Carlos Watson Tells Today Show Ozy is BACK: ‘This is Our Lazarus Moment’

Aidan McLaughlinOct 4th, 2021, 8:27 am

Ozy Media — the confounding media company that announced it was shutting down on Friday after a brutal series of reports from New York Times columnist Ben Smith exposed its bizarre business practices — is back.

That’s according to Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson, who appeared on the Today show to announce that the company was not, as anticipated, going gently into that good night.

NBC’s Craig Melvin asked Watson on Monday if Ozy was indeed shutting down.

“We’re going to open for business,” Watson replied. “So we’re making news today.”

He proceeded to compare the company to Lazarus, the biblical figure who was brought back to life by Jesus:

This is our Lazarus moment, if you will. This is our Tylenol moment. Last week was traumatic. It was difficult. Heartbreaking in many ways. And at the end of the week, we did suspend operations with a plan to wind down. But as we spent time over the weekend, we talked to advertising partners, we talked to some of our readers, some of our viewers, some of our investors. I think Ozy is part of this moment. It’s not going to be easy. But I think what we do with newsletters, what we do with original TV shows, podcasts and more, I think it has a place.

Melvin proceeded to question Watson, a former MSNBC host, on the reported business practices of Ozy.

Those included the Ozy COO impersonating a YouTube executive on an investment call with Goldman Sachs, inventing quotes that praised the company for advertising campaigns, and massively inflating its audience by paying for the views and other dubious measures.

Despite the potential that Ozy’s COO committed a crime by impersonating an executive during that call, Watson said he has not received a call from law enforcement.

So there you have it. Congratulations to the all the fans of Ozy Media out there. It’s unclear, however, what the biblical resurrection of Ozy Media means for all of its employees, who were laid off and lost access to their emails on Friday.

Watch above, via NBC.