• Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Donald Trump, said that statements made by MSNBC hosts that she was working for Trump only for the hefty paycheck are untrue. On Monday's Morning Joe show, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said Conway told them she secretly disliked working for Trump and was only "doing it for the money." Brzezinski said Conway would shill for Trump and then turn her back on him off the air, saying she needed to "take a shower" because she disliked Trump so much. Taking to Twitter, Conway called the claim "absurd," adding that she walked away from dozens of opportunities for millions of dollars and "would do it again" to be in the White House. In February, Scarborough and Brzezinski announced they would no longer welcome Conway on Morning Joe, stating she's "not credible anymore."
• Entertainers Jay Z and Beyonce are a billion-dollar couple according to one estimate. Forbes magazine puts the combined wealth of the married superstars at $1.16 billion. Forbes estimates Jay Z's fortune at $810 million. It says Beyonce has amassed $350 million. Forbes said most of Jay Z's money is involved in Roc Nation and his other companies. Both the rapper and the singer also have a significant stake in the Tidal music-streaming service. Jay Z signed a 10-year pact with Live Nation to partner on concert events. Variety reported last week that the deal is worth $200 million. The couple has a 5-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. Beyonce is pregnant with twins.
• TBS has closed a new deal with Conan O'Brien that extends through 2022. Talk-show veteran O'Brien's new four-year pact with TBS keeps him at the network where Conan debuted in November 2010 after his abrupt exit from The Tonight Show when NBC reinstated Jay Leno as host. But the format and distribution strategy for O'Brien's talents will evolve from his current Monday-through-Thursday hour. He will "expand the boundaries from a talk show to a range of personality-based, cross-platform experiences," according to TBS and TNT President Kevin Reilly. "In the past few years I've stumbled across many new and exciting ways of connecting with my audience," O'Brien said, "and I'm eager to evolve my show into something leaner, more agile and more unpredictable." Plans call for extending his Team Coco brand into digital content, podcasting, gaming, pay TV and live events.
A Section on 05/18/2017