Share:
Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) streaming service TV+ abandoned plans to make a series inspired by Gawker Media after CEO Tim Cook expressed disapproval in an email, the New York Times reported Sunday.
What Happened: The show “Scraper” was modeled after Gawker, which shot into the limelight for taking aim at America’s well-known. Gawker was shut down in 2016 after being in business for 15 years, as a result of litigation brought on by its targets.
Two Gawker veterans, Cord Jefferson and Max Read, were involved in selling the idea to Apple TV+, according to the Times.
The Cupertino-California-based tech giant also reportedly hired two former Gawker editors Emma Carmichael and Leah Beckmann as writers and they had completed several episodes.
Apple CEO Tim Cook killed an Apple TV show about Gawker
hotair.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hotair.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Apple TV+ was once Developing a Docuseries about Gawker titled Scrapper until Tim Cook stepped in to shut it down
patentlyapple.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from patentlyapple.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The idea for Scraper was sold to Apple TV by Gawker’s former editor-in-chief, Max Reid, and former Gawker editor Cord Jefferson. Apple also brought on former Gawker editors Emma Carmichael and Leah Beckmann as writers for the show. Layne Eskridge, the Apple executive who brought on the show, has now left the company and the show is back on the market, the Times reported.
This isn’t the first time a show has been altered or canceled to keep Apple executives happy. During the production of another Apple show, a person involved told the Times that they were told to avoid a scene where a phone would be damaged. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president for internet software and services, instructed content producers to “avoid portraying China in a poor light,” Buzzfeed reported. Cue also told partners that “the two things we will never do are hard-core nudity and China,” a creative figure who has worked with Apple told the Times.