth to power, continued to elevate and celebrate Drag Race globally while others try to silence it, and we grew and extended our partnership with Matt and Trey, ensuring that the South Park<\/a> boys can continue to point out the inanities and insanities of life for years to come. These aren\u2019t just hit shows; they define culture and prove that this team doesn\u2019t follow trends, we create them.<\/p>\n

But our greatest achievement goes beyond entertainment. When the alarming rise of mental health issues became a crisis, we didn\u2019t just sit back, we leaned in. We spearheaded an industry-wide Mental Health Coalition and, together, we\u2019ve driven a nearly 40% increase in mental health storylines which help to normalize mental health and showcase characters coping with issues, getting help and supporting others. Simultaneously, we\u2019ve worked hard to diminish the negative stigma related to mental health and have seen a 15% decrease in harmful portrayals across scripted content. At some point in our lives, many of us will struggle with our mental health, and by increasing positive portrayals, we are helping to decrease the stigma. Through our stories, we are helping people see that there isn\u2019t something wrong with them; rather, they are perfectly human and seeking help is a sign of strength. Together, we\u2019ve literally helped change how an entire industry tells stories about mental health and in doing so will help generations of audiences to come.<\/p>\n

Many doubted we could go this far. Most never believed we\u2019d reach this scale. But here we are \u2013 not because of luck, but because of each of you and your relentless creativity, dedication, and support of one another.<\/p>\n

With the deepest respect and gratitude,<\/p>\n

Chris<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris McCarthy, who was co-CEO of\u00a0Paramount\u00a0Global and president of Showtime\/MTV Entertainment and is leaving after more than 20…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,59896,171,76919,15329,51039,26873,27590,12045,36810,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-124971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-chris-mccarthy","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-exit-memos","12":"tag-paramount","13":"tag-paramount-skydance-merger","14":"tag-skydance","15":"tag-south-park","16":"tag-taylor-sheridan","17":"tag-the-daily-show","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114984695043501161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}