Sen. Lindsey Graham brought Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison as his guest to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Graham, 70, posted a photograph on X of him with Ellison, the 43-year-old son of centibillionaire Larry Ellison, ahead of the president’s address. Graham said he was “honored” to have him. The two grinned while giving a “thumbs up.”
Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the significance of Ellison’s attendance and who reached out first about it. The Daily Beast has also reached out to a Paramount representative.
The move comes as Paramount is trying to outbid Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, which Trump is no fan of. Ellison reportedly assured Trump that, if his bid were successful, he would transform CNN, similar to his overhaul at CBS News, where he installed anti-woke opinion journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief.
Trump has involved himself in the bidding war. On Saturday, he demanded that Netflix’s board remove Susan Rice, the former Obama and Biden administration official, immediately—“or pay the consequences.”
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos appeared to shrug that off, telling the BBC’s Today show that Trump “likes to do a lot of things on social media.”
The Department of Justice is currently probing Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid. Paramount has offered a counterbid of $31-per-share.
Sarandos said his deal will bring “growth” to the industry.
“We’re buying a movie studio and a distribution entity that we don’t currently have,” he said. “We’ll be adding to the market, where Paramount has committed that they’re going to cut $6 billion out of the business right away.”
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