Ari Emanuel

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Endeavor and TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel appeared at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference to talk business, but it was impossible to ignore the story dominating geopolitics.

Emanuel was asked by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw for his thoughts on the attacks in Israel, given his status as one of the most high-profile Jewish executives in the U.S., and he did not hold back.

“It’s not the same as 9/11, but I had that same feeling,” Emanuel said, noting that his grandmother escaped the Bolsheviks. “As a Jew, what happened in Israel this past weekend was one of the worst pogroms in history, not including the Holocaust.”

Emanuel called the Hamas attacks “Heinous” and Hamas and Hezbollah “terrorists,” but he also heaped criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the politician “morally corrupt.”

“In my opinion, a morally corrupt Bibi Netanyahu exposed Israel and its people to rape, death, the beheadings of children, murders of fathers mothers, grandmothers. And he did it to stay in power,” Emanuel said. “I don’t think this man deserves to be in power.”

But Emanuel also weighed in on the state of Hollywood, where he criticized Endeavor’s competition at CAA, confirmed that his company bid for a minority stake in the PGA Tour, and suggested that Paramount and Fox could have a difficult few years ahead:

“I think YouTube, Google will be fine. I think Microsoft will be fine. I think Netflix will be fine. I think Comcast, you know $40 billion in free cash flow? Pretty good,” Emanuel said, when asked to weigh in on what companies will have a good five years ahead. “I think Zas [Warner Bros. Discovery CEo David Zaslav] has figured it out. He went through that tough year where he was getting killed, but he’s now profitable. Bob’s going through it now [Disney CEO Bob Iger]. He’s a very good executive. He’ll figure it out.”

“I would not put my money on Paramount,” he continued. “I think there’s going to be rough times at Fox just because the demographic is getting older and, I don’t know, you have family issues,” apparently referencing Rupert Murdoch’s decision to step down, and the possibility of a Succession-like drama for the company when he passes away.

And he also discussed the recent lawsuit against CAA, which accused the agency of being complicit in Harvey Weinstein’s crimes.

“Seven different agents knew about different incidents with women. When they took over, they decided that ‘we’re going to look the other way’… and that’s why they got sued,” Emanuel said. “You’re sitting in a situation where Kevin [Huvane] and Brian [Lourd] are to Harvey Weinstein, like, [Ghislaine] Maxwell was to Jeffrey Epstein. They were leading them to this man.”

Emanuel said that CAA should hire an outside person to investigate the claims, and that CAA’s leadership should take a leave of absence. “And investigators should come in and they should look at what they did,” he added. “They didn’t apologize. They didn’t deny it. They didn’t. So from my perspective, it’s horrific.”

Emanuel also said the extended Hollywood strikes were “frustrating.”

“I mean, just lock the door. And when you’re in a negotiation, get half a loaf,” he said. “Make a deal. It’s not that hard. We all need to go to work.”

“You don’t have to solve every issue right now. You don’t. You can do as best you can in the moment,” he continued. “Get a room, lock the door, say okay you know, it’s not exactly what I want, but it’s affecting a lot of people and a lot of people are hurting. And in this day and age it’s not the last time you’re going to be at the table. You’re not winning an Oscar for this negotiation.”