Nikki Finke is poised to return to Deadline Hollywood as a columnist as soon as September, TheWrap has learned exclusively.
Over the last few weeks, Finke has been telling executives around Hollywood that she is coming back to the entertainment trade website that she founded in March 2006 and from which she was notoriously fired in 2013.
Michael Fleming Jr. would remain in charge of the website, according to multiple people with knowledge of the Finke’s advanced negotiations to return — which still could unravel at the last minute given the history of the players involved. Fleming serves as co-editor-in-chief with a focus on film, while Nellie Andreeva shares the title on the TV side.
“I don’t talk about internal Deadline business,” Fleming said by phone. Penske Media and Finke did not return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Deadline, which was acquired in 2009 by Jay Penske’s Penske Media, has been trying to court a reunion with its bomb-throwing founder for more than a year, a person with knowledge of the conversations told TheWrap.
But nothing is ever definitive when it comes to Finke, who was fired by Jay Penske back in June 2013, a move also exclusively reported by TheWrap. The two feuded for months before the termination decision was made by the Deadline and Variety owner.
After leaving Deadline, Finke launched the fiction website Hollywood Dementia. She also registered NikkiFinke.com, though ultimately nothing ever came of that domain aside from a rerouting to the entertainment fiction offering. Under terms of her exit deal with Penske Media, she could not contractually compete with her former employee by reporting Hollywood news.
Last November, Dan Abrams’ Mediaite announced that Finke would join that site as a senior columnist — though the company said “she won’t be writing about the entertainment industry.” To date, she has not published anything on the site.
Finke launched Deadline in 2006 as Deadline Hollywood Daily, the online version of her long-running L.A. Weekly column.
She quickly made her bones during the 2007-08 Hollywood writer’s strike with her knack for landing entertainment industry scoops and her snarky, conversational writing style.
In 2009, Finke sold her website to Penske Media Corporation.
9 People Fired or Suspended for Black Lives Matter Comments (Photos)
In light of the recent fatal shootings of Keith L. Scott and Terence Crutcher and the subsequent protests, TheWrap looks back at the people who expressed their grievances on social media during the Dallas shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling and the demonstrations that followed. Here are 9 individuals whose voices were heard -- and who got in trouble for it.
Nate Weekley, a Detroit detective, was demoted to officer after posting on Facebook that "the only racists here are the piece of s--- Black Lives Matter terrorists and their supporters," reported the Detroit News.
The Daily Mail reported that Weekley's brother, Joseph Weekley, was a cop who was charged with involuntary manslaughter after accidentally killing a 7-year-old black girl during a raid.
Facebook
The first black Miss Alabama, Kalyn Chapman, was placed on administrative leave from her job at a South Florida PBS station after she posted a video in which she called the Dallas sniper a "martyr."
In her video she stated: "I'm dealing with a bit of guilt" because "I value human life. And I want to feel sad for them, but I can't help but feeling like the shooter was a martyr."
TheWrap
She later told news outlet WPMI that what the shooter did "was wrong, period," adding, "maybe martyr wasn’t the right word but it was what came to mind at that time.”
Fox
Charles Beau Menefee lost his job as a news producer at CBS46 in Atlanta after a slew of Facebook posts, including one in which he said "it would be cool if someone rained gunfire down on to the ignorant human turds at the next #blacklivesmatter March."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A South Carolina fire captain, Jimmy Morris, was fired after saying that he was going to run over Black Lives Matter protestors on Facebook, The State newspaper said. The Miami Herald reported that two other firefighters were fired in association with Morris' post.
Facebook
An Overland Park, Kansas police officer was fired after posting a menacing comment on a woman's Facebook photo, according to local channel KCTV.
A North Carolina deputy, Andrew Sutton, was suspended after joking on Facebook about killing people and calling Black Lives Matter followers "ignorant blind sheep."
ABC13
A Tennessee deputy, Jeremy McNary, was suspended after saying Black Lives Matter protestors should be hosed for blocking a highway, according to the New York Daily News.
Facebook
McNary's uncle told the Daily News that his nephew had served in the Marines and that he is not a racist nor bad cop, referencing a time he saved a child from drowning.
New York Daily News/Facebook
Diane Amoratis, a Jefferson Health employee, condemned Black Lives Matter protestors and praised police for dealing with a "fat, braided hair, piece of s--- troublemaker..." Philly.com reported. She added that a BLM protest should have been "bulldozed."
Jefferson Health ended up posting that "the individual is no longer at Jefferson."
Philly.com
Sgt. Derek Hale, a Louisville corrections sergeant was suspended after posting a contentious Facebook meme, according to WDRB. It featured an officer with the words: "If we really wanted you dead all we’d have to do is stop patrolling your neighborhoods... and wait."
BLM opponents suffered consequences for airing grievances after the protests
In light of the recent fatal shootings of Keith L. Scott and Terence Crutcher and the subsequent protests, TheWrap looks back at the people who expressed their grievances on social media during the Dallas shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling and the demonstrations that followed. Here are 9 individuals whose voices were heard -- and who got in trouble for it.