Borkowski Media Trends: Oscars, Traitors & More

Mark Borkowski's thoughts on Musk, The Brutalist AI drama, BBC's Traitors hit and the Inauguration's lesser-known viral moment

We wanted to avoid a hattrick of successive mentions of Elon Musk, but we felt compelled to recommend Mark’s recent LinkedIn post about the controversial figure. In case you missed it, you can read Mark's thoughts on that story: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markborkowski_topic-of-the-week-the-inaugural-musk-salute-activity-7287956278532870146-bXdf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

The Brutalist Backlash

Every industry is grappling with the existential threat AI poses, and none more acutely than the film industry. While this week’s biggest story was Oscar nominations, two of this year's most successful films were caught in AI drama. The Brutalist found itself in the crosshairs after the film's editor, Dávid Jancsó, revealed in an interview with Red Shark News they'd used AI company Respeecher to tweak Hungarian dialects spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones.

Red Shark published the interview on 11 January but morphed into a full-blown crisis when the industry's trade publications covered it a little over a week later. The controversy spread to Emilia Pérez, the season's most-nominated film, which also deployed the Ukrainian software company to enhance vocal performances, specifically the lead's vocal range.

Both productions were quick to react, communicating that AI was used as a tool and not deployed to replace humans, which remains paramount. The noise of the nominations has helped snuff this out, but the issue certainly hasn't gone away. The industry is on high alert for any attempts to normalise this technology to the detriment of human staffers.

This was a pretty major oversight from the productions' PR teams, and while director Brady Corbet has reiterated it was a post-production process to help clean up the actors' dialogue, any major awards these films pick up will face some heat. With weeks away from Oscar night, the PR teams will be well prepared, but it's an apt reminder of how fast the smallest details can throw up big problems. And any snubs may even resurrect these debates.

The Traitors Takes BBC Crown

The final episode of The Traitors on BBC1 tonight is set to be some of the highest-rated television of the year, and, despite it being only January, seems unlikely to be beaten until Christmas rolls around again. The premiere of the series has now been seen by 10.1m viewers, making it the BBC’s most-watched entertainment programme since the Eurovision final in 2023 – with Strictly’s star waning year by year, it seems that The Traitors has conclusively taken the BBC’s coveted crown.

Though there’s still all to play for in tonight’s final, this series’ breakout star has undoubtedly been retired opera singer Linda Rands [SPOILER ALERT: for those a week behind], who, despite banishment last week, has been the face of the BBC’s media blitz in the season’s closing days. She was also the subject of an enormous billboard in Leicester Square, which declared her the winner of an honorary ‘Golden Cloak Acting Award’ for the delivery of such lines as “You don’t need to be a sailor to know how to tie a rope … sorry!” on the show. As with Diane from Series 2 (who also got a billboard), the Traitors’ niche in modern-day reality television seems to be in creating enduring characters from unassuming, if robustly middle-class, participants, and using the full extent of the BBC’s PR capacity to keep them front and centre. Just this week, Linda has appeared on Radio 1, The One Show and Morning Live but also done the rounds of Magic FM, Capital FM, and ITV’s Loose Women.

The format of The Traitors makes it a self-generating conversation machine, with an enormously dedicated social media following, but its fundamental BBC cosiness, which Linda’s billboard plays up, means it transcends any of the connotations of reality television. No matter who wins tonight (interior designer Francesca Rowan-Plowden may clinch it at the last), the BBC still has an enormous hit on its hands – and one that, refreshingly, it seems to know how to promote.

Eyes Up Here, Mark!

In all the fallout of Monday's Presidential Inauguration, there was one storyline that some may have missed: Jeff Bezos' fiance, Lauren Sanchez and her outfit. Memes quickly circulated of Meta founder, Mark Zuckerberg, staring at Sanchez’s chest during the event, as captured in viral social media posts like this one on X.

Lauren Sanchez frequently makes headlines for her revealing outfits when appearing alongside her billionaire hubby. Restaurateur of NYC hotspots like Balthazar and Pastis, Keith McNally, even weighed in on the discussion, sharing his perspective in an Instagram post, detailed by a Daily Mail article. In his post, he questions Sanchez’s choices: "Is this what having 1000 billion dollars does to people?", sparking further debate online.

Critics label her provocative style as "trashy" or "inappropriate," but Sanchez seems unfazed by the comments. Despite social media backlash, she remains confident and unapologetic about her look, while limiting the comments under each of her Instagram posts. Her personal brand stays the same, even after her engagement to Bezos. The consistency with her outfits is somewhat refreshing in the spotlight, where many other celebrities struggle to reinvent themselves.

The reactions to Sanchez’s Inauguration look are a reminder of society’s tendency to focus on women’s bodies and in today’s news cycle, provocative clothing still makes headlines. But lucky for Sanchez, she seems unbothered and continues to enjoy lavish vacations, red carpets and supporting her wealthy soon-to-be-husband.