Empathy has become the new buzzword in the world of marketing and so brands are adopting the practice of infusing empathy in their advertising campaigns to great effect.
Salma Jafri, a video content strategist speaking at the Nest I/O’s 021 Disrupt conference, emphasised for brands and organisations to make business personal.
Jafri stressed upon using a softer approach in marketing, and as a video content strategist, said it is important to « show customers you care ».
She asked the participants of the session, titled ‘Business is Personal’, to use the power of videos to convey their message to people.
« The goal is to create shareable content, » said Jafri.
She also talked about how businesses and other organisations can benefit from videos which establish a personal connection with their customer base and convey a strong message using the video medium.
« When you try and put yourself in the customer’s shoes, means you are being empathetic, » said the strategist.
Jafri talked about cognitive, emotional and compassionate empathy. Explaining the concepts, she said cognitive empathy is the ability to appeal to customer’s values and morals, while emotional empathy is the ability to appeal to your customer’s emotions and feeling. She added that compassionate empathy is the ability to appeal to the customer’s sense of right and wrong.
« The goal is to evoke emotions, » further said the speaker.
The content strategist also shared with the audience that today’s consumers are not just interested in passively consuming content, rather, they are actively seeking out content which prompts change, in both themselves and the world around them.
Talking about the benefits of videos in today’s interconnected world, Jafri referred to a study conducted by Youtube, focusing on millennials, which showed that up to 45 per cent of millennials used videos to better their lives.
The video content strategist also laid emphasis on the happiness factor in videos after showing a small video showing an infant with a cochlear implant hearing his mother for the first time and responding positively.
« Happiness marketing works, » said the speaker.
« Put a name and face to the business and make it personal, » was her advice to the audience of the session.
The 021 Disrupt conference is one of Pakistan’s biggest entrepreneurship conference forums, with active participation from venture capital firms and tech celebrities from the Middle East, Singapore and the US.
Startups, during the conference, will get the opportunity to directly interact with leading international investors. Sixteen institutional investors from Pakistan are also attending to search for investable startups.
“We conceived this conference in the hope of bringing together players from the local and international startup ecosystem to spark meaningful conversations and ignite interesting and innovative ideas that could solve the global challenges we are faced with today, » said Jehan Ara President of [email protected] and The Nest I/O.
In order for our ecosystem to grow it is important that the requisite support is provided to the talented young entrepreneurs in this country, she added.
The Nest I/O is a technology incubator set up by [email protected] It was launched in January 2015 with grants from Google for Entrepreneurs, Samsung and the US State Department. As of October 2017, the Nest I/O has incubated 117 startups in the retail, education, fintech, healthcare, mobile gaming and special needs segments.
Political climate often directly affects reception of arts, movies, books and most recently, video games. On Oct. 27, the new game in the Wolfenstein series, “Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus,” will be arriving in stores, with much political debate trailing after it. The game will be somewhat of a reboot to the series, as it involves an alternate universe that features a world where the Nazis had won the war.
Earlier this month on Oct. 5, the Twitter account promoting the new Wolfenstein game had created the slogan “Make America Nazi-Free Again” with the tag #NoMoreNazis. This sent Twitter into a frenzy, calling the developers and marketing team anything from “a liberal political soapbox” or “sellouts” to “those social justice warriors” (popularly referred to as SJW).
For those who do not know, the Wolfenstein franchise started in 1981, following American operatives who take on Nazi Germany. The series is often given the credit of popularizing first-person shooter games while still creating and maintaining a heartfelt story. Most importantly, it has always been about fighting Nazis. There is not a game in its series that does not include taking down the Nazi regime. Being offended with the latest installment’s focus on Nazis would be like getting mad at Nintendo for making a new Mario Kart game that featured racing.
Because of this, the response to the game appears almost comical. Indeed, the developers say that there is no political motive included in the new game. In response to the wild backlash from Twitter users, game developer Bethesda Softworks was forced to release a statement defending its actions and the hashtag.
Pete Hines, the vice president of public relations and marketing at Bethesda, said in an interview with GamesIndustry “We aren’t going to shy away from what the game is about. We don’t feel it’s a reach for us to say Nazis are bad and un-American, and we’re not worried about being on the right side of history here.”
So far, in early playthroughs of the game, it seems to be getting great reviews. Well-respected places like IGN (Imagine Games Network), Polygon and Game Informer have already given the game high praise and well-constructed compliments on its graphics, story and gameplay. In a review on Polygon, Ben Kuchera says, “This sequel successfully builds on what made its predecessor great.” It seems that despite the game’s initially bumpy marketing, there is now nothing but good news for the Wolfenstein franchise.
Refereum, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency company founded by game industry veterans, is aiming to transform the way video game marketing and engagement is conducted via the blockchain.
Traditionally, game companies spend exorbitant amounts of money on marketing channels that often prove inefficient. Meanwhile, Twitch and YouTube personalities produce content about video games that is now more popular than televised sports, but they have no way effective way to work directly with game developers at scale. The Refereum cryptocurrency uses blockchain technology to bypass traditional advertising companies and complex legislative and geopolitical restrictions, shifting over $100 billion in advertising revenue from corporations to distribute to individual game players.
By cutting the marketing middleman, Refereum directly rewards influencers and gamers for promoting and playing video games — something otherwise unattainable for most influencers.
Refereum is working with Twitch, the most prominent influencer gaming platform; Unity, the world’s most used game engine; and Ambisafe, which has secured cryptocurrency projects like Tether and Chronobank. Refereum is backed by a team with years of experience at top-tier game and tech companies such as Zynga and Google, with veteran analysts, developers, business development managers, and marketers leading the project.
On December 12th, Refereum will put 2,500,000,000 RFR utility tokens available for sale, at an initial rate of $0,01 per with early adoption discounts. The engineer of the Smart Contract managing the ERC20 tokens is none other than Oleksii Matiiasevych, the white hat hacker who saved millions in July’s multi-sig exploit of Parity. Interested buyers, game developers, and gamers can now subscribe to the Refereum.com newsletter for future news and announcements.
“We’ve completed an exhaustive audit of the Refereum smart contracts and token distribution methods and look forward to continuing to work closely with the Refereum team and guaranteeing participants a quality experience.”
Let’s change the way people experience video games. Thanks for your support everyone.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is recovering after being assaulted at his Kentucky home Friday, joining a growing list of lawmakers who have been injured or threatened with violence this year.
Paul, a second-term senator, suffered a minor injury when he was assaulted at his Warren County, Ky., home Friday afternoon. Kelsey Cooper, Paul’s Kentucky-based communications director, said in a statement Saturday that the senator “was blindsided and the victim of an assault. The assailant was arrested, and it is now a matter for the police.”
It was unclear whether politics was a motivation for the attack, according to a senior aide to the senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to speak about the incident.
Kentucky State Police charged 59-year-old Rene Boucher with fourth-degree assault with a minor injury. He is being held at Warren County jail on $5,000 bond, state police said.
Boucher is an anesthesiologistand the inventor of the Therm-a-Vest, a cloth vest partially filled with rice and secured with Velcro straps that is designed to help with back pain, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
Troopers responded to Paul’s residence at 3:21 p.m. Friday after reports of an assault. Upon arrival, troops determined that Boucher “had intentionally assaulted Paul, causing a minor injury,” state police said.
Robert Porter, who has known the senator and his family for more than 20 years, said he went to see his friend Saturday evening. He would not specify where or how the senator was injured but said Paul “didn’t get any severe injuries to his face.”
“He’s in some pain, but he’s going to be fine,” Porter said, adding that Paul’s return to Washington will be a “game-time decision” but that Paul is planning to return to work at some point in the coming days.
Paul and Boucher live in the same gated community along Rivergreen Lane in Bowling Green, Ky., according to Porter and another person close to Paul who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of respect for the senator.
Porter said Paul was mowing his lawn and wearing ear plugs Friday afternoon just before the alleged assault. Shortly after stepping off the riding mower to do something in the yard, Paul “got blindsided. He didn’t hear him or see his neighbor come over,” Porter said.
“He hadn’t really talked to his neighbor in years,” Porter said, noting that there is a large amount of land between their adjoining homes, so the lack of interaction would not be surprising to locals.
Porter said he was unaware of any previous incidents between Paul and his neighbor.
Porter said that he and Paul and their spouses raised their kids together. He also traveled with the senator to Guatemala in 2014 as part of a missionary trip to provide free eye care to hundreds of impoverished patients.
Paul, 54, has served in the Senate since 2011. He is an ophthalmologist who has practiced in Bowling Green, Ky., where he moved with his wife in 1993.
He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, focusing the closing months of his bid on attacking then-candidate Donald Trump and his readiness for office.
In recent months, he was a lead opponent of Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
But more recently, Paul has emerged as a leading defender of Trump’s policies and has golfed with the president at Trump’s Virginia golf course.
Porter said he didn’t know whether Paul and Boucher had ever worked together at local medical facilities.
A Facebook page purportedly used by Boucher says he is a former U.S. Army pain management specialist and graduated from the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines in 1984. The page also includes links to articles or memes critical of Trump and a news article about a Montana Republican congressional candidate who attacked a reporter the day before winning his seat.
The page was overrun late Saturday by other Facebook users criticizing Boucher for his alleged assault on Paul.
While it is unclear whether the attack was politically motivated, an unprecedented wave of threats against House and Senate lawmakers this year has prompted congressional security officials to review and follow up on thousands of threatening messages to members of both parties.
The threats turned to violence this summer when House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot and nearly killed by a gunman who showed up at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va.
More recently, Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) skipped several days of votes after threats were made against her after she sparred with Trump over the treatment of the widow of a soldier killed in Niger.
In addition to Scalise, Paul and Wilson, Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.) has faced threats since suggesting that Trump should face impeachment. And several GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), have faced threats. Rubio, another failed 2016 presidential candidate, was spotted in July walking around the U.S. Capitol with three U.S. Capitol Police officers wearing suits and ties.
Brian Fung and David Weigel contributed to this report.
President Trump waves to U.S. military personnel after giving an address at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan on Nov. 5. Trump arrived in the outskirts of Tokyo on the first leg of his 12-day Asian tour, during which he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vietnam. (Kimimasa Mayama/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
TOKYO — President Trump donned a military-style bomber jacket shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and projected confidence that the United States will confront threats in Asia, telling hundreds of U.S. troops that they will have the resources « to fight, to overpower and to always, always, always win. »
Trump’s tough talk in a speech to U.S. and Japanese military personnel at Yokota Air Base, shortly after Air Force One touched down here, aimed to set a tone for his five-nation tour during which the president said he is likely to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a regional summit in Vietnam later this week.
The president told reporters during his flight that he wants « Putin’s help on North Korea, » as his administration attempts to consolidate support for its strategy to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program.
“History has proven over and over that the road of the tyrant is a steady march towards poverty, suffering and servitude, » Trump told the troops, perhaps referring obliquely to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whose name he did not mention. Noting that he has proposed a bigger military budget, Trump surveyed the troops in an air base hangar and declared: « We’ve got a lot of stuff coming; use it well. »
The boisterous scene, during which the troops cheered and chanted « U.S.A.! » was probably closely watched in capitals across Northeast Asia, where governments from Seoul to Beijing are looking for signals of how Trump will address the threat on his first trip to the region. The president’s heightened rhetoric aimed at the North and the Kim regime has set the region on edge over concerns that increasing tensions could result in a military confrontation.
On the plane, Trump told reporters that he plans to decide “very soon” whether to re-label North Korea a state sponsor of terror. The North spent 10 years on that list before being removed in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration for meeting nuclear inspection requirements. Pyongyang later violated the agreement.
But Trump also offered encouragement for North Korean citizens, calling them “great people.”
“They’re industrious, they’re warm, much warmer than the world really knows and understands,” he told reporters on the plane. “They’re great people and I hope it all works out for everybody. And it would be a wonderful thing if it could work for those great people, and for everybody.”
And he seemed unconcerned about the prospect that North Korea might use his trip to the region to demonstrate its military might by firing a missile. “We’ll soon find out,” he said. “Good luck!”
After speaking at the air base, Trump was scheduled to spend the day with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, including nine holes of golf and a dinner. At the golf course, the two signed white baseball caps with the embroidered words: « Donald and Shinzo Make Alliance Even Greater. » On Monday, the two will hold formal bilateral meetings.
Trump Abe signing white ball caps that read, “Donald and Shinzo Make Alliance Even Greater” pic.twitter.com/VTVOxut97p
The golf outing aimed to recreate the bond the two men forged during Abe’s visit in February to Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where they played a round. It was while the two leaders dined together that evening that Kim launched a missile test, prompting an angry condemnation from both men at a joint statement to reporters in Florida.
Trump, who had spent Saturday night in Honolulu and toured Pearl Harbor, seemed in buoyant spirits Sunday. He wore an unbuttoned, open-collared white shirt with no tie to chat with the press on Air Force One, and he enthusiastically donned the brown leather bomber jacket presented to him by Air Force officers at Yokota. « I like this better, » he joked, after replacing his navy blue suit coat.
Trump confirmed that he expects to meet with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, later in the trip. The meeting would come as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has heated up. Last week, Mueller indicted three people in Trump’s orbit — two senior campaign aides and one lower-level, unpaid volunteer — as part of his ongoing investigation.
But the president, who has often expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders, has remained reluctant to criticize Putin.
The president also promised that trade will also be a key focus of his trip, with China — a frequent target of his trade-related ire — looming largest on the economic front. Chinese President Xi Jinping consolidated power last month at the 19th Communist Party Congress, and Trump is preparing to face a newly emboldened Xi on his home turf.
“I think we’re going in with tremendous strength, » Trump said. When a reporter asked him about Xi’s elevated position, the president cut off the questioner, saying, “Excuse me, so am I.”
He then rattled off a laundry list of highlights of U.S. power, including the surging stock market, low unemployment and success in combating the Islamic State in the Middle East.
“I think he’s viewing us as very, very strong, and also very friendly,” Trump said. “But we have to do better with trade with China because it’s a one-way street right now and it has been for many years. And we will. But the reason our stock market is so successful is because of me. I’ve always been great with money, I’ve always been great with jobs, that’s what I do.”
Trump noted that he will spend the first anniversary of Election Day 2016 in China, and facetiously invited his traveling press corps to join him in the festivities. “Can you believe it is almost exactly one year? We’re going to be in China — together,” he said. “We’ll have to celebrate together, Nov. 8. I hope we’ll all celebrate together. In fact, I was going to have a big celebration party, and then I said, ‘Well.’ But we’ll celebrate together.”
Asked about a new book about former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, in which they sharply criticize Trump, the president showed uncharacteristic restraint.
“The Bushes? I’ll comment after we come back,” he said. “I don’t need headlines. I don’t want to make their book successful.”
The king had decreed the creation of a powerful new anti-corruption committee, headed by the crown prince, only hours before the committee ordered the arrests.
Al Arabiya said that the anticorruption committee has the right to investigate, arrest, ban from travel, or freeze the assets of anyone it deems corrupt.
The Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, the de facto royal hotel, was evacuated on Saturday, stirring rumors that it would be used to house detained royals. The airport for private planes was closed, arousing speculation that the crown prince was seeking to block rich businessmen from fleeing before more arrests.
Prince Alwaleed was giving interviews to the Western news media as recently as late last month about subjects like so-called crypto currencies and Saudi Arabia’s plans for a public offering of shares in its state oil company, Aramco.
He has also recently sparred publicly with President Donald J. Trump. The prince was part of a group of investors who bought control of the Plaza Hotel in New York from Mr. Trump, and he also bought an expensive yacht from him as well. But in a twitter message in 2015 the prince called Mr. Trump “a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.”
.@realDonaldTrump You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S presidential race as you will never win.
As president, Mr. Trump has developed a warm, mutually supportive relationship with the ascendant crown prince, who has rocketed from near obscurity in recent years to taking control of the country’s most important functions.
Photo
At 32, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is already the dominant voice in Saudi military, foreign, economic and social policies. Credit
Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
But his swift rise has also divided Saudis. Many applaud his vision, crediting him with addressing the economic problems facing the kingdom and laying out a plan to move beyond its dependence on oil.
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Others see him as brash, power-hungry and inexperienced, and they resent him for bypassing his elder relatives and concentrating so much power in one branch of the family.
At least three senior White House officials, including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were reportedly in Saudi Arabia last month for meetings that were undisclosed at the time.
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Before sparring with Mr. Trump, Prince Alwaleed was publicly rebuffed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who rejected his $10 million donation for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York because the prince had also criticized American foreign policy.
As powerful as the billionaire is, he is something of an outsider within the royal family — not a dissident, but an unusually outspoken figure on a variety of issues. He openly supported women driving long before the kingdom said it would grant them the right to do so, and he has long employed women in his orbit.
In 2015 he pledged to donate his fortune of $32 billion to charity after his death. It was unclear Saturday whether Saudi Arabia’s corruption committee might seek to confiscate any of his assets.
Saudi Arabia is an executive monarchy without a written Constitution or independent government institutions like a Parliament or courts, so accusations of corruption are difficult to evaluate. The boundaries between the public funds and the wealth of the royal family are murky at best, and corruption, as other countries would describe it, is believed to be widespread.
The arrests came a few hours after the king replaced the minister in charge of the Saudi national guard, Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, who controlled the last of the three Saudi armed forces not yet considered to be under control of the crown prince.
The king named Crown Prince Mohammed the minister of defense in 2015. Earlier this year, the king removed Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as head of the interior ministry, placing him under house arrest and extending the crown prince’s influence over the interior ministry’s troops, which act as a second armed force.
Rumors have swirled since then that King Salman and his favorite son would soon move against Prince Mutaib, commander of the third armed force and himself a former contender for the crown.
Sega’s popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog is famous for running fast, but now he’s slowing down to grab a bite to eat with some extra friendly company. To help promote the upcoming “Sonic Forces” video game, which will be released in Japan on Nov. 9, Sega is turning Hooters outlets across Tokyo from the restaurant’s trademark orange to blue.
Hooters outlets in Shinjuku, Ginza and Akasaka are planning to decorate their stores with Sonic dolls, hand out “Sonic Forces” coasters and offer a fast-food set that includes French fries, a Sonic-blue colored drink and a chili dog — Sonic’s favorite food.
For those who aren’t up to speed, video-game-and-food collaborations have been around since the days of Atari, with video game characters showing up in children’s cereal or Pac-Man seen drinking 7-Up soda. Now, however, they’re becoming more interactive than simply slapping a sticker on a product, and several popular mashups have caught gamers’ attention this year.
Kurikoan, a chain of taiyaki stalls in Yokohama and Tokyo, caught the Pokemon bug and decided to help trainers catch ’em all. Its limited-time Magikarp-yaki was shaped like the titular orange fish from the series. First introduced in late 2016, Magikarp-yaki became so popular that Kurikoan released a custard version in January. This became a social media hit, with more than 1,250 people using the hashtag #コイキング焼き (#Magicarp-yaki) on Instagram to show off their latest catch.
However, it seems the marketing trend is shifting from filling gamers’ stomachs to taking over their screens. One notable example is “Splatoon 2” for the Nintendo Switch, which encourages players to duke it out over digital food. The popular shooting game, where squid-like kids spray their ink to defeat enemies and mark their territory, features a monthly battle called Splatfest. Players vote for their favorite option in a poll and then fight people who selected the alternative option, with past competitions pitting such things as rock against pop and mayo against ketchup. And then McDonald’s entered the ring.
September’s Splatfest was sponsored by the fast-food chain, asking gamers to pick their favorite side: French fries or McNuggets. One might assume that people would be annoyed to see such obvious paid content in their game, but “Splatoon” fans actually embraced it. Some players created fan art based on the event, others even used the signature section of their profile to draw McDonald’s food. (Although it lost the popular vote, McNuggets ended up winning the Splatfest battle, much to the chagrin of French fries’ fans.)
The only thing hotter than September’s Splatfest is probably the recent tieup between instant noodles and “Final Fantasy XV.” Square Enix’s expansive role-playing game finds its main heroes searching for new weapons, armor and magic spells. In addition, however, the collaboration adds a special item to the list: Nissin’s Cup Noodles.
Certain characters in the game ramble on about how they’re craving Nissin’s ubiquitous snack, and players are even encouraged to purchase instant noodles in-game to satiate their team. Gamers will also see plenty of Nissin billboards and delivery trucks throughout their journey.
Nissin’s campaign became even more in-your-face this year when it released a digital Cup Noodle hat for characters in the game, essentially turning them into goofy walking ads for the company. How does one obtain this rare item? When the campaign was launched, players had to buy a limited-edition set of “Final Fantasy”-inspired Cup Noodles in real life and redeem a code that was included with the purchase. The hat was later made available for free to any player who wanted it.
The collaboration has proved so successful that Nissin has produced a spoof commercial about it. In the video, Nissin took the original commercial for the “Final Fantasy XV” game and added noodles into every scene. The video currently has more than 1 million views on YouTube.
With people all over the internet sharing photos and memes about these recent collaborations, video game developers appear to have found a marketing recipe for success.
When “House of Cards” debuted in 2013, it catapulted Netflix into a whole new level of Hollywood recognition and acclaim. The dark political series about an unscrupulous Washington power couple became Netflix’s first breakout hit, planting a flag for the streaming service in the competitive world of original TV programming.
But just as its protagonist Frank Underwood fell ignominiously from power last season, the series itself has collapsed in scandalous fashion following allegations around actor Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by numerous men including employees on the show.
Netflix isn’t the only company left holding the bag. Media Rights Capital is the production company that owns the series and licenses it to Netflix. Since news about Spacey broke Sunday, followed by additional allegations, the companies moved quickly to cancel the seventh season of “House of Cards” and put production of the sixth season on indefinite hold. Netflix said in a statement Friday night that it is cutting all ties with Spacey and that he will not be involved with the show that he has starred in since 2013.
“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of ‘House of Cards’ that includes Kevin Spacey,” the company said in a statement.
While the scandal represents a public-relations debacle for Netflix, it isn’t likely to materially affect the company, even though “House of Cards” remains one of its most popular series, experts said.
“I think of ‘House of Cards’ as a trampoline,” said Paul Levinson, a professor of media and communications at Fordham University. “Netflix put it up, jumped on it and Netflix got so high that it no longer needs ‘House of Cards.’ ”
Netflix spent about $100 million to produce two 13-episode seasons for “House of Cards.” The political drama launched the company’s venture into original programming, helping to transform the streaming service into a global powerhouse and disrupter of the TV business. The Los Gatos-based company now has 104 million paid streaming subscribers and has made massive investments in new shows. It will spend as much as $8 billion on content next year alone.
As a result, Netflix now has multiple hit series — including “Stranger Things,” “Orange Is the New Black” and “The Crown” — that it can rely on to retain and attract subscribers.
Anthony Rapp on Sunday in Buzzfeed — will likely work in the company’s favor, according to Michael Pachter, a digital media analyst at Wedbush Securities, where he covers Netflix.
“I think Netflix is handling this extremely well,” Pachter said. “This is what you want them to do from an investor’s point of view.”
Analysts said the cancellation of “House of Cards” was likely an easy decision for Netflix to make because the series was already past its prime and nearing the end of its run.
Public scandals are rare for major TV series but not unheard of. The most recent instance was CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” which saw the departure of Charlie Sheen after the actor’s personal problems became public. His character was killed off from the show.
Among “House of Cards” fans, the most recent season was seen as something of a creative resurgence but the show was clearly on the decline and had lost a lot of its buzz. Creator and showrunner Beau Willimon had left the show last year after four seasons.
« During the time I worked with Kevin Spacey on ‘House of Cards,’ I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off,” Willimon said in a statement. “That said, I take reports of such behavior seriously and this is no exception. I feel for Mr. Rapp and I support his courage. »
Rapp alleged that he was 14 when Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance on him during the 1980s. Spacey responded by saying that he didn’t recall the incident, but offered Rapp “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” The two-time Academy Award winner also used the opportunity to come out as a gay man.
Since Sunday, the accusations have quickly snowballed, including an unnamed artist who told Vulture that he was a minor when he entered into a consensual sexual relationship with Spacey decades ago.
On Thursday, eight current and former “House of Cards” employees alleged to CNN that Spacey created a “toxic” work environment with his behavior. The allegations include one former production assistant who said Spacey sexually assaulted him during one of the show’s early seasons.
A representative for Spacey could not be reached for comment.
Netflix could face civil legal exposure from any employee harassment that occurred on “House of Cards” because Spacey was also credited as an executive producer on the show, which means that he was in a supervisory position, according to Genie Harrison, an attorney who specializes in employment and sexual harassment cases.
“The company will have strict liability because he’s a supervisor and because he would be seen as acting on behalf of the company,” Harrison said.
As the studio behind “House of Cards,” Media Rights Capital could also face legal exposure for any of its employees who were harassed by Spacey on the show.
MRC, which is based in Beverly Hills, declined a request for an interview but said in a statement that during the show’s first year of production, in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Spacey. The company didn’t elaborate on the nature of the complaint.
“Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey,” the company said in the statement.
Netflix, which also declined an interview request, said in a statement Friday that it was just made aware of the 2012 incident and was informed that it was swiftly resolved.
“Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set,” the company said in a statement. “We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment.”
“It’s pretty weedy stuff,” said Dave Camp, a former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee who wrote a 2014 tax bill that laid some of the groundwork for the current one. Mr. Camp, who is now a senior adviser for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that when lawmakers attempt to overhaul the code, “you get significant pushback on just about everything.”
The groups pushing back the hardest on Friday included those in the real estate industry. Some of them had raised concerns before the bill was released, only to discover their biggest fears realized in the draft legislation. The bill includes several measures long opposed by those groups, including a limit on interest deductions for new home purchases of $500,000 or more and an expansion of the standard deduction.
The Mortgage Bankers Association plans conference calls and discussions with members of Congress throughout the weekend, said David Stevens, the group’s president. Realtors are running online ads raising concerns over those provisions.
Mr. Stevens complained about the “piling-on effect” of the bill’s provisions on homeownership incentives, and said the bill is “moving really fast” through the House. “Every special interest is going to have concerns,” he said. “If Congress is going to have integrity, they’re going to listen to them and make the best decisions.”
Some of those groups were already training their efforts on a still-unfinished Senate version of the legislation, fearing that House leaders — who introduced their bill on Thursday — were intent on speeding the plan to a vote with little time or opportunity to amend it. The House bill, as one consultant to business groups put it, feels “pretty baked” already.
If Republicans decide to take aim once more at the Affordable Care Act, that would add yet another dimension to the battle over taxes.
Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said no decision had been made about whether to include repeal of the so-called individual mandate. But he said Mr. Trump wants its inclusion, and he indicated that Republicans wanted to evaluate the fiscal effects of taking that step. Senate Republicans may not be as enthused about its inclusion.
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“While I support replacing the individual mandate with an auto enrollment system that allows for a consumer to opt out, it would make it more difficult to pass a tax relief bill if it is combined with a repeal of the individual mandate,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said on Friday.
Members of Mr. Brady’s committee will meet Monday to begin marking up the tax bill, but lobbyists fear the process will not yield any substantive changes. Republican leaders are hoping to pass it through the House by Thanksgiving. The Senate, meanwhile, stands ready to release its bill as soon as the House committee approves its version.
Representatives from industry groups were carefully analyzing how the companies they represent would be affected by a proposal in the House bill that would create a 20 percent excise tax on payments to foreign affiliates.
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A nurse attending to medical equipment at the Orange County Children’s Hospital in Orange, Calif. By ripping out a major component of President Barack Obama’s health law, Republicans could claim at least a partial victory on an issue that has stymied them all year. Credit
Mike Blake/Reuters
The small-government advocacy groups spearheaded by the billionaire Republican megadonor brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch have been seeking to rally opposition to the excise tax from other conservative groups, as well as trade and industry associations.
The Koch groups already have expressed concern about the provision — as well as a plan to retain an upper-income tax bracket — in meetings this week with the Speaker, Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. Brady and Senate leadership.
The proposed excise tax is “misguided” and its costs would be passed along to consumers, said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit group funded by the Koch brothers and their network of donors.
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Yet Mr. Phillips said Americans for Prosperity remains supportive of the overall legislation and is walking a delicate line between trying to tweak the bill without diminishing its prospects.
“It’s important to keep this thing moving forward in the House as we try to improve it,” he said, “and then we get another bite at the apple in the Senate.”
Republican leaders warned on Thursday that interest groups would attack the bill and said they would resist efforts to keep things “status quo.”
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“You’re going to gore some sacred cows in an operation like this,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, on Friday. “But I really worry about more what happens inside the building. And as I talk to members, they’re not feeling a lot of pressure at this point against this.”
Any lobbyist push is complicated by the House’s math problem: The bill must contain enough revenue to offset its corporate and individual tax cuts. An independent analysis of the bill from the Tax Foundation on Friday suggested that problem might be larger than Republican leaders anticipated.
The analysis found that the draft legislation would cost too much to survive the budgetary requirements needed to pass the Senate on a party-line vote — a sign that Republicans will almost certainly need to rework it in order to keep their hopes alive for delivering a bill to Mr. Trump’s desk by Christmas.
The analysis found that the bill would add $2 trillion to the federal budget deficit over the next decade, an amount that shrinks to $1 trillion even when additional economic growth effects from the bill are factored in.
“This does not pay for itself,” said Scott Greenberg, a senior analyst at the Tax Foundation.
The bill would continue to add to deficits after 10 years, violating the procedural budget rules that Republicans are hoping to use to avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
The White House is projecting robust economic growth from the tax cut, and the analysis found that, if those growth projections hold, the bill would create an additional one million jobs and raise incomes for rich, poor and middle-class Americans. If those growth projections fail to materialize, the top 1 percent of earners would see income gains twice as large as those seen by middle-class workers.
When economic growth is taken into account, the gains would be more evenly distributed, with the middle class seeing the biggest income increase on a percentage basis. That is because the Tax Foundation assumes additional growth spurred by business tax cuts largely finds its way into workers’ paychecks.
Republicans are looking for other ways to squeeze more dollars out of the bill. On Friday, they released an amended version that would reduce the value of the income tax cuts for individuals by $90 billion over the course of a decade and slightly shrink the estimated cost of the legislation.
The amended bill includes a technical change that immediately adopts a revised measure of inflation, known as “chained C.P.I.,” which would change how inflation is calculated, thus slowing the speed at which tax brackets grow with inflation. As a result, Americans would more quickly find themselves in higher marginal tax brackets — jumping from a 12 percent top bracket to 25 percent, for example — as their incomes increase.
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The chained measure would also slow the value growth of some inflation-adjusted tax benefits, such as the earned-income tax credit.
President Trump on Friday kicked off a nearly two-week Asia trip with a stop in Hawaii, visiting military and historic sites amid protests and growing concern over security threats in the state and U.S. Pacific territories.
The president, who was visiting Hawaii for the first time since his inauguration, appeared at times humbled and excited as he stopped for a briefing at Pacific Command, the U.S. military’s headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region, and later toured the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
The visit to a site honoring those killed in an attack that led the U.S. into a war in which it would drop nuclear bombs on Japan had new symbolism compared with previous presidential visits, due to the growing nuclear standoff with North Korea. Trump is expected to spend part of his five-nation tour in Asia honing security alliances as well as pushing U.S. economic ties. The president was also meeting Friday with governors of U.S. states and territories in the Pacific to discuss the North Korean threat.
Melania Trump to the Arizona memorial, where he took part in a wreath-laying ceremony. White House Chief of Staff Gen. John F. Kelly, national security advisor H.R. McMaster and Adm. Harry Harris of Pacific Command joined the president, who said it would be “exciting” to see Pearl Harbor.
“I’ve read about, spoken about, heard about, studied, but I haven’t seen” the site, he said.
At the memorial, built above the Arizona’s sunken hull, the president saluted as he entered and watched as sailors placed a wreath of white flowers near a wall bearing the names of those who died in the attack. Afterward, the couple threw white flower petals into the water outside. The president did not make a public statement at the ceremony.
About 100 supporters — a mix of military service members and civilians — cheered the president and first lady, who had been given traditional Hawaiian leis upon their afternoon arrival at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Trump supporters also gathered at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in tourist-heavy Waikiki, where the overnight presidential visit closed streets and snarled traffic before an expected early-morning departure.
President Obama was not born in Hawaii.
“Welcome to Kenya” and “No, Trump, HI is Obama’s birthplace,” some of the signs read. “Aloha also means goodbye” and “So bad you make Bush look good,” said others.
Kaniela Ing, a Democrat from the state’s House of Representatives, was among the protesters.
“The idea of the aloha spirit is that we welcome everyone who comes here. But when there’s a leader whose whole M.O. seems to be making America a less welcoming place for whole groups of people, that’s where we need to draw the line,” said Ing, a 28-year-old Native Hawaiian. “He’s simply not welcome.”
Honolulu resident Joe Dallin held a poster showing the president’s name in a nuclear bomb’s mushroom cloud.
“This is life or death in many ways. We’re scared he’ll provoke nuclear war, and we’re out here living in the Pacific,” said Dallin, a 44-year-old massage therapist.
Across the street, Edward Odquina, 42, was among about a dozen people who showed up to support the president. He wore a “Make America great again” red hat and held a sign with the slogan as he gave military salutes to cars passing by.
He said he came out to show that, even in liberal Hawaii, Trump has fans. “I like what he’s doing to support the troops,” Odquina said.
Trump’s schedule Friday included face time with the governors of Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to discuss nuclear threats. North Korean officials have said their nation could bomb Guam, and Trump has suggested that the U.S. may attack North Korea.
Tensions have grown in Hawaii, which next month will start testing a statewide bomb warning system that hasn’t been used since the Cold War. Emergency preparedness officials in the state are holding seminars for residents in case North Korea develops the capability to hit the islands with nuclear missiles.
“We always look for the opportunity to engage the president. As you know, the people of island nations always have unique and different challenges,” said Hawaiian Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, before his scheduled meeting with the president.
“The people of Hawaii are safe.… We have a very good defensive team,” he said.
Trump was scheduled to depart Saturday morning for Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and attend state events before traveling to South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. In Asia, the president will join meetings with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders group and the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations.
jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com
Jaweed Kaleem is The Times’ national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
10:15 p.m.: This article was updated with details of Trump’s visits to military and historic sites and quotes from locals demonstrating in support of and against the president.
