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Ari Just Wrote Me A Letter
An email correspondence between Irving Azoff and Ari Emanuel got personal – but not so personal that it wasn’t CC’d to 10 people, and somehow got forwarded to The Wrap and Deadline Hollywood.
The correspondence was apparently inspired by a migration of artists from
It happened about the same time Azoff’s son, Jeffrey, joined CAA. Eagles – a longtime client of WME – is now with CAA, and a fellow WME veteran, Britney Spears, is represented by Jeffrey Azoff. Meanwhile, the email correspondence also seemed to be inspired by a Financial Times article that noted Live Nation has done better since Azoff resigned as its chairman last year. Emanuel happens to be a board member of the promotion company and probably couldn’t resist the ribbing.
The emails were described as “bitchy” and “vile” by the Hollywood trades – which should know better. If these emails are considered vile by Hollywood veterans like Sharon Waxman and Nikki Finke, they’ll cry reading everyday comments on Facebook.
“After repeatedly lying to me after I was loyal and defended you, you tried to take clients from this agency and never took responsibility for it,” Emanuel wrote. “That’s not happening with me. I’m not from this town. My roots are elsewhere, and let me tell you something: I don’t forget and won’t forget. I keep grudges for a lifetime, and you’re one of them now. I look forward to the relationship that we now have.”
Azoff responded by asking a request of his longtime assistant, Irene Fukunaga: “Irene. Please block this psychopath from sending me further emails. Love you tons Ari. I understand your illness. I forgive you.”
Azoff’s wife, Shelli, joined in, trying to play peacemaker. Emanuel told her to “wake up and smell the coffee.”
“This is me, this is who I am and I hate coffee or anything mocha flavored but it was a great line, I give u that,” she wrote back. She defended her husband and noted she loved Emanuel and his family and was looking forward to seeing them again. However, she did provide a bit of motherly advice: “U r at the top of the mountain, sit back and enjoy it, make friends because truly ari, nobody stays there, I am older then you and have seen it a million times.”
The correspondence was CC’d to Cablevision CEO (and Azoff client) James Dolan, Paramount Chairman Brad Grey and Hollywood producer Joel Silver, among others, according to Deadline.