Sports & Entertainment Spotlight

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Last week you may have celebrated the Fourth of July with hot dogs on the grill (70.5 of them, if you’re Joey Chestnut), your favorite beverage of choice in hand and fireworks. This week, you may be celebrating the Eleventh of July (or 7/11) with hot dogs (or at least I think they’re hot dogs) on those rotating rollers, a Slurpee in hand and (depending on the jurisdiction you live in) fireworks—though all bets are off as to whether you have a hand with which to hold the Slurpee after using said fireworks. In any event, if you’re looking for the latest in the sports and entertainment business mixed with humor, like the convenience store, the Spotlight is always open.

• • Many were shocked to learn this week that viral indie band The Velvet Sundown turns out to be completely AI-generated, albeit with some human direction involved. Frankly, not all that surprising given that the band’s hospitality rider included a request for chips and GPUs.

• • Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) strikes back at major record labels in a bid to defend against copyright infringement claims arising from the alleged unauthorized use of hundreds of songs on DSW’s social media accounts. I’m no litigator, but I would like my odds arguing “if the shoe does not fit, you must acquit.”

• • Desperately in search of a laugh (not unlike my writing), former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama join forces with Larry David to produce a sketch comedy show regarding American history. The financial details of the deal are not publicly known, though there will be a jar on set for the Obamas to put a dollar into every time they address Mr. David as “Bernie” or “Senator.”

• • Beverage brand Liquid Death continues its streak of cutting edge (and edgy) marketing, selling autographed DNA (saliva) samples on empty cans of their products drank by endorsement partner and rock legend Ozzy Osbourne. In announcing the promotion, Osbourne encouraged fans to clone him, though I would caution that there’s probably at least a 50/50 chance a fan ends up with a cloned vampire bat instead.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn.