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  • David Byrne Returns to Oscar Race With Original Song for Elon Musk Documentary ‘Musk’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    David Byrne Returns to Oscar Race With Original Song for Elon Musk Documentary ‘Musk’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    David Byrne wrote a song about the world’s richest man.

    The Talking Heads frontman wrote and performed an original song for “Musk,” Alex Gibney‘s sprawling documentary reckoning with Elon Musk, Variety can exclusively reveal. Titled “Let Me Sell You a Dream,” the track plays within the 235-minute film and arrives as an Oscar-qualifying entry in the best original song race.

    Byrne wrote the song with the documentary’s composer Daniel Pemberton, the Oscar-nominated musician behind “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

    “I was thrilled when David agreed to write (with our composer Daniel Pemberton) and perform the final song in the film,” Gibney says. “I am a huge fan of his. My wife and I were at the Pantages for the filming of ‘Stop Making Sense,’ so I sensed that he would find a musical way into what the film is trying to say. And he did. ‘Let Me Sell You a Dream’ is kick-ass. And, in writing the lyrics, David dug deep into the sayings of Musk himself to get to ‘extremely hard core,’ foot-tapping sardonic poetry.”

    Photo: Shervin Lainez

    For Byrne, the lyrics required little invention. “A thrill to collaborate with Pemberton and get invited to do this as a fan of Gibney’s films,” he says. “I asked for good quotes from the Martian, and found more of them online. I’m sure he loves dropping these wild statements, and those became the lyrics. All his own words. No editorializing. Straight from the man’s mouth to mine.”

    For Byrne, the collaboration reopens a door he last walked through nearly four decades ago. He won the Academy Award for best original score for “The Last Emperor” in 1988, sharing the honor with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su. A nomination for “Let Me Sell You a Dream” would mark his first return to the Oscar race since. Pemberton earned a best original song nod in 2021 for “Hear My Voice,” co-written with Celeste for “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

    The song will be entered for best original song at the 2027 Oscars by way of the film’s theatrical run. Bleecker Street releases “Musk” in U.S. theaters on Oct. 16, a berth that clears the category’s eligibility requirements.

    Early buzz surrounding the film, described in some quarters as “scathing” and billed by Gibney himself as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of the businessman, has been strong. “Musk” world premieres out of competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 8 before continuing to the Toronto International Film Festival. At just shy of four hours, it stands among the most ambitious nonfiction portraits of Gibney’s career.

    Gibney first revealed in March 2023 that he had begun work on the documentary and was “many months” into production. Musk responded to news of the project on his X/Twitter account by predicting it would be “a hit-piece.” Gibney fired back on the same platform, asking “how would you know?”

    Gibney directs and produces “Musk,” joined by Jessie Deeter and Erin Edeiken for Jigsaw Productions, Dana O’Keefe for Double Agent, Joey Marra and Zhang Xin for Closer Media and Anonymous Content’s Nick Shumaker and Jessica Grimshaw. Ronan Farrow and Lawrence Wright round out the producing team.

  • SEC proposes transfer agent rule, sets event to figure out round-the-clock U.S. trading

    SEC proposes transfer agent rule, sets event to figure out round-the-clock U.S. trading

    Earlier on Tuesday, the regulator also proposed a new transfer-agent rule that is meant to adjust that role to include blockchain technology and other innovations. Transfer agents are firms that keep track of the changing ownership of securities — a role that has been shaken by the onset of onchain transactions that happen instantly and openly, especially as the markets embrace the rise of tokenized securities.

    The proposed rule, which is open for a 60-day comment period, would modernize a rule last changed decades ago, “including the use of electronic communications and blockchain technology in connection with securities offerings and the transfer of shares,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement.

    It would allow the use of blockchains as official records of transactions, though it also comes with some new controls on the firms’ operations, including in areas such as cybersecurity.

    SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, in a Tuesday statement, amplified a question that will be central to the crypto sector’s interest in the rule: “Should transfer agents continue to be required to collect names and physical addresses of securityholders or should the rule allow other identifiers, such as email and digital wallet addresses, to be collected instead?”

    Crypto platform Bullish, the parent company of CoinDesk, recently acquired transfer agent Equiniti in a $4.2 billion deal.

  • Moment US strikes on Iranian port city hit wedding party

    Moment US strikes on Iranian port city hit wedding party

    Iran says a series of US strikes near the southern Iranian port city of Sirik has killed at least four people, including a child at a wedding party. Iran’s health ministry says 50 others were injured in the attacks.

    Published On 2 Sep 2026

  • US launches new strikes on Iran, denies its bases hit in Jordan

    US launches new strikes on Iran, denies its bases hit in Jordan

    The US launched new strikes on Iran’s southern coast with explosions reported in several locations near the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran fired back targeting US bases in Jordan, with Washington denying claims of US casualties, as Kimberly Halkett reports from the White House.

    Published On 2 Sep 2026

  • CBS News’ Bari Weiss Faces Backlash Over Headline Linking Muslim Senate Candidate to 9/11

    CBS News’ Bari Weiss Faces Backlash Over Headline Linking Muslim Senate Candidate to 9/11

    Following devastating staff cuts and a chorus of pushback, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is courting controversy once again for her editorial decisions at the helm of the network’s news division — this time for overseeing an article that critics say falsely insinuated Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed had ties to the September 11 attacks.

    In CBS News’ Monday morning editorial meeting, Weiss reportedly praised the story written by Washington, D.C.-based producer Zak Hudak and directed that its headline be reworked — which has led the intervention to be criticized as a political dog whistle in this respect, using a thin premise to set El-Sayed’s name next to the phrase “9/11 attacks,” making an implication by association.

    The article, headlined “Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks,” surfaces two tweets that the candidate opted to delete, along with all of his other posts before July 2023, to prevent “any old posts from being taken out of context.”

    Reaction was swift, with one senior staffer calling the piece “a small nugget of news, forced into something much larger, and messed up.” Critics are now railing against Weiss for her role in shaping the article, which many see as not merely taken out of context but wholly mischaracterized. Both of the COVID-era posts from El-Sayed, a public health advocate, compared the death toll and devastation of the September 11 attacks to the mounting toll of the pandemic.

    In the tweets in question, El-Sayed compared the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on September 11 to the mounting COVID-19 death toll while advocating for a response as robust as the post-9/11 mobilization. In the second tweet, El-Sayed wrote that because more U.S. citizens had died from COVID than in the September 11 attacks, he hoped “that means we’ll spend the next ten years fighting a war for public health & against poverty … like we launched a global #WaronTerror after 9/11. We could save lives rather than take them.”

    According to inside sources who spoke with the newsletter Status, Weiss “personally directed” that the story’s headline be tweaked to “specifically mention that El-Sayed, who is vying to become the first Muslim American senator, had deleted tweets referencing the attacks.”

    The article frames the unearthed tweets against the backdrop of the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, casting El-Sayed as facing renewed political scrutiny as his campaign heats up and he’s forced to address the posts amid a historically unifying moment in American politics.

    A spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign said in a statement to CBS News that “Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11 attacks,” adding that his opponent, Mike Rogers, is engaged in “bad-faith lies meant to mislead Michiganders.”

    The Hollywood Reporter reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment on the controversy but did not hear back Tuesday.

    Weiss, a longtime lightning rod for controversy, was elevated to CBS News editor-in-chief last year by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder and Trump megadonor Larry Ellison. Since her ascent, she has faced scrutiny over her lack of broadcast news experience and criticism for killing segments seen as critical of Trump administration policy.

    The incident is not the first time the network has been criticized over its characterization of a politician of Muslim faith. In July, the network was forced to remove a line from its coverage of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani after a false claim about those who signed a petition to keep the progressive Democratic mayor out of an upcoming 9/11 attacks 25th remembrance ceremony.

  • Even Microsoft Execs Are Annoyed by Terrible AI-Generated Work

    Even Microsoft Execs Are Annoyed by Terrible AI-Generated Work

    A LinkedIn exec is fed up with AI slop, which might strike some as ironic given that LinkedIn itself has struggled to keep AI content in check.

    In a recent post, Ryan Roslansky, a Microsoft EVP responsible for LinkedIn, Microsoft Office, Outlook, and Teams, complained that someone had sent him “what was clearly an AI-generated doc.” After realizing it was AI, he actually asked his AI to summarize it, “and ended up with nothing that brought new thinking to the idea.”

    This, he argues, is “a doom loop” that could leave us with “a very expensive way to avoid writing and reading in an ocean of sameness, genericness.”

    Microsoft has pushed its Copilot AI hard, to the point that it recently pulled back on some integrations following complaints. On LinkedIn, the influx of AI tools has led to a flood of AI slop posts. It got bad enough that LinkedIn added a feature where you can click to report something that “seems like AI slop.” (And over a million people have taken advantage of that button.)

    But while execs like Roslansky and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma have bemoaned “soulless AI slop,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is not a fan of that characterization. “We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication,” he said in March. Still, Roslansky’s LinkedIn post earned the thumbs-up from fellow Microsoft employees, including President Brad Smith.

    Recommended by Our Editors

    Roslansky is unlikely to ditch AI. He released a book in March, titled Open to Work, about how to make the most of AI in the workplace. (Presumably, one of the rules is to avoid maxing out your tokens.) But he’s correct that replacing human communication with AI summaries is no way to run an organization. He also touches on a real concern of AI regression: who wants to read things that sound exactly the same?

    About Our Expert

  • Tom Cruise Blesses Paramount’s Deal to Buy Warner Bros., In the Name of Movie “Abundance”

    Tom Cruise Blesses Paramount’s Deal to Buy Warner Bros., In the Name of Movie “Abundance”

    Tom Cruise said Tuesday that he is confident that Paramount will follow through on its promise to deliver 30 movies per year if it closes its deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing in an interview that Hollywood needs to create an “abundance” of opportunity to help ensure film survives and thrives.

    Cruise was interviewed by Pat McAfee on his show Tuesday afternoon, where he was booked to discuss his newly-announced Days of Thunder sequel. McAfee asked about Paramount CEO David Ellison’s promise to make 30 movies per year.

    “I think it’s awesome. You know, here’s the thing: they’re going to deliver 30 movies. It’s a community to me. It’s not an industry. The people in these studios are not just people in the studios, they’re my family,” Cruise told McAfee. “I know we’re going to get those 30 movies. I want us all to come together as a community to make help those 30 movies. It’s not just going to be Paramount doing it. Everyone’s going to need all the help of every artist to be able to do it.

    “[If] we do well with those, those 30 movies are going to turn into 40 movies,” Cruise continued. “It’s not good enough that I just get to make this movie for me. I see so many talented people that I want them to have that opportunity, to make the films that they want and be able to … these artists, all these greats, they got to cut their teeth and learn in the same way that you get to act and you’re learning. You take it, and the next one, and the next one. Every single one of them, the Iñárritus, the Spielbergs, the Nolans, me, all the opportunities that I’ve had, I want that for every writer, every director, every producer, every artist. And the only way you do it is we have to create an abundance. It’s production begets production.”

    Cruise also talked about Days of Thunder 2, which will also star Anne Hathaway and release in summer 2028.

    “I’ve been thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time,” Cruise told McAfee. “I love the sport. You know, I grew up like just taking cars in the back streets, before I had my license and racing on country roads and looking at dirt tracks and I love NASCAR and I love racing and airplanes and motorcycles. We did Top Gun and I took this story to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to produce, and Tony Scott came on. After the first one, also I just been thinking about what, how can I do it? How can I seat the audience into another journey with this character?”

    And yes, he says he will be driving the race cars in the film: “Here’s the thing: if I’m making a movie about airplanes, I’m flying them,” Cruise quipped. “I’m driving.”

  • DreamWorks Remote Workers Ratify First Union Agreement With the Animation Guild

    DreamWorks Remote Workers Ratify First Union Agreement With the Animation Guild

    Remote workers at DreamWorks Animation have ratified their first collective bargaining agreement.

    The agreement was ratified on Aug. 21, with 97 percent of participants voting in favor of the contract. Of the 108 eligible voters, 90 cast ballots, representing 83.3% of voter turnout.

    Until recently, remote animation artists and technicians working on the same projects as their Los Angeles counterparts did not receive the same wage scales, benefits or protections.

    Remote workers are now on parity with on-campus workers, including pension and healthcare coverage. The newly-ratified agreement gives the unit all the same protections offered in the IATSE Local 839 Master Agreement through a Sideletter.

    Anthony Holden, DreamWorks Story Artist and member of the Negotiation Committee said, “This contract is a huge victory for DreamWorks remote artists, but also for the animation industry as a whole.” He added, “Our coworkers who work in-person at studios in L.A. enjoy mobility between employers with guaranteed benefits such as healthcare coverage and a pension plan. Many of us remote DreamWorkers have served for years (and in some cases decades) in the same industry without the same protections. Now we can work under the same terms as our union brothers and sisters. This contract represents an important shift towards broader industry change that values and respects not only artists’ skills but also our right to choose to live in locations around the country that are best for our families and personal circumstances.”

    Under the agreement, remote working animators will receive the same healthcare and pension plans as on-campus workers, with $0 premiums for individuals.

    In addtion, the agreement establishes the same minimum wage standards that apply under TAG’s Master
    Agreement. The lowest-paid remote artist covered by the agreement will see compensation increase from $40.82 per hour to $62.22 per hour. This represents a 52.4% wage increase.

    The unit includes remote workers across the U.S. doing work traditionally covered under TAG’s Master Agreement when performed in L.A. County, including Story Artists, Animators, Character Effects Artists, Technical Directors, Lighters, Visual Development Artists, Modelers, and Production Coordinators, among others.

    Workers at Sony Pictures Animation also voted overwhelmingly on Aug. 27 to join TAG after
    seeking voluntary recognition from the company. Sony declined the request and instead required workers to proceed through an NLRB election.

    The results demonstrated strong support for union representation with 95% voter participation and 84% voting in favor of unionizing.

    “Despite Sony’s deliberate attempts to challenge our movement, when the rubber hits the road, we’re all in favor of dignity and respect in the workplace.” says Grayson Arndt, Sr. Administrative Assistant. “Now it’s time to take our seat at the table.”

    Production Coordinator Maddie Rodriguez added, “It’s exciting to follow in the footsteps of so many animation production workers before us and it’s continually heartening to know that we were never alone. So many of us have wanted this for so long. Together, we are Prod Strong!”

  • Bitcoin price tumbles as US strikes rattle global markets

    Bitcoin price tumbles as US strikes rattle global markets

    Bitcoin price has fallen below $77,000 as fresh U.S. military strikes on Iranian targets have pushed oil prices higher and triggered heavy selling across crypto and stock markets.

    Bitcoin price falls below $77,000

    The U.S. Central Command said American forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, citing recent attempted attacks against commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. military personnel stationed in the region.

    Bitcoin ($BTC) fell through $78,000 as reports of the operation emerged before extending its decline below $77,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $76,762 at the time of writing, after falling from an intraday high near $79,166.

    Selling also reached Ethereum (ETH), which moved below $2,400 during the market decline. According to CoinGlass data cited in the original report, roughly $115 million in leveraged long positions across the crypto market were liquidated within one hour.

    Liquidations occur when an exchange closes a leveraged position after the trader’s collateral can no longer cover mounting losses. A rapid price decline can therefore force the closure of long positions, adding more sell orders to an already weak market.

    One day earlier, Bitcoin had held near $78,000 even as earlier exchanges between U.S. and Iranian forces pushed crude prices above $90. The latest round of strikes placed renewed pressure on that price area and erased the asset’s brief attempt to hold above short-term support.

    The decline has also followed a strong August for Bitcoin. $BTC gained about 23% during the month, according to market data cited in earlier coverage, before renewed geopolitical and interest-rate concerns weighed on the opening trading sessions of September.

    US strikes increase pressure near the Strait of Hormuz

    According to CENTCOM’s account, the operation followed alleged Iranian attempts to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American service members deployed to the region.

    Iranian state media reported explosions across several locations on the country’s southern coast, including Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and Chabahar. Reports cited by Axios also identified Jask, Konarak, Minab and Sirik among the areas struck.

    Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas sit close to the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage connecting Persian Gulf energy exporters with international markets. Before the current conflict, roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies moved through the waterway, according to Reuters data previously cited in market coverage.

    The Associated Press reported that Tuesday’s action ended roughly a month without direct military exchanges between the two countries. Earlier U.S. strikes on Sunday targeted rocket launchers on Larak Island, after which Iran launched missiles toward American sites in Jordan. Jordanian forces intercepted the missiles, while the United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters.

    Following Tuesday’s strikes, Iranian semi-official news agencies Fars and Tasnim reported that Tehran had started launching missiles and drones in response. An IRGC spokesperson said the United States “will regret its new attacks,” according to Fars.

    President Donald Trump described the American operation as “large and powerful” and warned Tehran against further retaliation. According to Trump, another Iranian response would lead to a “much harder and higher level” of U.S. attack.

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said earlier on Tuesday that Tehran was prepared to return to a ceasefire agreement brokered with Washington in June if the United States followed its terms. Trump later questioned the value of another agreement during comments reported by the Associated Press.

    Oil above $90 adds inflation and rate pressure

    Crude prices accelerated as military activity returned to areas around the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported that Brent crude settled 4.6% higher at $94.65 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 5.2% to $90.22.

    Oil traders were also monitoring reports that two tankers had been hit while leaving the strait. Iranian officials have warned that Gulf oil exports could face additional disruption if military and economic pressure on Tehran continues.

    Earlier exchanges between Washington and Tehran had already exposed the sensitivity of financial markets to oil supply risks. In July, a warning of further U.S. strikes coincided with a $500 billion stock selloff as crude prices rose and Bitcoin came under pressure.

    Higher energy prices matter to U.S. crypto investors because a sustained rise in fuel costs can feed into inflation data and influence Federal Reserve policy. U.S. Treasury yields rose during Tuesday’s trading, while the S&P 500 fell to its lowest level since Aug. 4, according to market data cited in the original report.

    August inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s September policy decision could therefore affect Bitcoin’s next move. In August, Bitcoin rebounded after CPI data showed annual U.S. inflation at 3.4%, but oil supply disruptions could place fresh pressure on subsequent readings.

    Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has maintained a firm position on inflation and left open the possibility of higher interest rates. Rising Treasury yields can increase the appeal of interest-bearing assets while raising financing costs, conditions that have previously weighed on Bitcoin and other assets that do not produce yield.

    US markets fall as leveraged crypto positions unwind

    Pressure from the military escalation has not remained confined to digital assets. U.S. equities declined as investors assessed the effect of higher oil prices, while the selloff in government bonds pushed Treasury yields upward.

    Bitcoin’s fall below $77,000 placed the asset close to the lower end of the price range it had established after its August rally. The intraday low near $76,483 left the $76,500 area as an immediate level being tested by sellers, based on market pricing during the session.

    A sustained break below that region would remove another support area that previously slowed declines. Any recovery would first require Bitcoin to regain $77,000, followed by the former support zone between $78,000 and $79,000.

    Liquidation data offer another measure of the pressure facing leveraged traders. CoinGlass attributed the one-hour liquidation total of roughly $115 million mainly to long positions, indicating that traders positioned for higher prices absorbed most of the forced closures during the drop.

    Meanwhile, Iran’s response remained active late Tuesday, with Fars and Tasnim reporting new missile and drone launches after the U.S. operation. American officials said the initial strikes were directed at Iranian radar and military capabilities associated with threats to commercial vessels and U.S. personnel.

  • ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Announcer Suspended Amid Investigation

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Announcer Suspended Amid Investigation

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