Exec summary: Scroll down for an HQ Trivia scoop, ESPN's Bob Costas interview, BAFTA winners, and much more...
| | And the Grammy goes to...
Kacey Musgraves and "Golden Hour" won album of the year...
Childish Gambino's "This Is America" beat out "Shallow," "The Middle" and other huge hits for song of the year, an award for the song's writers...
AND "This Is America" won record of the year! But Childish Gambino was not in attendance...
Check out CNN's complete list of winners here...
Headliners and history makers
Lisa Respers France writes: "Lack of diversity -- both with race and gender -- has sometimes been a problem for the Grammys. But tonight's performances so far have once again underscored the point that there's so much talent to be recognized..."
-- Alicia Keys delivered "a powerhouse performance as first-time host," Sandra Gonzalez writes...
-- Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the start of the show...
-- Via Chloe Melas: Drake called out Grammys race problems in his acceptance speech...
-- Cardi B's "Invasion Of Privacy" won best rap album... H.E.R won best R&B album...
-- Dua Lipa won the best new artist statue...
-- Via CNN's live blog: Lady Gaga was mesmerizing singing "Shallow," and she will "sing the song again in two weeks at the Oscars..."
-- Another item from Lisa: "Who thought it was a good idea that Jennifer Lopez perform a medley of Motown hits?"
-- "Chris Cornell won a Grammy award for best rock performance, almost two years after the Soundgarden singer's death..."
-- Jimmy Carter won a third Grammy...
-- BTS "made history" as "the first K-pop presenters in the show's history," per Variety...
-- Absent from the show: 21 Savage...
Red carpet moments
CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam was on the red carpet... She sent along some sightings:
"One moment that was really cool was Dolly Parton stopping to greet Chloe x Halle on the red carpet. That woman just seems so genuine. It was cool to see a legend take a moment to speak to the best new artist nominees. Overall, I had so many musicians say 'Okr!' to me -- the celebrities were looking forward to seeing Cardi B perform. And there was definitely a lot of excitement for all of the woman power at the show..."
Top tweets
-- Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw tweeted: "Spotify has been thanked repeatedly tonight. First during the pre-telecast, and then during the H.E.R speech. Don't think you ever heard artists thank Target..."
-- Variety's Ramin Setoodeh: "Alicia Keys is doing a terrific job as the #GRAMMYs host, and a reminder that awards shows *need* a host to keep things moving along and cohesive..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- President Trump is holding a rally in El Paso on Monday... And right afterward, he's talking with Laura Ingraham on her 10 p.m. Fox show...
-- Gayle King landed Ralph Northam's first TV interview since the yearbook scandal erupted... It'll air on Monday's "CBS This Morning..."
-- And speaking of King, congrats are in order... Her daughter Kirby got engaged over the weekend... (Instagram)
-- And Katie Couric's daughter Ellie also got engaged over the weekend. "She's wearing the ring her Dad gave to me," Couric wrote... (Instagram)
SCOOP: HQ Trivia's new board member
Intermedia Labs, the startup behind HQ Trivia, is making its first management change since CEO Colin Kroll's sudden death last December.
Tinder CEO Elie Seidman is joining the board of directors... Right now co-founder and current CEO Rus Yusupov and early investor Jeremy Liew are the only other board members... But Intermedia is looking to add more.
The ongoing Q: Can Intermedia become more than a one-hit, one-year wonder? Here's my full story...
--> How the company describes its size: "HQ continues to command the largest live audience on mobile, daily."
Media week ahead calendar
Monday: New York Fashion Week continues through Wednesday...
Tuesday: Kara Swisher is interviewing Jack Dorsey in a live Twitter Q&A...
Wednesday: The video game industry's D.I.C.E. Awards will take place in Vegas...
Thursday: Valentine's Day!
Abramson on "Reliable"
Regarding the plagiarized passages in her book "Merchants of Truth," Jill Abramson said "I made some errors in the way I credited sources," but "there was no attempt to pass off someone's ideas, opinions and phrasings as my own."
She disputed my characterizations of "plagiarism." But she said that some of the examples "are way too close for comfort and probably should have been in quotes." | | Part one and part two of the interview are up on CNN.com. Here's the recap...
>> What about Abramson's defense about endnotes? Vice's Michael Moynihan, who flagged several of the book's errors, said "one cannot cite something, even if they have copied it word for word, and it not be plagiarism. One cannot cite plagiarism away."
>> Abramson she was tipped off "that Vice was very likely sort of waging an oppo campaign" against her book. Moynihan rejected that charge...
Why Bob Costas and NBC parted ways
This is the weekend's most important media biz story. It's about why Bob Costas left NBC the way he did. It's about the power of the NFL. It's about concussions. It's about ethics.
"The networks, all of them, dance to the NFL's tune. It's just kind of the way it goes. Everyone walks on eggshells around the NFL," Costas told ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada.
No summary will do the story justice. Read it here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Another government shutdown? Seriously? Well it's seriously possible. Read Eli Saslow's latest: "Devastated by one shutdown, dreading the next..." (WaPo)
-- "At least 60 employees have lost their jobs" at GateHouse Media newspapers this year, Benjamin Goggin reports... (BI)
Bezos cooperating with law enforcement
That's my takeaway from Gavin de Becker's new comments to The Daily Beast, which CNN has confirmed. "Our investigation into who initially provided texts to the National Enquirer, and why it was done — that investigation is now complete. We have turned our conclusions over to our attorneys for referral to law enforcement," de Becker said. "Our investigation into what the National Enquirer and AMI did after they received the initial texts — that investigation is ongoing."
So what will SDNY do, if anything?
And when? That's the biggest unknown right now...
What Pecker's lawyer is saying
Attorney Elkan Abramowitz, speaking with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, said:
-- "It's not Saudi Arabia. It's not President Trump. It's not Roger Stone."
-- He said he couldn't confirm or deny if Lauren Sanchez's brother Michael was the tipster. But it "was somebody close to both Bezos and Ms. Sanchez" and "had been giving information to the National Enquirer for seven years."
-- Why he said AMI's tactics didn't amount to blackmail or extortion: "It was part of a legitimate negotiation. Each side had something that they wanted."
-- "It was a typical National Enquirer story."
"No holds barred:" How the Post is covering its owner's news
I spoke with WaPo senior editor Marc Fisher about this on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." While "it's an awkward situation," reporting on the Post's owner, he said, "we have the luxury of independence..." He said the Post is providing "no holds barred" coverage...
>> Poynter's Kelly McBride also on Sunday's show: Through this case, "I think he changed the first line of his obituary from Silicon Valley billionaire to First Amendment defender..."
About the "Saudi angle..." | | On Sunday's "Reliable," Suzanne Nossel, Sam Vinograd and Juliette Kayyem discussed the potential ties between the Jamal Khashoggi case and American Media's dealings with Bezos. Kayyem: Bezos is "not going to throw a name out there like the Saudis without some basis." Watch here...
Minhaj reacts to Saudi censorship
Via The Daily Beast's Matt Wilstein: Hasan Minhaj is out with a new episode of "Patriot Act" for the first time since we all learned "that Saudi Arabia had essentially forced Netflix to remove his episode about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's regime from the platform in that country."
So Minhaj brought it up right away. "I still can't believe it," he said. "We got Saudi Arabia to issue its very own Muslim ban..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- A must-read by Jeff Jarvis: "Paywalls will not work for more than a few — and their builders often do not account for the real motives of people who pay and who don't..." (Medium)
-- Recommended: Jennifer Senior says "our brains aren't designed to handle the Trump era..." (NYT)
-- NBC's "Running Wild With Bear Grylls" is moving to Nat Geo...
Howard Schultz's 2020 talk has upended this podcast
Steve Schmidt and Elise Jordan joined forces to launch and host the "Words Matter" podcast six months ago. But then Schmidt went to work for Howard Schultz...
Oliver Darcy emails: Drama erupted on the podcast when Schmidt found himself in the hot seat. In the episode, which was taped last Tuesday, Schmidt seemed to object to being pressed about Schultz's words and actions. After about half an hour, he called "bulls**t" and said he was "not doing this" before walking out. According to The Daily Beast, Schmidt then threatened legal action if the podcast were to go up. (It is currently live on iTunes.) The episode will be the last one to feature Schmidt, "Words Matter" CEO Adam Levine told The Beast. Elise Jordan, a co-founder of the podcast, also says she's leaving.
So what now? Levine just replied and said the pod will go on: "Elise will be missed -- I will take over hosting responsibilities for a while until we find new co-hosts who share that belief and commitment."
Amy Klobuchar's TV tour
Capitalizing on Sunday's snowy 2020 launch, Amy Klobuchar will be on "GMA" Monday morning and "The Rachel Maddow Show" Monday evening...
What it was like in Minneapolis | | I asked CNN's Dan Merica what it was like at Klobuchar's Minneapolis speech, where the temp hovered at 16 degrees. He wrote: "The press was given a small 'warming hut' behind the press riser. It had a funny après-ski vibe when I first walked in: Tons of big jackets, people trying to get warm and gallons of hot chocolate being consumed. A number of reporters would go interview people, rush back into the tent to warm up and go back outside to do it all over again. Some reporters stayed in the tent during the speech, listening to a live feed as they typed away. I saw a number of soaked reporters' notebooks, with ink running."
More from Merica: "Klobuchar had her speech in plastic sheets – prepared for the snowy weather. For Klobuchar, the snow falling around her -- blanketing everything from her head to the microphone she used to the thousands in front of her -- became a manifestation of the campaign of grit and toughness she wants to run..."
| | The leaks continue
"There is definitely a hunt going on" for the leaker of Trump's detailed daily schedules, former W.H. aide Cliff Sims told me on Sunday's show.
Mick Mulvaney said on Fox that he's hoping to have a "resolution" re: the leaker "this week," but Sims expressed doubt that he or she will be found.
Meantime, "this crackdown has not stopped the leaking," Axios notes. "Alexi McCammond obtained four of the president's private schedules from last week..."
Does Trump "thrive on mockery?"
Brian Lowry emails: Not sure I entirely agree with it, but Steve Almond's op-ed in the LA Times has an interesting premise – namely, that late-night comedians and satirists are actually helping Trump, because unlike previous presidents, he "thrives on mockery." Almond cites author Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death," noting, "the greatest risk to America isn't the tyranny of totalitarianism, but a self-induced triviality, a culture in which atrocity masquerades as just another entertainment..."
| | Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's reluctant EIC
Laurie Segall's documentary "Facebook at 15: It's Complicated" debuted on CNN Sunday night... It'll be available on-demand on Monday...
In her reporting, Segall sat in on a meeting at Facebook that reminded her of a newsroom meeting. She said Mark Zuckerberg is "uncomfortable" making editor-like decisions for the social network... And that's partly why an Oversight Board for Content Decisions is being put together...
-- This documentary is also Segall's farewell to CNN... She told Variety that she is starting a"venture devoted to the intersection of technology and ethics. I'll be sharing more details about it soon..."
-- Related: On this week's "On the Media," Bob Garfield interviewed a Facebook rep about the oversight board plan...
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND
Colin Jost on "SNL:"
"At this point, maybe Virginia should take a cue from the Oscars and just go without a governor this year. Or they could just come full circle and make it Governor Kevin Hart."
| | Biggest BAFTA winners: "Roma" and "The Favourite"
"Roma" took home "some of the biggest prizes, snagging best film, best film not in the English language, best director and best cinematography," Chloe Melas reports. But "The Favourite" was the single biggest awardee, with seven wins...
More from Variety's Nate Nickolai here: "The leading actor prize went to Rami Malek for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' while favorite Mahershala Ali was lauded for 'Green Book.' 'Vice' surprised with the award for best editing, while 'BlacKkKlansman' took home the best adapted screenplay trophy."
>> Complete list of winners...
Weekend box office report
Brian Lowry emails: Captain Marvel to the rescue? The weaker-than-expected opening for "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part," coupled with a relatively tepid lineup of movies over the next few weeks, suggests the 2019 box office might be waiting for another jump-start from Marvel/Disney, with "Captain Marvel" due on March 8...
Reasons for the recappers
Another one from Brian Lowry: Variety's Brian Steinberg asked an appropriate question about the "desperate paradox" of the "SNL" recapper, who says the show's lousy but devotes 5,000 words to it. But of course, there's an answer to that: "SNL" attracts a big audience and trends every week there's an original episode, so there's an obligatory quality to writing about it, even when it's lousy. The same has been true of "The Walking Dead," which returns Sunday, although in the face of its declining ratings, feels more like an elective than it has in the past...
New ad for "Aladdin" | | Last but not least... Disney released the first TV ad for "Aladdin" during Sunday's Grammys. The ad included the first look at Will Smith as The Genie... And some viewers were "horrified..."
As for me? I'll reserve judgment til I see the full film...
How to catch up on Sunday's show
Watch clips from Sunday's "Reliable" on CNN.com... Listen to the pod via Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, or Spotify... Or catch the entire episode via CNNgo or VOD...
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