Mediate One Sheet: Bad Bunny, Washington Post Crisis, Trump’s Racist Video and More!

The Big Picture

Jeff Bezos forced Will Lewis out Saturday night after the Super Bowl photo scandal. Bad Bunny’s halftime show split MAGA world, with Trump’s own allies pushing back. A $75 million Melania documentary collapsed at the box office. And blowback from Trump’s racist video — and how newsrooms covered it — continues to unfold.

Today’s sources: Status | Axios | Semafor | Politico Playbook | CNN Reliable Sources | Puck | CJR | The Bulwark | The Ankler | Feed Me | Tubefilter | Fox News | Poynter | Awful Announcing

Top Story

 

BEZOS FORCED LEWIS OUT AFTER SUPER BOWL PHOTO

Will Lewis resigned as Washington Post CEO Saturday night after two years of controversy. The chattering class responded with something close to relief: Good riddance.

Status’s Natalie Korach delivered the definitive account. At 5:30pm Saturday, staffers received an email from Lewis with no subject line — “now is the right time for me to step aside.” The first time they’d heard from him since Wednesday’s layoffs would be the last. Inside the newsroom: “Good fucking riddance,” one staffer said. “Will’s legacy can be summed up as nothing more than having destroyed an institution in American media.”

The Financial Times reported what really happened, per Politico Playbook: Bezos lost patience. “Bezos lost patience after the Super Bowl thing,” a newsroom source said, referring to Lewis at Thursday’s NFL Honors, while Executive Editor Matt Murray handled layoffs alone. The photo became the final straw.

Semafor’s Max Tani framed it as a strategic failure. Lewis arrived in late 2023 with “cautious optimism” but lost his footing due to two errors: blocking the Post from reporting on his UK phone-hacking role, then watching Bezos pull the Harris endorsement. The Post “squandered two precious years throwing around buzzword-filled plans few understood, like the comical, unrealized ‘third newsroom.'” One staffer: “In a normal world it was a fireable offense. Glad it was in this world too.”

Axios’s Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn reported CFO Jeff D’Onofrio was named acting CEO. Status reported his primary interest appeared to be “belt-tightening” — he imposed “inconvenient expense-report guidelines that led to clashes with editorial management.” One person familiar: “He’s a smart business guy, but not really publisher material.”

Status’s Jon Passantino revealed that right before layoffs, wealthy Washingtonians approached Lewis about buying the metro and sports sections. He never responded. The Post Guild: “His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution.”

Semafor exclusively reported the Post prepared a new brand campaign with the tagline “We the People” — but MS NOW announced a $20 million campaign with the same tagline, forcing the Post to abort. It would’ve been their second marketing campaign in a year.

Fox News’s Howard Kurtz, who spent 29 years at the Post, delivered the bluntest verdict: “And now he should fold his cards and sell it.” Kurtz wrote that Bezos “destroyed what was once one of America’s great newspapers” and argued the mogul is “bored with the property he once believed would bring him instant credibility. He’s more interested in his rocket company. The Post is a blip on his global radar.” Kurtz noted Peter Baker’s reporting that Bezos’s net worth is up $224 billion since buying the Post — he could absorb years of $100 million annual losses with what he makes in weeks.

Tani delivered the devastating analysis: “The tragedy of the Post is that its greatest days have always come from the business that’s right there in the name: Washington. The US Capital is the best story in the world, and also the commercial home to some of the only enduring news startups of the last decade: Politico, then Axios and Punchbowl, and to a degree Semafor.”

QUICK TAKE: Lewis thanked Bezos in his resignation note. Bezos didn’t mention Lewis in his statement. When wealthy Washingtonians offered to buy the sections you’re killing and you don’t respond, and you can’t even launch a marketing campaign without MS NOW taking your tagline, you don’t have a publisher problem — you have an owner who doesn’t care. Thankfully, the newsletters avoided using the term “defenestration.”

Three Takes

BAD BUNNY’S SUPER BOWL: MAGA WORLD SPLITS

Three perspectives on the halftime show that divided Trump’s own coalition.

Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish performance ended with “Together we are America” emblazoned on a football he spiked before leaving the field. At 9pm Eastern, Trump posted: “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting.”

Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns, writing for Politico Playbook, chronicled the MAGA backlash. Conservative influencer Emily Austin: “Bad Bunny had the biggest stage in the world and could’ve made it political. He didn’t. He chose unity & love.” Harrison Fields, Trump’s former press aide who left the White House months ago: “Last time I checked, my Puerto Rico-born grandmother was a full American citizen — and she voted for Trump.” Vianca Rodriguez, former Trump campaign official: “Way to go alienating your Puerto Rican conservative base.” Even Logan Paul rounded on brother Jake: “Puerto Ricans are Americans & I’m happy they were given the opportunity to showcase the talent that comes from the island.” Playbook’s analysis: “Bad Bunny is the world’s top-streamed star, and a U.S. citizen representing a large and hugely important demographic. And as Republicans in, say … Texas will tell you, Trump has a growing problem with the Latino voters who turned out for him in 2024.”

Max Tani, writing for Semafor, called it “one of the best-choreographed and most unique halftime spectacles in recent years” but predicted the “all-Spanish lineup is sure to dominate Fox News programming all week.” The TPUSA alternate show featuring Kid Rock “notched millions of viewers” — counterprogramming MAGA world celebrated even as those numbers were “dwarfed by the audience for America’s biggest sporting event.”

Noah Shachtman, writing for The New York Times in an op-ed surfaced by Status, argued MAGA outrage over Bad Bunny is “the cultural equivalent of raging about the end of the eight-track tape.” America’s pop culture is multilingual and polycultural at its core — complaining about it reveals how out of touch the backlash is.

QUICK TAKE: Turning Point USA’s counterprogramming with Kid Rock drew 6 million viewers to an “All American Halftime Show” — proof that even the Super Bowl halftime can’t escape America’s culture war trenches. When Trump’s own former White House aides publicly rebuke him for attacking a Puerto Rican American’s performance, and the opposition responds by creating an entirely separate halftime show, we’ve passed the point where anything can be apolitical. The halftime show used to be entertainment. Now it’s a referendum. That’s not Bad Bunny’s fault — it’s ours.

Three MORE Takes

Three perspectives on the president posting a video of the Obamas as apes.

Trump’s Truth Social posted a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes Thursday night, then deleted it hours later. The White House claimed it was based on “The Lion King” — which has no gorillas — then blamed a staffer.

Brian Stelter, writing for CNN’s Reliable Sources, documented the newsroom debate. CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil: “We had a long debate today about whether to even show the image. Is it essential to understand the story? Or, if we show it, are we amplifying a racist image that the White House has since deleted?” CBS showed it briefly. CNN did too. Fox News came late, and when Bret Baier covered it, he was “pummeled with complaints from viewers who didn’t want to hear about it.”

The NYT’s Stuart A. Thompson wrote the racist video fit a pattern where “influencers behind some of the most pernicious digital lies… are now emboldened, promoted on major platforms and even mimicked by some of the most powerful people in the country.”

Colby Hall, Mediaite’s Founding Editor, examined how Trump’s media allies embarrassed themselves defending it. From the absurd “Lion King” justification to blaming staffers to pretending it didn’t happen, right-wing media offered shameless cover while mainstream outlets debated editorial responsibility. The contrast: newsrooms workshopped whether showing racism was journalism while Trump’s allies offered defenses so ridiculous they’d be funny if they weren’t dangerous.

QUICK TAKE: The question isn’t “should we show a racist video?” It’s “why are we pretending this is complicated after a decade of Trump coverage?” Mainstream media debated. Right-wing media defended. The racism spread regardless. The answer has always been obvious. The debate is the problem.

 

📰 Top Reads 📰

Axios, Sara Fischer & Kerry Flynn
JEFF D’ONOFRIO NAMED WAPO ACTING CEO — Joined Post in June as CFO, previously at Raptive, Tumblr, Google. Memo: “We are ending a hard week of change with more change.” Lewis wasn’t on Wednesday’s layoff Zoom, didn’t send a note to staff, then turned up at NFL Honors Thursday. Status reported D’Onofrio’s primary interest appeared to be “belt-tightening” — imposed “inconvenient expense-report guidelines that led to clashes with editorial management.” … QUOTE (person familiar with D’Onofrio): “He’s a smart business guy, but not really publisher material.” … TAKEAWAY: Staff fear next chapter “defined by continued obsession with ‘sustainability’ and corporate-speak that have focused on cutting jobs without evidence of a larger plan.”

Status, Jon Passatino
RICH WASHINGTONIANS APPROACHED LEWIS, HE NEVER RESPONDED — Reported that right before layoffs, a group of rich Washingtonians approached Lewis about spinning off/selling metro and sports sections. He never responded. Kara Swisher has expressed “serious interest in leading a group” since 2024. Washington Post Guild after resignation: “It’s not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper.” … TAKEAWAY: Buyers wanted to save sections. Lewis ignored them. Now those sections are gone.

Semafor, Max Tani
DC MEDIA FILLING WAPO’S GAP — Group of newly laid-off WaPo tech reporters “have told people they have prospective financial backing for a Verge-like publication that could launch on Substack.” City Cast CEO David Plotz: expanding Washington coverage “as a direct result of the Post’s pullback.” Baltimore Banner expanding DC suburbs coverage. … QUOTE: “The tragedy of the Post is that its greatest days have always come from the business that’s right there in the name: Washington.” … TAKEAWAY: The enduring news startups of the last decade are all DC-focused: Politico, Axios, Punchbowl, Semafor. The Post‘s “roving identity crisis has come at enormous cost.”

Politico Playbook, Jack Blanchard & Dasha Burns
DEMOCRATS WANT THE BAD BUNNY PLAYBOOK — Former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez: “Democrats do too little to engage the Latino community, and then they wonder why all these Latinos voted for Trump? Because you didn’t knock on their doors.” AOC: “It’s such a huge watershed moment.” Rep. Robert Garcia: “There are moments in history that really move a community and solidify them within a political movement.” Bad Bunny didn’t schedule mainland shows last year partly due to concerns ICE would target concerts. … QUOTE: “There’s just no scenario where he is not going to have a message.” — Rep. Robert Garcia … TAKEAWAY: Democrats trying to capitalize on cultural moment as they mount resistance to deportation agenda.

CJR, Siddhartha Mahanta
WAPO GUTTED INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE DESPITE STATED STRATEGY — Middle East correspondents gone, Ukraine bureau chief out, correspondents in China/Iran/Turkey eliminated, nearly entire San Francisco bureau axed — despite Murray’s vision to focus on “technology, climate, and business.” Amazon beat was cut. … QUOTE: “Matt has not articulated how he expects us to be distinctive, to be innovative, to be a newspaper that people are willing to pay for with half the workforce we had two days ago.” — Sarah Kaplan, climate reporter … TAKEAWAY: Announcing you’ll focus on technology while closing the San Francisco bureau isn’t strategy — it’s chaos.

Evergreen/User Mag, Miranda Green
WHERE DO 300+ WAPO REPORTERS GO NOW? — Between 2008-2020: newsrooms shed 30,000 jobs (26%). Between 2024-2034: estimated 18% more losses. Taylor Lorenz: “Some of the best journalists in the world are deeply detail oriented, really good at challenging power, which does not get an audience online.” Former colleague considered becoming electrician. SF Chronicle reporter left to become veterinarian. … QUOTE (Jeff Stein, WaPo reporter): “We can’t have just one major national newspaper in America.” … TAKEAWAY: News deserts don’t stay empty. They fill with something worse than journalism.

The Bulwark, Sonny Bunch
YOUTUBER BEAT $75M MELANIA DOC WITH $7M IN PRESALES — Markiplier’s “Iron Lung” ($17.8M opening) more than doubled Amazon-MGM’s “Melania” despite its $75M budget. Amazon spent $35M advertising a doc that cost $40M. Chris Stuckmann’s film grossed only $6M with 2M subscribers vs. Markiplier’s 38M. … QUOTE (Sonny Bunch): “Taylor Swift doesn’t need to run an eight-figure ad campaign. She just needs to activate her legion of fans. However, this is a very rare tier of creator.” … TAKEAWAY: You can’t manufacture what Markiplier has. Without it, you’re stuck in the expensive awareness grind.

The Ankler, Lesley Goldberg
SENIOR EXECS DISCOVER THERE’S NOWHERE LEFT TO GO — “Wild theories” about Dana Walden’s options if not given expanded Disney authority. But one source: “There’s nowhere for her to go. It would have had to be a tech company.” Another: “She’d never go to Amazon after Jen Salke went there” (close friends). … QUOTE (Lesley Goldberg): “What are your options if you don’t get a top job? There are increasingly limited paths for executives of her ilk and experience.” … TAKEAWAY: The executive musical chairs game only works when there are chairs. The ladder has fewer rungs.

Feed Me, Emily Sundberg
JOANNA STERN LEAVES WSJ AFTER 12 YEARS — Launching own consumer tech media company on beehiiv. “I finally hit the ceiling of what I could build there.” Book “I AM NOT A ROBOT” drops May. WSJ EIC Emma Tucker said she’ll continue contributing. … TAKEAWAY: When even WSJ — one of the few profitable outlets — loses top talent to independent platforms, the creator economy isn’t just for influencers. The institutions are losing.

Awful Announcing, Drew Lerner
TONY KORNHEISER: DC DOESN’T HAVE A NEWSPAPER ANYMORE — The legendary Washington Post sports columnist whose section was just eliminated… QUOTE: “I grew up wanting to be on a newspaper, and now I face the reality that the capital of the United States of America does not have a newspaper. It just does not. Not a full newspaper.” … TAKEAWAY: When your most iconic voices are publicly declaring you’re no longer a real newspaper, the damage is done. The Post didn’t just lose a sports section. It lost credibility.

🎬 SHOWBIZ

Status, Brian Lowry
‘ANDOR’ BECAME REAL-WORLD ANTI-ICE PROTEST SYMBOL — Disney+ series seeped into demonstrations, protesters carrying “Rebellions Are Built on Hope” signs. Creator Tony Gilroy watched Sen. Alex Padilla manhandled at Kristi Noem’s press conference “just weeks after ‘Andor’ featured a senator’s arrest by Stormtroopers.” GWU professor Dave Karpf: fiction might be “the safest place for poking fun at fascism” as media ownership cozies up to Trump. … QUOTE (Tony Gilroy): “We live narratively. I do hope we have some part to play.” … TAKEAWAY: When journalism won’t touch it, fiction fills the gap.

Status, Natalie Korach
MELANIA COLLAPSED TO $2.4M IN SECOND WEEKEND — Slipped to ninth place, fell “roughly two-thirds from its opening frame.” $13M domestic total, “puny international numbers.” Amazon statement: theatrical release about “building awareness” ahead of Prime Video debut. “Will need lots of streams to justify its $75 million investment.” … TAKEAWAY: Bezos spent more on Melania than it would cost to save the Post sports section for a decade.

The Ankler, Lesley Goldberg
DAYTIME TALK SHOWS KEEP DYING — Kelly Clarkson ending NBCUniversal show after 7 seasons (ex-husband Brandon Blackstock died of cancer last summer). Lionsgate pulled plug on Sherri after 4 seasons. Shows cost $20-35M per season with 150-200 staff. YouTube dominates daytime. Remaining talkers: Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Hudson, Karamo Brown, Steve Wilkos, Tamron Hall. … QUOTE (Frank Cicha, Fox TV Stations EVP): “Last year when Stephen Colbert got canceled was a watershed moment. If the No. 1 show in late night can be canceled and have finances be part of the reasons, then the floodgates can open.” … TAKEAWAY: When you can’t compete with YouTube, even top shows die.

 

👀 What Got Missed? 👀

The Two Melania Stories the Chattering Class Ignored

CNN’s Reliable Sources casually mentioned Friday that “a religious freedom group says US military members were ‘pressured’ by commanders to see ‘Melania.'” That’s not a box office story — that’s a Pentagon propaganda story that got almost no pickup in the chattering class.

The broader observation the newsletters missed: what Bezos’s $75 million Melania investment reveals about his actual priorities. Carlos Lozada made the point in his NYT column — after watching it, “I can only conclude that turning a profit on a quality product is not always Bezos’ primary motivation.” But the chattering class didn’t connect the dots.

You can afford a presidential vanity project with a 6% critics score (Rotten Tomatoes confirmed the 99% user score vs. 6% critics score is the “widest favorability gap in history”) but not staff photographers at your newspaper? You can drop $40 million to produce and $35 million to market a documentary that loses to a YouTuber, but you can’t respond to emails from wealthy Washingtonians who wanted to buy the sections you just killed?

The juxtaposition writes the story the newsletters missed: Bezos’s priorities are crystal clear. They just have nothing to do with journalism.

 

🏆 Newsletter of the Day 🏆

Poynter — Tom Jones delivered “The Washington Post just lived a week that will live in infamy” — the most complete account of Lewis’s catastrophic tenure. From NYT’s Kevin Draper’s devastating summary (“Came to one of the best journalism organizations on the planet, had only bad ideas for 2 years, didn’t stop the owner from a self-destructive move, laid off hundreds of people and then dipped”) to the Josh Dawsey anecdote (Lewis promised 7 years over drinks, never followed up), Jones captured every angle of the disaster. He called Lewis’s tenure “one of the most controversial and blundering executive stints in modern media history” and documented how Lewis didn’t even bother to mention journalists in his resignation note. The reporting was comprehensive, the sourcing impeccable, and the judgment clear: “Perhaps the one thing [D’Onofrio] has going for him is that he is not Lewis.”

🎯 The Bottom Line 🎯

Lewis thanked Bezos in his resignation note. Bezos didn’t mention Lewis in his statement. That tells you everything.

The chattering class agreed across the political spectrum — from Status to Semafor to Fox News — that Bezos destroyed the Post. Howard Kurtz, who spent 29 years there, said Bezos should “fold his cards and sell it.” The paper squandered two years on buzzwords while ignoring buyers who wanted to save the sections that got eliminated.

Meanwhile, Trump attacked Bad Bunny’s halftime show and his own former White House aides pushed back. Turning Point USA created an entirely separate halftime show. The Super Bowl can’t even be apolitical anymore.

Semafor’s Max Tani was right: “The tragedy of the Post is that its greatest days have always come from the business that’s right there in the name: Washington.” The enduring news startups all understood that. The Post forgot it. That’s the story.

 

Editor’s note — An earlier version of this newsletter incorrectly attributed reporting to Status. The observation about Fox News viewers complaining about Bret Baier’s coverage was from CNN’s Reliable Sources. A quote attributed to Oliver Darcy and Status did not appear in Status’s reporting. We regret the errors.