A besiegedCasey Wassermanis putting his entire talent and marketing agency on the auction block as the fallout from revelations of his relationships withJeffrey EpsteinandGhislaine Maxwellcontinue to batter theLA28chair.
“This organization, its leadership and the entire team mean the world to me,” Wasserman said in a memo to staff today two weeks after his carnal 2003 correspondence withpresently incarcerated sex offender Maxwellbecame public. “Our 4,000 employees are the absolute best in the business. I see you put it all on the line for your clients every day. Our clients expect – and deserve – world-class representation. And that’s exactly what they get because of all of you.”
Despite clients heading for the exit doors, rumblings of a LA28 board uprising (that eventually fizzled out), and talk around town of internal and external efforts to offload various divisions of the agency, sources close to Wasserman have been insisting for weeks he would never sell the organization he started 20 years ago. Now, in an industry where the truth is almost always a negotiated asset, that is clearly not the case as Wasserman apologized again Friday and sought to reframe his move as being to serve the City of Angel’s Olympic goals even more.Watch on Deadline
The truth is a little different.
The facts are that in the past 48 hours, big bands like Phish have been kicking the tires of seeking new representation. Add to that, execs at the Brad Pitt-representing Brillstein Entertainment Partners have openly discussed a pathway out too as Wasserman’s flurry of connections with the very well-connected and now toxic Epstein became public and the backlash intensified.
Read Casey Wasserman’s full memo below on selling his agency
“At this moment, I believe that I have become a distraction to those efforts,” Wasserman added late Friday of his ability to run his companies in the Epstein Files aftermath, echoing terms used by clients andL.A. politicians over the past two weekssince the massive document dump byDonald Trump‘s DOJ. “That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway.”
Wasserman has receivedthe ongoing support of IOC brassearlier this month and thenthe unanimous backing of his handpicked Los Angeles Olympics board on February 11. Yet, he and his Wasserman company have also seen superstars likeChappell Roanand soccer legend Abby Wambachexit over concerns about “moral values”for his association with the now dead pedophile and his jailed procurer. In that context, a number of the recipients of Friday’s memo include more than a few agents who have been publicly talking about moving to another organization or seeing if they can purchase parts of the Providence Equity Partners-back Wasserman group themselves.
Soon to likely to be in pieces like a Tinseltown version of Alexander the Great’s empire after his death, Wasserman’s 2002-formed company took a giant leap up in 2021 with the acquisition of the Paradigm Talent Agency. As Wasserman devoted more and more time to the successful L.A. Olympic bid that he had spearheaded, the rapid growth of his business was rocket fueled by the 2023 buy of management heavyweightsBrillstein Entertainment Partners.
All of that, plus the music, sports and branding units are on the table for the highest or fastest bidder to scoop up. As Wasserman himself and others whoop it up atNBAAll-Star Weekend events ahead of Sunday’s big game(s) at the Intuit Dome, smartphones all over the 310, 213, 818 and 323 area codes region must be lighting up with a combo of “WTF?” and “Are you interested?”
Source: Drudge Report
