{"id":345671,"date":"2025-10-31T13:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/345671\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:43:11","slug":"david-zaslav-tribute-turns-into-room-where-it-happens-amid-wbd-intrigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/345671\/","title":{"rendered":"David Zaslav Tribute Turns Into Room Where It Happens Amid WBD Intrigue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWarner Bros<\/a> Discovery chief David Zaslav<\/a> spoke fiercely about the power of storytelling and warned that \u201cwhen the government controls the news, that is the end of democracy\u201d on Thursday during his speech at the Simon\u00a0Wiesenthal\u00a0Center\u2019s\u00a0Humanitarian Dinner, where he was being honored for his humanitarian and philanthropic works.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe annual gala at the Beverly Wilshire\u2019s gilded ballroom drew a who\u2019s who of the media and entertainment industry, which is facing major changes as this week Zaslav\u2019s own WBD officially put itself up for sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAttendees at the dinner included Stephen Spielberg, who introduced Zaslav tonight, along with CNN<\/a> anchor and Jewish Heritage Award recipient Dana Bash<\/a>, Pulp Fiction and Red Alert producer Lawrence Bender \u2014 and a certain David Ellison<\/a>. Holding court and a lot of attention at the high-profile event, the newly minted Paramount<\/a> boss has made multiple bids for WBD<\/a> in an effort to make the House that Jack Warner built part of his own Hollywood empire.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the same night that it emerged Netflix was doing due diligence<\/a> on making a bid on some of WBD (even as co-CEO Ted Sarandos was among the attendees), and Comcast signaling interest as well, Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, are finding their \u201cHigh Noon\u201d standoff with Zaslav getting a little more crowded than they probably wanted. Many may have even been one or two tables over.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"David<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) David Zaslav, Steven Spielberg<\/a>, Dana Bash and David Ellison<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy\/Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tThere seemed to be a palpable buzz in the Four Seasons-owned hotel\u2019s ballroom, though everyone was on their best behavior, with other attendees including Jeffrey Katzenberg, The Pitt\u2018s Noah Wyle, Diane Warren, Irving Azoff, Jason Alexander, and A House of Dynamite producer Sarah Bremner,.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Team Zas, there here were CNN icon Wolf Blitzer (who narrated and appeared in the video tribute to Bash), David Geffen and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (who appeared prominently in the tribute video to old buddy Zaslav). Along with Zas, and the CNNers, fellow WBD toppers Casey Bloys, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, and Channing Dungey were in the room too. On Team Ellison, along with the boss, the Paramount Praetorian Guard of Makan Delrahim, Melissa Zukerman, Dana Goldberg, Josh Greenstein and Josh Goldstine were in there representing. <\/p>\n

\n\tAs moguls and other big name guests moved from table to table tonight between speeches and the meal service, it was noticeable\u00a0that Ellison and Zaslav did not break bread nor gab \u2014 at least publicly. In fact, separated by just a few tables, the two Davids seemed more set on ignoring each other rather than avoiding each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn-stage, it was all congeniality and sincerity. <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Dana Bash was honored (\u201cIt tells you a lot about the time we\u2019re in that being a Jew in the media gets you an award,\u201d the anchor quipped during her remarks), Katzenberg introduced Zaslav, joking that the WBD boss was loved by \u201calmost everybody in this room.\u201d It got a big laugh. A tribute video featured praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Ari Emanuel, Gloria Steinem, Graydon Carter and NFL team owner Kraft.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his own remarks, Spielberg called Zaslav \u201ca warrior\u201d against antisemitism and hate, praising him for his \u201cpersistence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tZaslav in his speech got surprisingly personal about his family\u2019s trials, triumphs and their escape from persecution in Poland to create a new life in America. The CEO exalted the U.S. for the freedom and opportunities it offered. Speaking of the connections he has to Poland now, both personally and professionally, Zaslav later noted how a previous right-wing government in the Russia-bordering nation tried to take control of the 24-hour news network WBD owned there, and the successful fight to keep it on the air.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStorytelling can be more powerful than armies,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat stories we tell will be our legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Zaslav on Thursday<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominic Patten\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with the acknowledgment of Zaslav\u2019s charitable and philanthropic work, especially battling against antisemitism, the night also saw\u00a0Aya Meydan\u00a0and\u00a0Omer Shem Tov receive the SWC\u2019s\u00a0Medal of Valor.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe latter was taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival by Hamas during their horrific October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities bordering Gaza. Held for 505 days filled with abuse and isolation up to almost the end, Shem Tov\u00a0was freed in February of this year. Kibbutz Be\u2019eri resident and triathlete Meydan was saved while out biking on October 7 by Bedouin worker Hisham Alkarnawi as Hamas fighters closed in, guns blazing. The duo hid for hours until a family member of Hisham came to rescue them and get Meydan to the incoming IDF.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother element of the evening was the praise of SWC\u2019s Moriah Media\u2019s Oded Davidoff- and Daniel Finkelstein-created and -directed One Day in October. Detailing the events and stories of October 7, the seven-episode drama (called Red Dawn in Israel<\/a>) premiered on WBD\u2019s HBO Max on October 7 of this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s gala raised $4.3 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all the deal drama in the room, this year\u2019s dinner was a far cry from the 2024 SWC gathering.<\/p>\n

\n\tHeld in May of last year, the dinner saw walkouts and howls of dissent <\/a>as Ari Emanuel tore into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what the super-agent saw as an overkill response to the October 7 attacks. \u201cThe time for Bibi Netanyahu to go has come,\u201d the TKO Group boss said from the stage in a sometimes less assertive than usual voice as the likes of Larry David, then Amazon Prime Video boss Jennifer Salke and spouse Bert Salke, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, powerhouse attorney Patty Glaser and husband Sam, and others looked on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav spoke fiercely about the power of storytelling and warned that \u201cwhen the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":345672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[169943,185,10755,169944,32129,47781,171,99,15329,169945,2407,67,132,68,27281,1021],"class_list":{"0":"post-345671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ari-emanurel","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-cnn","11":"tag-dana-bash","12":"tag-david-ellison","13":"tag-david-zaslav","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-paramount","17":"tag-simon-wiesenthal-center","18":"tag-steven-spielberg","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-warner-bros-discovery","23":"tag-warner-bros"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115469078460309154","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345671","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=345671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}