The Donald Trump Conversation: Murdoch, Ailes, NBC and the Rush of Being TV's "Ratings Machine"

In his first magazine cover interview and photo shoot as the leading Republican, the reality TV presidential candidate lets loose on Hillary's email scandal ("Watergate on steroids"), Bill Cosby ("Was he drunk?"), whether he'll go on Megyn Kelly's show, why he won't accept vice president, Melania as first lady, and if he even needs Fox News and the haters.

A version of story first appeared in the Aug. 28 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

I'm sitting in the reception area of Donald Trump's offices on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in New York when an assistant comes to fetch me: "Mr. Trump would like to see you," she says, as if I were a contestant on The Apprentice, the NBC reality series that brought the real estate mogul's bravado and business savvy to 20 million Americans each week at its peak. She leads me to a vast conference room where cameras click as Trump, 69, signs papers with another man. Standing at attention are two of his children, Ivanka, 33, andErik, 31, and about a dozen others. The scene has the pomp of historical significance one might associate with the Yalta Conference. Except this agreement being signed is for new Trump hotels in Asia in partnership with a gentleman who, Trump enthuses, is "the richest man" in his country (at press time, the deal was yet to be announced). Pens write with flourish, there is applause. Trump then calls me over: "Janice! You got to see this woman!" he says, motioning to a female dressed in a suit sitting next to the "richest man." It's never explained to me whether she is his wife or colleague. I don't know if she understands what is being said. "Isn't she beautiful? Beautiful!" he continues as she stands expressionless. "This is your business to know these things," he says to me, as an editor. "Just look at her!"

Via: Hollywood Reporter

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Jay Leno Tests Trump Material, Talks Cosby, Questions Kimmel's "Mean Streak"

Jay Leno was in familiar territory on Thursday morning, when NBC kicked off its day in front of the Television Critics Association with a panel for the former Tonight host's new CNBC show.

[VIDEO] Jay Leno In-Depth: Post-'Tonight' Plans, Kimmel's Insults, Zucker, What He Taught Letterman (Q&A)

And while reporters had a surprising amount of questions about Leno's famous fixation with cars, as showcased in Jay Leno's Garage, there were a few pointed inquiries about the current Donald Trump media circus, the latest round of late-night musical chairs, his recent comments about Jimmy Kimmel and the ongoing Bill Cosby drama.

"It's interesting watching this whole thing unfold," Leno said of Trump. "He and Jeb Bush are the frontrunners... it's kind of like the race between the tortoise and the bad hair."

For anyone who's been missing Leno's monologues since his 2014 sign-off, he offered a few more cracks. "There are a few jokes," he continued. "Trump had medical deferment [during Vietnam... he had inter-rectum cranial inversion — which means his head is up his ass." [ba-dum chh!]

Leno had more insightful comments about the current late-night race. When asked what he thought of Stephen Colbert's upcoming arrival on CBS' Late Show, he said that he thought he'll be "terrific" but quickly made a crack about the current landscape.

"The idea of a white guy in late night, this is revolutionary," he said, lamenting the absence of women and lack of racial diversity in the field.  "I'd live to see more diversity. Arsenio Hall really blew things open [in the '90s]. I don't know why we haven't had someone else come in, just for a different perspective."

Leno, who appeared on the first episode of James Corden's Late Late Show, did not say whether or not he would be a guest on Colbert when he launches —"I'm kind of loyal to the night show and to Jimmy [Fallon]" — in part, seemingly, because he is very proud of The Tonight Show's No. 1 status.

"As long as its No. 1 when you hand it over to the next guy, you've done your job," he said. "And Jimmy will keep it there."

Speaking of Jimmys (and competition), it was just Wednesday night that Leno gave an interview to TVInsider, saying he thought Jimmy Kimmel was talented but his comedy has a "mean streak." After his panel, Leno spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the comments — and did not change his tune.

"I think he’s really funny and I think he’s talented, I just think he has a bit of a mean streak," said Leno. "The best thing you can have in this job is kindness. That’s the one thing you have to keep because this job makes you arrogant, it makes you think you’re superior. Consequently, there’s a tendency to nail the little guy. When I watch his thing where he takes the candy away from the kids at Halloween and they cry, I don’t get that. That seems mean to me. I guess it’s funny on some level. But on another level, it doesn’t come from the heart. It comes from somewhere else. And I think that’s maybe why he hasn’t achieved the success he’d like to because I think he’s just got a bit of a mean streak."

Before leaving the Beverly Hilton ballroom, Leno also touched on one hot-button issue: Bill Cosby and the critical mass of accusations of rape and sexual abuse levied against him in the last year.

Via: Hollywood Reporter

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2016: Obama's America' Filmmaker Calls White House Attack 'Clumsy,' 'Bizarre' (Exclusive Audio)

AP

'2016: Obama's America' Filmmaker Calls White House Attack 'Clumsy,' 'Bizarre'

by Paul Bond

Filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza has responded to a White House assertion that his documentary, 2016: Obama’s America, is packed with lies and conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama.

“Their original strategy was to lie low and hope this goes away, but now they’re launching a full-scale attack,” D’Souza told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “And this is one of the most bizarre, clumsy and ineffective attacks I have seen in politics. Half of the stuff they talk about isn’t even in the film, like the Lockerbie bomber. These guys are referencing a Columbia Journalism Review article that’s two years old and is about my book, not about the film.”

The president, through his Barack Obama.com campaign website, challenges D’Souza’s credibility by saying he has a “long history of attempting to add a veneer of intellectual respectability to fringe theories, conspiratorial fear-mongering and flat-out falsehoods.”

 Via: The Hollywood Reporter

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