An NBCUniversal executive shocked the company’s journalists by suggesting that parent company Comcast’s seven-figure donation to President Donald Trump’s ballroom was simply the price of doing business in today’s media landscape.
The White House announced in October that Comcast was one of 37 corporate and individual donors that contributed to the then-$300 million vanity project, an opulent 90,000-square-foot behemoth that will dwarf the existing executive residence.
The donor list also included tech giants, defense contractors, conservative megadonors, and crypto investors, drawing outrage from some of NBCUniversal’s own anchors who warned of the reputational costs of appearing to try to curry favor with the administration.
Speaking Wednesday at a training day for NBC-owned station news directors and NBC News investigative journalists, NBCU Local’s executive vice president of talent, strategic initiatives, and team impact, Anzio Williams, stunned participants by defending the donation, Status reported.
Williams argued the donation was worth it to facilitate the company’s ability to produce journalism, multiple sources said.
“If we have to name a ride after him at Universal Studios, that’s fine too, as long as it means they leave us alone,” he added, according to one source.
One source described the comments to Status as a “gut punch,” while other attendees reportedly voiced their disagreement to NBC management.
Williams later tried to smooth things over by pointing out that Comcast regularly made political contributions, including donating to former President Barack Obama’s presidential library.
In a statement to Status, Williams said the outlet’s sources had provided “inaccurate descriptions of my comments and the theme of my remarks.”
“I was lauding our company for giving us journalistic independence and not interfering in our work,” he said. “I noted our parent company has a lot of interests and followed up to share that they make donations across the spectrum, but our journalism is never influenced or impacted.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to NBC for comment.
Comcast has not confirmed exactly how much it donated, but a source told The New York Post in October that it was between $5 million and $10 million, a figure that neither Comcast nor the White House disputed when reached by the newspaper for comment.
At the time, Comcast was one of three major bidders competing to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, and would have needed Trump’s Department of Justice to sign off on the deal.
Trump, however, had signaled he was opposed to any potential merger over NBC’s ownership of MSNBC, despite Comcast spinning off the liberal broadcaster into part of a separate company.
Paramount Skydance ultimately won the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war, putting Trump ally and billionaire nepo baby David Ellison on track to control both CBS News—which he has already steered in a more MAGA-friendly direction—and CNN.
Democratic lawmakers launched an inquiry into whether the ballroom donations were intended as a quid pro quo for regulatory or other favors from the administration.
To some of the journalists in the room on Wednesday, Williams’ comments appeared to suggest that participating in the very corruption and abuse of power they’ve spent their careers trying to expose was simply the cost of doing their jobs, according to Status.
Trump originally said the ballroom would cost $100 million and be funded entirely by private donations. The price tag has since increased to around $600 million, with Trump revealing that the venue will “shield” a massive underground military complex.
