On the first day as the new owner of Paramount, CEO David Ellison insisted that Skydance was “not involved” in the Donald Trump-Paramount settlement, but deflected questions about a potential Skydance side deal made with Trump to run PSAs.
“We were not involved in the settlement in any way,” Ellison said at a New York City press event Thursday regarding the $16 million settlement paid by Paramount in Trump’s lawsuit against CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
When asked a second time if Skydance had a deal with Trump for PSAs, Ellison responded, “We are not going to politicize anything today.” He later doubled down on this message, saying, “I do not want to politicize our company in any way shape or form, we want to obviously speak to the biggest audience possible.”
Ellison’s refusal to specifically confirm or deny Trump’s previous statement that Paramount’s “new owners” made a $20 million deal for ads or PSAs of his choosing could be the new CEO’s way of seeking not to embarrass Trump by correcting him on the record.
While Paramount Global disputed media reports that the company’s $16 million settlement Trump included an agreement to run public service announcements on its networks, Trump mentioned an additional $20 million deal with Skydance in a July 22 Truth Social post, noting that the final settlement would be valued at over $36 million.
“This is another in a long line of victories over the Fake News media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit,” Trump wrote in the post. “The Wall Street Journal, The Failing New York Times, The Washington Post, MSDNC [MSNBC], CNN and all other Mainstream Media Liars, are on notice that the days of them being allowed to deceive the American people are over. Make America Great Again!”
At the time, representatives for Skydance, Paramount and the Trump administration all declined TheWrap’s request for comment.
When asked about whether Ellison is concerned the FCC would take action if the ombudsman — which Skydance told the FCC ahead of the settlement they would install at CBS News to address “complaints of bias or other concerns” — finds bias, Ellison said, “I don’t think it’ll get to that.”
“We want to be path-based and truth-based [as] a news organization. That’s what we’re about. That’s the legacy of CBS,” he said.
New president Jeff Shell added the ombudsman is a “transparency vehicle, not an oversight vehicle,” clarifying that the process at Paramount is not being “overseen by the FCC or anybody else.”
“We do believe in transparency, both in the news division and, frankly, in every other business that we’re in — that’s why we’re here today, our first day of the first couple hours,” Shell said. “The second thing that’s very important is it’s an internal process. Of course, people from the outside can utilize it, but it’s internal. It’s meant to be something where George [Cheeks] and I can work with the leadership if … people think there’s bias, or they think there’s things that are done wrong in reporting to see if something was done or not done, and see if any correct action needs to be taken.”
