Statement: Condé Nast’s 'Bon Appétit' Change in Administration Plus 'The Real' Gets Even Realer with Garcelle Beauvais
Bryon Allen - Allen Media Group
Broadcast: Haitian–born American actress and former model Garcelle Beauvais has been named the newest co-host of The Real, Beauvais is joining the syndicated talk show following the exit of Tamera Mowry-Housley, who is leaving the show after six seasons. The seventh season of The Real will begin on Sept. 21. The panel will feature Beauvais, Jeannie Mai, Loni Love, and Adrienne Houghton. Beauvais became the first Black cast member on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when she joined earlier this year. Recently, she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming and will appear in the upcoming sequel “Coming 2 America.” Like many daytime talk shows that were impacted by COVID-19, The Real began to film remote shows. As a result, the upcoming season will continue in the same virtual format. Beauvais is repped by Innovative Artists, Gilbertson Entertainment and Behr Abramson Levy, LLP. The Real airs on Fox Television Stations and in national syndication with rebroadcast on cable network Bounce.
Multi-millionaire media entrepreneur Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group purchased Honolulu, Hawaii television station KITV from SJL Broadcasting for $30 million. TV station KITV-ABC 4, additionally rebroadcasts programming outside of metropolitan Honolulu, allowing them to cover all of the islands. Under the deal, Allen Media now has 16 TV stations affiliated with a Big-Four network in 12 markets. Allen Media Group will also receive carriage of 4 digital cable networks: MeTV, Hawaii TV, Start TV, and Heroes & Icons. It will also receive a Washington, D.C.-based news bureau and correspondent. In a press release, Allen shared that in the past year the group has invested “over $500 million to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates.” It plans to invest approximately ten billion dollars in effort to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox television stations over the next few years. The goal is “to become the largest broadcast television group in America.”
Hersh Bhandari, who was serving as Executive Vice President has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer for Republic Bharat. His responsibilities include expanding the team working out of the Networks’ Noida and Gurgaon offices, brand management, marketing and national network sales. In addition, Bhandari will lead the revenue functions for North and East India regions for Republic TV, the No.1 English News Channel in India. Priya Mukherjee, who was serving as President, Distribution and International Revenue will take the role of Chief Operating Officer- Distribution, International Revenue and OTT (Over the top media services). Mukherjee, who is responsible for network channel outreach, will be undertaking the OTT portfolio, and expanding the team to handle the three subgroups that she oversees. Priya has already placed Republic in 12 countries across 4 continents on cable. Republic will work to increase engagement with OTT platforms as part of the digital expansion plan.
Dawn Davis - Steven Ferdman / Stringer
Streaming: Seven members of Bon Appétit's 13 video content creators have announced that they will no longer appear in videos with the food magazine's Test Kitchen brand which include Rick Martinez, Sohla El-Waylly, Priya Krishna, Gaby Melian, Molly Baz, Carla Lalli Music, and Amiel Stanek. Martinez, El-Waylly, Krishna, and Melian said in statements that Condé Nast's inability to be diversity-inclusive led to their departure. Baz, Music, and Stanek said they will leave out of solidarity. Former and current employees have accused the company of compensating employees of color differently than their white colleagues.
The accusation of racist activity has caused Condé Nast to undergo a change in administration: Dawn Davis will be the new editor in chief of Bon Appétit. Ms. Davis will start November 2 and will have editorial control of the company’s food outlets Epicurious, Healthyish and Basically across all media, including print, digital, social media and video. At the age of 55 Dawn Davis will succeed Adam Rapoport, who had led Bon Appétit for a decade until he resigned in June after a 2004 photo that showed him wearing an offensive costume resurfaced. Amanda Shapiro has served as interim editor since. Currently, Ms. Davis is vice president at Simon & Schuster, where she is the founder and publisher of 37 Ink, an imprint that caters to marginalized voices. Ms. Davis is the author of If You Can Stand the Heat: Tales from Chefs and Restaurateurs, which included profiles of chefs such as Edna Lewis. She was also editor of Recipe of Memory: Five Generations of Mexican Cuisine, by Mary Lau Valle and Victor M. Valle.