What you need to know
- Apple TV+ was reportedly working on a TV show based on Gawker Media.
- CEO Tim Cook got wind of the project and had it scrapped.
- The show is now back on the market and will likely air elsewhere.
Apple TV+ was reportedly working on a new show that was set to be about Gawker Media – until CEO Tim Cook found out. According to The New York Times, Cook had the project killed off.
The series was set to be called Scraper and was pitched by Max Read and Cord Jefferson, two former Gawker employees. But after hiring two more to write the show, Cook heard about it. And that was the end of that.
The relationship between Apple and Gawker is complicated. The media outfit outed Cook as Gay in 2008 and it's no secret that he is no fan. The company also owned Gizmodo which published photos of a prototype iPhone 4 that was famously found in a bar. That whole thing ultimately change the tech media landscape.
Mr. Cook, according to two people briefed on the email, was surprised to learn that his company was making a show about Gawker, which had humiliated the company at various times and famously outed him, back in 2008, as gay. He expressed a distinctly negative view toward Gawker, the people said. Apple proceeded to kill the project. And now, the show is back on the market and the executive who brought it in, Layne Eskridge, has left the company. Gawker, it seems, is making trouble again.
Ultimately, it should be no surprise to anyone that the CEO of Apple has the final say on what does and doesn't stream on Apple TV+. Apple has control over everything that is available on its platforms – as the developers of apps available on the App Store will no doubt attest.
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