Lisa Bonner, Esq.

Spent time in The Zone with @fox5dc on Friday dissecting the #Netflix #WBD blockbuster deal. Although marketplace competition is healthy, there is NO way WBD could have survived. They have no streaming service and no ability to monetize their biggest asset- their massive content library. Additionally, the theatrical model is struggling as fewer people are going to the movies and the theatrical to streaming window continues to contract. Basically, WBD had no choice but to sell parts of the company to survive. ALL things considered, including the fact that the studio couldn’t survive without a purchase, this deal is a win/win. The silver lining- it didn’t go to the nepo baby tech bros over at Skydance. Here’s a part of our 10 minute conversation and part of why I think this deal makes sense. Now, let’s ensure that Co-CEOs Sarandos and Peters do what they say they’re going to do. They also MUST work with creators to make sure their compensation is fair (in the longer clip) and then and only then can it be a win for everybody: consumers, Netflix, Discovery Global and content creators. #lawyer #analysis #breakdown

@VictorBlackwell asked my thoughts on the video Diddy submitted to the court and my thoughts on the sentencing. Y’all know I had something to say… @cnn

What’s that they say: Beware of the advice of those who stand to gain from your mistakes. Or how about: misery loves company. And lastly, maybe: consider the source…🤷🏽‍♀️ But for real…let’s talk about it #justathought #diddy #suge

Later gram Recap- NBAF’s 20th Anniversary of Fine Art + Fashion was such a special night celebrating art, fashion, culture, and community, this milestone event was a night to remember. I’d like to thank our amazing Board whose dedication and support make my job as Board Chair so much more meaningful. Thanks to the @nbaf staff, our event co-chairs @melissav413realtor and @rjvall , Carol Waddy and Helen Mitchell for their leadership and support in making the evening such a success. Huge thanks to our presenting sponsors @gt_law and #GeorgiaPacific and all our sponsors for making this night shine with possibilities. We’re also so grateful to our fashion partner, @neimanmarcusatlanta , for bringing the incredible styles to the runway with style and sophistication! It was such an honor to present my dear friend @mslynnwhitfield , a legend of stage and screen, with the Cultural Icon Award. And a big congratulations to Michi Miko as the recipient of the Radcliffe Bailey Excellence in Visual Art and @therealnoigjeremy , the recipient of our Style Architect Award. Kudos to Carrington Bryan, winner of the Fashion Forward Student Design Competition, and in addition to receiving the award, Carrington designs will be on display at the NM Buckhead store. To all of our honorees, thank you for inspiring us all through your artistry, impact, and excellence. It was an honor to celebrate each of you. Thank you to everyone who came out and helped us celebrate 20 years of Fine Art + Fashion. We can’t wait for what’s next. I hope you will join us next year as we continue to elevate our program and celebrate Black artistry and excellence! #NBAF #FineArt #Fashion BoardChair 👗styled by @mrsstephens70 @neimanmarcusatlanta 👡 @prada Hair @derekjhair MU @geishaboii

Spring in NYC just hits different 🌸✨ We had a TIME at the Studio Museum in Harlem Spring Luncheon, an afternoon filled with beauty, brilliance, and purpose. Surrounded by some of the most inspiring and stylish changemakers, but the message delivered by Sherilyn Ifill was clear: we are in the midst of a revolution yet we remain rooted in hope. She reminded us that progress isn’t passive, it’s intentional, courageous, and collective. Thank you to my dear friend, the ultimate table hostess, @crystalmccrary , who brings elegance and purpose to everything she touches. Just as it is every year, it was an afternoon rooted in art, community, great friends and a vision for what’s possible. 🌸 (For some reason, this song popped into my head. It stayed on repeat at Crystal’s apartment back in the day. Always an ode to good times!)

PHENOMENAL! One word to describe @dancetheatreofharlem Firebird Ballet performance and Vision Gala. You know that saying, so nice I had to see it twice? This time in #NYC with my crew and with an orchestra! No words! Congrats to the #DTH Board. E (@mzhautehunter ) you guys did it again! ❤️ Anytime I get to hang with my framily, I’m down…always. Thanks to our table host @carcher523 for bringing us together. #bringmeback #home #JOY 🖤

🚨 DIDDY APPEAL UPDATE 🚨 Today his legal team went before a 3-judge panel at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in NYC. His lawyers argued the following: 1) First Amendment: His lawyers are claiming the videos at the center of the case were protected “amateur pornography” and shouldn’t have led to a conviction. 2) His sentence was too harsh: They argue the judge essentially punished him for the sex trafficking and racketeering charges the jury acquitted him on, calling it “a perversion of justice.” Diddy’s team says the judge “acted as a thirteenth juror.” Prosecutors fired back, saying sentencing guidelines allow judges to consider “acquitted conduct,” and that buying the First Amendment argument could open the door for commercial sex operations to hide behind free speech. Diddy wasn’t in the courtroom, he’s still locked up at FCI Fort Dix in NJ 🎉serving his 50-month sentence. His projected release date is April 2028, but a win here could change everything.🥴 No ruling yet. A decision is expected in the coming weeks to months. Thanks to @CNN for having me back on to talk about this today with @victorblackwell

IG please help me celebrate my mom’s 90th birthday. 🎂🎂🎂 Many of you know her because she spends plenty of time visiting me or you may know her from my travel photos as I’m always taking her on trips with me all over the world. She’s my mommy, our matriarch , my inspiration, my travel partner, my north star, my Soror 💕💚, my protector, my best friend. We’re so blessed that she’s here, in good health and spirits, of sound mind and still making her opinions known! Thanks to all of you who’ve shown mom a good time, poured into her, spent time loving on her and just embracing her as your own. Mom, I love you more than words can express! ❤️❤️❤️ I look forward to celebrating you this weekend. Keep shining your light into the world, praying for us and making the world a better place by just being here. #happybirthday #mommyandme

I was back on @CNN this morning discussing yesterday’s landmark decision against Meta and YouTube and how courts are now set to redefine harm. I saw this coming. I wrote about this in my NYU Law keynote last fall: “For decades, U.S. antitrust doctrine measured harm largely through the Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. lens: price and output. If prices fell and content proliferated, competition was presumed healthy. Yet in the streaming era, where platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Instagram and Amazon Prime are free or low-cost and content is abundant, price no longer tells the full story. The harm to consumers isn’t in inflated pricing. The harm is subtler but no less real: the harm is measured in diminished consumer agency. These “dark patterns,” as the FTC calls them, aren’t design accidents. They’re strategic frictions, carefully engineered to keep users subscribed, engaged, and generating data. This is manipulation through the company’s interface, and it reveals that the real price of “free” services is often our autonomy and agency.” And just yesterday, we saw this play out with verdict against Meta and YT. Although the $6mm verdict apportioned between the 2 companies with immeasurable wealth, is a drop in the bucket, the real win is what this means for consumer agency. The harm is in the intentional design, and just as the FTC forced Amazon to redesign its interface in their $2.5 BILLION settlement, with 1500 cases lined up against these social media giants, a redesign to return agency to the consumer seems to be a cheaper and more reasonable way to mitigate future damage. Buckle up buttercups, the precedent has been set, both companies are set to appeal, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride! Do you feel that social media is addictive? Weigh in below. #meta #youtube #trial #lawyer #letstalkaboutit

So let’s get this straight… ABC cast Taylor Frankie Paul as the new Bachelorette, despite a very public, verifiable searchable history, with evidence of DV from a previous season of a Disney show, built an ENTIRE season around her… and then pulled the plug once the video surfaced? We’ve seen this before, when a video that changes everything. It tipped the scale in the Sean Combs case (you know I had to go there), and it did so here too. At some point, this stops being about “new information” and starts being about what becomes undeniable, only then to take accountability for something that they shouldn’t have done in the first place. That’s called assuming the risk. ABC bet on Taylor’s crossover appeal and lost. And they have no recourse and nobody to blame but themselves…🤷🏽‍♀️ #TheBachelorette #TaylorFrankiePaul #SLOMW #ISaidWhatISaid

Last week I was on @courttvnetwork discussing the Khouri Richins trial, and I said then her chances of walking free didn’t look good. This wasn’t rocket science—the evidence for a conviction was there. Yesterday, after just three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all five charges: aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder (first-degree felonies), two counts of insurance fraud (second-degree felony), and forgery (third-degree felony). As I mentioned in the clip, what continues to baffle me about these spousal murder cases is how often the “aggrieved spouse” thinks they’re smarter than law enforcement and forensic investigators—people who do this work every day. And they almost always start with the spouse… Well, so did Khouri. She’s now a five-time convicted felon and will spend years in prison. The ultimate irony? She’ll be sentenced on May 13—Eric’s birthday. Talk about karma. 🤷🏽‍♀️

C’est vrais, j’ai deux amours. Alors, Paris est toujours une bonne idea, surtout avec tes bons amis! Trop de photos pour un seul post, mais commençons ici… We headed to Paris to celebrate @dancetheatreofharlem ’s premiere of Firebird, with the NY crew. The ballet alone was worth the trip; it was powerful, visually stunning, and unforgettable. Make sure you catch it when it comes to the stage in April in NY! We also visited @MickaleneThomas exhibit All About Love @grand_palais complete with a tour with her curator, we wandered the streets, hit the markets, conversed over long dinners and chatted in cafés, did a little (or a lot of) shopping, and made the memories that only happen when the girls are together in the City of Lights. Huge thank you to my girl and DTH Board Member @mzhautehunter for curating such a wonderful itinerary. And congratulations to the entire DTH board on an incredible show and turnout in Paris! 💫 #NYC #Paris #DTHinParis #Girlfriends