MOVIE NEWS – The speech of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was interrupted by chants supporting the WGA strike at Boston University.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is more unpopular than ever. Most recently, his speech to graduating seniors was mocked at an event. He is one of many prominent figures currently on strike against the American Writers Guild. The strike, which is affecting series and films across the industry, has come about because negotiations with the Film and Television Producers Association have stalled. In particular, there was a lack of agreement on issues such as appropriate writer’s remuneration (especially residual fees in the streaming sector) and the use of artificial intelligence.

On Sunday, Zaslav gave a speech at Boston University’s graduation ceremony. A video of it is circulating online, posted by several striking writers, including Late Night with Seth Myers writer Mike Scollins.

The video shows Zaslav’s speech being interrupted by several crowd members chanting, “Pay your writers!” – at one point, the chanting gets so loud that it interrupts his speech for five seconds.

Zaslav’s new system has already been unpopular. Under his leadership, the revamp of HBO’s Max streaming service (soon to be rebranded Max) has shocked the industry. Many feel that it is not interested in anything other than making a profit. The upcoming DC Universe movie Batgirl was cancelled while it was in post-production. In addition, many other series and films have been cancelled, stopped development or quietly disappeared from the platform in the wake of the merger.

Since then, David Zaslav has become the face of every new controversial HBO announcement. He doubled down on his widely derided statements about his intentions for the company, including a more “both sides” oriented content policy. The CEO’s reputation has taken several hits, from the cancellation of Westworld to the announcement of a Harry Potter reboot series with J.K. Rowling. This, coupled with the anger stirred up by the AMPTP during the ongoing strike, is reason enough for a growing number of people to criticise his person and policies openly.

Source: Twitter

Zaslav getting hit with a Pay Your Writers chant in Boston. This is so good. pic.twitter.com/00pL4ahAqZ

— Mike Scollins (@mikescollins) May 21, 2023