Report: Apple TV+ Show Based on Gawker Media Got Scrapped After Tim Cook Intervened

[MacRumors]

An Apple TV+ series chronicling the rise of controversial blogging network Gawker Media was reportedly canned after Tim Cook learned about the project and intervened, according to a new report.

Earlier this year, Vanity Fair claimed Apple was in the early stages of developing a series about Gawker. Called "Scraper," the series was reportedly pitched by two former Gawker staffers, Max Read and Cord Jefferson.

According to a New York Times report on Sunday, however, Apple scrapped the show after Cook heard about its development. Sources told the publication that Cook was "surprised" to learn Apple was making the show and emailed an Apple executive to express his "distinctly negative view" towards the project.

Mr. Cook, according to two people briefed on the email, was surprised to learn that his company was making a show about Gawker, which had humiliated the company at various times and famously outed him, back in 2008, as gay. He expressed a distinctly negative view toward Gawker, the people said. Apple proceeded to kill the project. And now, the show is back on the market and the executive who brought it in, Layne Eskridge, has left the company. Gawker, it seems, is making trouble again.

As the report notes, Apple had a fraught relationship with the now-defunct media company. Notably in 2010, it was Gawker-owned Gizmodo that got its hands on an iPhone 4 prototype that had been accidentally left in a bar by an Apple employee.

This isn't the first time we've heard about Apple executives influencing Apple TV+ content development. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cook killed off a Dr Dre biopic "Vital Signs" after being troubled by the show's scenes depicting drawn guns, sex, and drug use.

In addition, Sunday's NYT report claims that Eddy Cue, Apple's senior VP for internet software and services, has informed Apple TV+ partners that "the two things we will never do are hard-core nudity and China."

As the report notes, Apple has explained its "corporate red lines" to creators before. As early as 2018, when Apple's original programming production got underway, company executives reportedly gave guidance to some show creators to "avoid portraying China in a bad light."

The full report about the Gawker show development and Tim Cook's intervention is available to read at The New York Times.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Report: Apple TV+ Show Based on Gawker Media Got Scrapped After Tim Cook Intervened

 

[sniffies]

Perhaps Samsung TV+ could take over the project

 

[H. Flower]

Good decision. Nobody with a conscience wants to watch a Gawker stroke job.

 

[EmotionalSnow]

(...) company executives reportedly gave guidance to some show creators to "avoid portraying China in a bad light."

A bit sad honestly. I'm hoping for a day when they don't have to give in to China anymore.

 

[rmoliv]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

 

[Davidglenn]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

Their TV channel Aople can show whatever they like. If it is great story then another streaming service will pay for it and show it.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Apple's never been known for its bigness.

It whined about Microsoft for years in spite of Microsoft doing exactly what Apple had done in following GUI trends. It still has the obnoxious blue screen of death icons in networking for Windows PCs on macOS in spite of macOS itself having so many bugs.

They went "thermonuclear" after Android and gave their users a worse experience by abandoning Google Maps too soon for their own version.

And the trillion dollar company apparently can't handle a story about a bankrupted company that ruffled its feathers a couple of times.

It's not a normal way for a gigantic corporation to run, but Apple is not run like a normal corporation. If anything I'm impressed that Tim Cook is involved in day to day decisions with the television programming—if only he had the chops to be involved in the software side of the business.

 

[LizardFace]

Apple's never been known for its bigness.

It whined about Microsoft for years in spite of Microsoft doing exactly what Apple had done in following GUI trends. It still has the obnoxious blue screen of death icons in networking for Windows PCs on macOS in spite of macOS itself having so many bugs.

They went "thermonuclear" after Android and gave their users a worse experience by abandoning Google Maps too soon for their own version.

And the trillion dollar company apparently can't handle a story about a bankrupted company that ruffled its feathers a couple of times.

It's not a normal way for a gigantic corporation to run, but Apple is not run like a normal corporation. If anything I'm impressed that Tim Cook is involved in day to day decisions with the television programming—if only he had the chops to be involved in the software side of the business.

He "learned about it" doesn't suggest he's involved in the day to day. I wouldn't expect the CEO of a trillion $ company to be involved in the day to day of anything and neither should anyone else. Apple is so successful because it's not run like a normal corporation.

 

[ginkobiloba]

In addition, Sunday's NYT report claims that Eddy Cue, Apple's senior VP for internet software and services, has informed Apple TV+ partners that "the two things we will never do are hard-core nudity and China."

It's always funny to see the difference on what is considered taboo between the U.S and Europe in their Film/TV/Commercial productions.
The U.S is very comfortable with hard-core violence but frowns on nudity.
Europe is very comfortable with hard-core nudity but frowns on violence.

Infer what you like from this

 

[gnipgnop]

When I read the headline, I immediately figured that it would be someone who worked at Gawker trying to make bank off of Apple for the show. It's just the Gawker mentality.

 

[scottlevin]

This is a baaaaad look from Apple.

 

[skipper63]

It's always funny to see the difference on what is considered taboo between the U.S and Europe in their Film/TV/Commercial productions.
The U.S is very comfortable with hard-core violence but frowns on nudity.
Europe is very comfortable with hard-core nudity but frowns on violence.

Infer what you like from this

Well, in contrast to hard core violence, nudity, sex and all that goes with it are a core thing of human existence and survival, thus it is natural and we Europeans see it as such.

Why a society glorifies violence and brutality so much and has a problem with nudity even in a sauna is beyond me.

 

[xxray]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

It's a company, not a government...

 

[Kkspire]

This is a baaaaad look from Apple.

Is this just trolling or do you legit think that 😂😂

 

[Digital Dude]

He "learned about it" doesn't suggest he's involved in the day to day. I wouldn't expect the CEO of a trillion $ company to be involved in the day to day of anything and neither should anyone else. Apple is so successful because it's not run like a normal corporation.

Respectfully, Steve Jobs certainly was. I had friends that worked at Apple H.Q. back when my main job was at BEA Systems, formally FMC Corp as a senior test analyst, a mile away. When his department heads told him that things were essentially going well during staff meetings, Steve 'reportedly' became suspicious. It wasn't uncommon for him to visit the labs to check with the line workers. ✌️

P.S. I like your screen name. My mother used to tell me that all I needed was leathery ears and a long gray tail, then I would look like a rat. 🐁

 

[Admiral]

Gawker Media and everyone who worked there was hot garbage. What goes around comes around.

 

[Ar40]

This is a baaaaad look from Apple.

I think it's an excellent look. The show sounded garbage when it was rumored in 2019.

 

[Janichsan]

Gawker Media and everyone who worked there was hot garbage. What goes around comes around.

I'm still baffled that not few former Gawker authors seem to see it as champion for Free Speech™, when in fact a good portion of its kind of "journalism" was on the same level as some Murdoch tabloids.

 

[ian87w]

A bit sad honestly. I'm hoping for a day when they don't have to give in to China anymore.

All of US media and Hollywood have been pro China in the last few years. Why do you think they keep making the Transformers movies despite the poor reviews and receptions? Because they sold well in China.

 

[citysnaps]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

That is so funny! Steve Jobs would have done the same.

Don't like Apple? No worries. Open your wallet to Sanyo or Dell and purchase their products. Buh bye!

 

[JosephAW]

In a few years it will be Apple TV who?

 

[Krizoitz]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

Because they decided not to produce a tv show? You realize that media companies have done this since day one right? No one is entitled to have their idea for a tv show made you know that right? Like its not in the US Constitution, Treaties of the EU, UN Declaration of Human Rights, etc.?

Plus, since Apple is not a government it literally can't be a dictatorship...

 

[mixel]

It's definitely not in Apple's interests to make open enemies of people like Peter Theil, who got Gawker shut down.. There seems to be an element of truce among the silicon valley elites, and I can imagine why.

Yes Gawker network did some bad **** and had some bad practices under some of its editors - those weren't its main body of work.. They also hired some great journalists who've thankfully - largely - moved on to other places now. The way that Gawker got shut down was very interesting - and disturbing, for anyone arguing for a free press - there is definitely a story there..

But it's a story that opens you to a bunch of legal problems if you tell it. I doubt this was anything to do with Cook's personal experience with Gawker at all. It's a total radioactive potato and I wouldn't want to be the one publishing it either. Saying that.. If it does get a studio, and get made.. This little wrinkle adds to the story a bit, maybe.

 

[baryon]

...avoid portraying China in a bad light.

That's the only part that unsettles me. So if someone wants to make a documentary about concentration camps in China, Apple won't allow it because it has to lick China's butt. I mean of course, it makes sense that China would be upset if Apple did that. I'm sure Hitler would not have allowed documentaries about concentration camps either, it makes perfect sense. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't upset you to your core.

To say that you're a pro human rights, pro-environment, modern-thinking company to show that you stand on the good side of the ethical scale, while openly participating in the censorship of genocide by an all-powerful communist dictatorship is just totally hypocritical. Because when it happens to benefit YOU financially, you say the right things. But when it doesn't, you do the opposite. Apple's main customers are young, modern-thinking open-minded people who are in majority pro LGBT, no wonder Apple is openly supporting gay rights. Not because they believe in it, but because it benefits them financially. If Russia was their manufacturing partner, Apple would be as anti-gay as it can be.

There's a point where you can say "yeah but I don't want to get involved in the politics of another country". Yeah yeah, whatever, you just make electronics, whatever. But now you've gotten involved in film production, which is a powerful art form that can help change the world, get information out to people in ways that no other medium can. And what is your first rule about that? No China. You're censoring it. You're not just censuring it in China (like YouTube or Facebook), you're censuring it everywhere, for everyone. So get this: an American can't make an American documentary criticizing China, for an American audience, if Apple is the producer. Chinese censorship has successfully bled into the "free world" through Apple.

Apple wants you to just keep producing mind-numbing, entertaining, boredom-fighting films, as long as it doesn't question the world we live in, as long as it isn't actually informative and upsetting. The kinds of stuff you'd watch to chill after a long day of work. That's not what films are for, it's just what they have become. Art is more than that, it has a purpose, and people are actively working on taking that purpose away and dumbing it down so people stay stupid.

Don't think about China. Think about... the new iPhone. It has 19 cameras.

So why not just make your documentary elsewhere? Well eventually everyone will depend on China and no one will want to take the risk. China will not hesitate to ban anything, and that's a whole lot of money lost if it happens. So no one will really hear about the concentration camps because it's not in anyone's interest to talk about it. Sound familiar? Mind your own business, keep working and buying the expensive products and don't ask too many questions. Yes yes, you live in a free country with free speech, on the condition that you don't talk about certain topics.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple behaves like a dictatorship.

Really? And here I am complaining that Apple isn't behaving enough like a dictator.