Now-Former HBO Max Execs Claim David Zaslav Plans To Move Warner Bros. Discovery Away From Producing Divisive Left-Wing Content: âThere Was Just A Massive, âWe Donât Need You. Youâre Not Offering The Things Weâre Focused On.ââ
Now-former HBO Max executives have claimed that CEO David Zaslavâs recent cancellation of various Warner Bros. Discovery projects was done in service of moving the company away from producing divisive left-wing content in favor of entertaining the average viewer.
This insight into Zaslavâs alleged plans were provided by the ex-HBO Max executives, all of whom had their positions eliminated as part of the cuts and spoke to the outlet under the condition of anonymity, to The Daily Beast.
Speaking to the recent scrapping of such projects as the J.J. Abrams-led animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, the family sitcom Gordita Chronicles, and most notably Batgirl, the former team members explained that rather than the loss of the works themselves or the fact that fans may not get to see something they may have been excited for, their main grievance was with with the fact that the jobs of a number of non-white executives had fallen victim to this new programming shift.
âI donât think anyone knows just how white the staff is,â said one recently-let-go executive, while another separately speculated that these cuts left âmaybe one Black woman [executive] on the HBO side. Maybe.â
â[Zaslavâs cuts have] amplified the lack of diversity at HBO,â added yet another ex-exec. âHBO is the most homogenous part of this umbrella. Instead of trying to figure out how to integrate some of the [Max] executives into HBO, they just made this sweeping cut of three divisions: kids, family, and international.â
âA lot of Black and brown people lost their jobs,â they concluded.
As to why these cuts were being made, as per The Daily Beastâs own recollection of their conversations with the anonymous interviewees, the âformer Warner employees believe these changes are just as much about business as they are about reshaping the ideological perception of Warner properties.â
âIt all points to the same end, they say: A rejection of left-wing or highly diverse content in favor of more homogenous, Middle America-friendly fare,â summarized the outlet, before attempting to infer an ulterior motive to Zaslavâs plans. âThe lack of diversity in content staff might just make that goal easier.â
According to an internal comparison of WBDâs Discovery+ and HBO Max viewed by The Daily Beast, the companyâs two main streaming services boast two entirely different demographics.
As per their reported data, viewers of Discovery+ skewed towards an older, white, and married viewership, many of whom drive either SUVs, minivans, or âtraveling busesâ and use only the most basic of social media – Facebook and Twitter – âif anyâ at all.
Further, this audience was almost overwhelmingly found to be âempty nestersâ – parents whose children have grown-up and moved away from home – if not outright grandparents.
Conversely, HBO Max was said to have found a home amongst the more millennial minded, performing well with single members of âdiverse groupsâ who used more visual-oriented social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram and were likely to drive hybrid cars.
â[Discovery+ is a] more general audience platform that doesnât have the specificity that HBO Max was tailored to,â explained one executive. âI think Discovery is just a very âallâ audience, [they] donât wanna make things that are political, topical, alienate Middle Americaâmore Chip and Joanna.â
âIf David Zaslav had his wish, he would just program Chip and Joanna all day long,â they admitted. âThere was just a massive, âWe donât need you. Youâre not offering the things weâre focused on.ââ
Concluding their interviews with The Daily Beast, the executives once again reaffirmed that their greatest loss in regards to the WBD bloodbath was not anyoneâs creative vision or fan disappointment, but rather the loss of diversity among the companyâs executives.
âIn terms of people seeing themselves reflected, whether itâs ethnic or LGBTQ, when you have people who are diverse, the lens with which they evaluate [content] factors in things that I think my white colleagues just donât think about,â said one of the anonymous respondents.
Another asserted, âItâs deep.”
“What are they going to do with this disproportionate amount of people of color that were let go?â they asked. âThey need to replace them in some capacity. Or do they not care? Thatâs what weâve been told, that they just donât care.â
