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Casey Wasserman will sell his talent agency after his personal emails with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wasserman owns approximately 40% of the private company, while Providence Equity Partners holds roughly 60%. Unsurprisingly, the Wasserman Agency will be renamed.
Company president Mike Watts will be stepping in as interim CEO. In a Friday evening memo to agency employees, Wasserman apologized for causing his employees “discomfort,” saying he had “limited interactions” with Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein “years before their criminal conduct came to light.” Wasserman and Maxwell exchanged flirtatious emails in spring 2003, a year after Wasserman flew on Epstein’s plane as part of a humanitarian trip with the Clinton Foundation.
Wasserman’s 11th-hour memo comes as Wasserman Agency faced down an exodus of clients, sparked by an Instagram statement by Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast. The furor around the agency head’s personal ties to Maxwell was catalyzed by Chappell Roan announcing she would be leaving the agency, as did Weyes Blood, Wednesday, Orville Peck, and more. With Wasserman’s departure, it is possible some artists will remain with the renamed agency. Deadline reported that Phish had been seeking new representation in the lead-up to Wasserman’s sale.
Last week, the board of the LA28 Olympics organizing committee voted Wednesday to keep Wasserman as chairman of the committee, saying in part that their outside counsel, “found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”
On Thursday, Wasserman hosted a reception at NBA All-Star Weekend. Page Six reports NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, and ESPN Chairman James Pitaro were among those in attendance.
Los Angeles Times reports that the board of directors for LA 28 saw the emails as “dated and less serious,” based on interviews with several insiders. In his memo to agency employees, Wasserman said in part, “Other than my children and my fiancée, there are two things that matter most to me in this world: this company that I founded 24 years ago, and the dream I’ve pursued for more than a decade of bringing the Olympic Games back to the city I love.”
