Evenin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on SUNDAY, May 24, 2026.
Where who’s got two Irish thumbs and gets to work on Sunday of a holiday weekend? Please, hide your jealousy. It’s unbecoming.
But let’s start off with a moment of remembrance for those whose work was both vastly harder and more important than analysis of the entertainment business, with a sincere thank you to those who died to fight for, establish and protect the freedoms our country enjoys — and still has the right to defend today.
SPEAKING OF: A TN sheriff who jailed a man for 37 days over a FACEBOOK post around the death of Charlie Kirk that the sheriff seemingly did not like now has to pay that man $835k.
PLUS: The Late Show finale got 6.7M viewers on Thursday night, obviously the biggest ever for the show (ex. post-Super Bowl edition). Letterman’s finale drew 13.7M in 2015, in a very different time for linear TV (and late night).
ALSO: Here are your Cannes 2026 winners, and yes, NEON won again (that’s seven in a row).
WELL: Some more free speech on display this weekend — ladies and gentlemen, please welcome at MAGAback, #6, Jaxson Dart!
Remember the hubbub that arose around debunked reports of Tom Brady, maybe, possibly simply wearing a MAGA hat briefly in a locker room in 2015? 😂
Now, athletes have just as much of a right to express their political beliefs as all Americans, of course, and we’ll see if the local NYC endorsement marketplace also has any thoughts on the topic — or if Dart has any further political statements ahead to the New York media.
Carter also followed up with this post later, reminding us that political alignment isn’t a requirement for being athletic teammates who work together.
REST IN PEACE: For any fellow 30 Rock fanatics out there, Grizz Chapman died at the age of 52 last week.
OH: This look at how FOX is getting quite a discount on men’s World Cup rights this year due to FIFA’s . . . suspect decision to hold a soccer tournament in the middle of the desert in 2022 was pretty fascinating. Keep an eye on that Q3 FOX CORP earnings report profit margin.
AND: Ya gotta love Colbert hosting another talk show the day after his big CBS finale, taking over Only in Monroe on MI public access TV (something he once did before his CBS show started), with guests Jeff Daniels, Eminem, Jack White and Steve Buscemi doing a local pizza commercial. 🤌
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