Return to Transcripts main page
The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump, Democrats Make Some Progress In Talks to Avert Shutdown; Minneapolis Police Chief Comments On Actions Of Federal Agents; Trump Warns Iran: U.S. President Pressures Tehran To Make Nuclear Deal; UK's Starmer Meets Xi Jinping In Beijing To Deepen Ties; FBI Leading Investigation After Man Charges Rep. Ilhan Omar During Town Hall; Tesla CEO Elon Musk To Stop Production Of Models S and X; Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged; U.S. Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged; Harry Styles Concert Ticket Controversy; Interview with "Rooting Interest" Author Cat Disabato. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 29, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: In French, you embody those adventures that France is proud not simply to welcome, but to share.
ALI AKBAR, NEWSPAPER VENDOR (through translator): Of course I am proud because I am satisfied with everything I have done. I have only done good things and I have worked hard and I have a family and I have raised two families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: When you are the French prime minister, you can wear sunglasses during your press conferences. Akbar says his sales are down to just 20 copies of the famous daily paper Le Monde per shift because newspapers have gone digital. He laments people don't buy newspapers much, but if they are, they buy them from him.
Thanks for watching this hour of The Story Is. Another hour starts right now.
The story is immigration as new video emerges of Alex Pretti days before the shooting. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz goes on a ride along with the Minneapolis police jeep.
The story is tension with Iran, CNN's Fred Pleitgen on the ground in Tehran.
And the story is ticket prices. Harry Styles is back. Can anyone afford tickets to his show? Variety's Chris Willman here to talk about the rapidly changing music business model.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michelson. MICHAELSON: And welcome to The Story Is. We begin hour in Washington
where the White House and Senate leaders are moving closer to a deal to avoid a government shutdown.
A live picture, it's now one o' clock in the morning there. Sources say they are trying to resolve some final sticking points ahead of Friday's deadline. Democratic senators have threatened to block a massive spending package that includes funding for ICE and calls to rein in the federal agency.
The White House says border czar Tom Homan will hold a press conference in Minneapolis in the hours ahead. The city's mayor, Jacob Frey says he and Homan had a productive conversation, but there was no promise made to actually end the surge of federal officers there.
Now all of this comes as new videos from federal officers show clashing with Alex Pretti more than a week before he was shot and killed by Customs and Border Protection agents. Look at him here, Pretti seen shouting at officers, kicking their vehicle, taillight. The agents then stop, get out and tackle Pretti to the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA MAYOR: I actually haven't yet seen the video, but are we actually making the argument that Alex Pretti should be killed for something that happened like 11 days prior to the shooting itself? No, I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took place and those circumstances. I mean, you can believe your own two eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Mayor Frey speaking at CNN's town hall with Anderson Cooper and Sara Sidner. He also reacted to President Trump's warning that he's, quote, playing with fire if Minneapolis doesn't enforce federal immigration law, which by law, they are not required to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREY: It's not about safety, nor is it, I believe, about immigration. You don't need to take my word for it. Listen to the words that are coming directly from the federal administration and people in it. This is about political retribution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz sat down with the Minneapolis police chief who was speaking out. They discussed the city's reform since George Floyd was killed and how this moment is reopening some old wounds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: It's been alarming to me that we've had shooting and then another shooting and another shooting, and nothing's changed. SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR AND CRIME JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-
over): Chief Brian O'Hara has been working to rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
O'HARA: I was afraid that was it, it's over. Like, we were going to wind up having looting and destruction again, just like in 2020, and we might just slide into that cycle again, that cops are burned out, they want to leave, crime increases at the same time, and people completely lose faith in law enforcement now.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): He says the surge of federal immigration operations in his city threatens to undo the progress that's been made.
PROKUPECZ: It's got to be hard to see us, especially as a --
O'HARA: Working other night with an officer around midnight. So we pulled him over, and it was a young family with a child in the backseat. And they had come out late at night to pick up food because they were afraid they were going to get stopped.
And the woman looked like she hadn't eaten in days. The mother, I mean, I don't know how you can't be impacted on a human level by some of the things that are happening.
[01:05:00]
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The escalation of ICE tactics against the public here, culminating with the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, have been widely criticized. It's the kind of policing Chief O'Hara was brought into Minneapolis to stamp out.
O'HARA: I don't think it's too much to ask the federal government to conduct law enforcement in a way that respects the constitution, in a way that, you know, lives up to the standards that people expect law enforcement in this country to have today, to be professional, to use tactically sound methods. I think a lot of the videos you see, it looks like policing from 30 years ago at best.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Chief O'Hara brought us to Colonial Market, the epicenter of some of the most violent protests back in 2020. We met the owner, Danny Hernandez.
O'HARA: So this whole strip here burned in 2020.
PROKUPECZ: So this is all new, like in the last couple years. And now it's all empty.
DANNY HERNANDEZ, OWNER, COLONIAL MARKET: Now it's all empty. We have 12 small businesses. As you can see, all of them are closed. There's only one standing besides the grocery store. Everybody else told me that they're no longer going to be able to keep going to get back to our feet. That's going to be a challenge. So the impact, you know, that it has -- the scars are going to be there.
O'HARA: There's still ongoing public safety issues in these communities that we have to try and deal with. And if everybody's just scared and nobody tells us anything, you're going to create a situation where there's entire groups of people that are going to be the perfect victims because it can easily be targeted for crime and they're not going to report things because they're scared.
HERNANDEZ: MPD really work hard to gain the trust. Now we're not trusting federal government. Now I don't know, you know, like, anytime people hear feds, they're going to just clinch, you know.
PROKUPECZ: What happens now? Like, what's -- what do you think? Yes, well, I don't know, like, what is like. Hopefully things deescalate.
O'HARA: Deescalate. That's what we need. We need peace.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Minneapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Democratic Congressmember Joaquin Castro visited an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas on Wednesday. That is where a five year old is being held. Liam Canejo Ramos and his father were detained by ICE last week. That story made national news today. Castro met with them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOAQUIN CASTOR (D-TX): His father said that Liam has been very depressed since he's been at Dilley.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Since word of Liam's detention spread, protests have erupted outside the facility. Protesters are demanding Liam's release and the humane treatment of detainees following reports of poor conditions inside.
Meanwhile, a judge has ruled that Liam and his dad cannot be immediately deported while they wait for their case to play out in court. Liam has to remain in the same judicial district.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASTOR: I told his dad how much his school and his community and our country loves him and is praying for him and that the nation and the world were really, it struck a deep nerve, his arrest and his detention. And you know, he said that he misses his classmates and his family and wants to be back at school. And he keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture. I think they took that from him.
But I'm concerned with him, for him because his dad said that he's been depressed and been despondent and isn't eating well and that he's been very lethargic.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Joaquin Castro with Ed Lavandera there. Fabian Nunez is a steering committee member of the Save America Movement, a group pushing back against the Trump administration's immigration policy. He's the former Democratic speaker for California State Assembly.
Fabian, welcome back to The Story Is. First off just your emotional reaction to this story out of Texas.
FABIAN NUNEZ, STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER, SAVE AMERICA MOVEMENT: Just very sad. You know, when you think about what this country has come to when we have to take a five year old child, put him through the torture of detaining them, literally arresting a five-year-old child and putting them at a detention facility where the conditions under which him and the other folks that are living in these detention facilities are worse than the conditions that someone who's a mass murderer in this country has been convicted of killing someone receives in a jail where they get three meals a day, where they get a bed, where they get to exercise.
These folks don't even have beds to sleep in and they're not guaranteed that they're going to get three meals a day. That is the level of cruelty with which we are exposing these folks to. And what's in -- what's -- to me most telling about it is that it tells the tale of a country who's backsliding on its promise to provide protection to the most vulnerable sectors of our population.
[01:10:10]
But that the target of these ICE raids are Latino immigrants. And they said, no, we're only going after the hardened criminals. But clearly that's not the case. And I think that this really requires action by the President and a total overview of what ICE is all about and what it's doing. And I don't know that we need to stop ICE. We certainly need to shut down all these detention facilities because the role of immigration when somebody is here illegally is to comprehend them and to release them to the country of origin or to release them in their city until they have a hearing.
But now we've decided to take people under custody as if they were real criminals. And that's not the crime that they committed. A five- year-old child does not commit a crime that warrants you putting them in a detention facility, ruining their entire life. I mean, it just, it makes sense.
MICHAELSON: What would your plan B just to give them a court date and say come back later or what would it look like if you get rid of the detention facilities?
NUNEZ: That's exactly what we did before. Look, to enforce immigration in this country, everybody I think, agrees, both on the left and on the right, that we have to enforce our immigration laws. But those immigration laws need to be enforced at the border. In other words, don't allow people to --
MICHAELSON: You know, folks on the right will say that they weren't.
NUNEZ: Well, they weren't.
MICHAELSON: For many years. And the Biden administration, they'll say did a bad job of this. And because of this, we have millions of people here. And so now we have a lot of folks who maybe don't show up for their court appearances or other things and are sort of running loose in the country. We don't know who they are or what criminal background they have. I mean, that's the argument against that.
NUNEZ: Well, it is. The argument against that is -- I think the point first that under some administrations we haven't enforced our border immigration policies to the degree that we should. And I think that's valid. The argument is valid to some degree depending on who the President is at the time. Clearly President Obama was criticized by Latinos for being the border in chief.
MICHAELSON: Border in chief.
NUNEZ: But under Biden, yes, those immigration law -- immigration policies at the border were more lax. Having said that, if you're going to target people who have committed crimes in this country, there's a way to do that. It's a surgical approach.
It's not this approach where you take anybody and everybody that looks Latino because of the appearance and the color of their skin, and then escalate it to where you start doing mass violations of human rights, civil rights, constitutional rights, and everything else that we're facing in this country today, which is why we're facing a national crisis in our country.
MICHAELSON: So you're with the Save America movement, you guys have raised money and are running ads in different cities. An ad in Minneapolis about this. You have had ads that are targeting senators and Congress members in Washington to try to get them to defund part of Homeland Security. Even got an ad campaign in Greenland over what's going on there.
How do you see sort of the real politics of this moment? You are somebody who is speaker, you know how to count votes, and how your political strategist paid a lot of money to tell people how to get things done. Just in terms of how the debate has shifted even in the last week, and how do you take advantage of that to get what you want politically in the next few days?
NUNEZ: Well, look, for all the wrong reasons, right, Renee Good didn't -- shouldn't have lost her life, obviously, Alex Pretti should not have lost his life in the way that they have brutally killed by ICE thugs in Minneapolis.
But I think it's changed everything. I think that the events of this weekend have shifted the politics of this to where now it's drawing attention from Republican senators and other folks. Our campaign at the Save America Movement is intended to send a message to Americans that we cannot allow the facts and truth to be buried in the sand.
In other words, that in a sea of lies in which this administration lives, the Trump administrations, we can't allow the truth to drown. And that is one of the fundamental things that we're trying to do. The only way we're going to save this country is for people to go back to its roots about who we are as Americans, what we stand for, and to begin to design a society that lives up to the promise of our values and our virtues as a country who cares about the dignity of people.
That's really what we have to go back to. And I believe that there are some signals that some people want to do that. My concern, however, Elex, is that in the process, what we don't want is for the situation to be to deescalate in Minneapolis and then to continue in Latino neighborhoods all over the country like we have been seeing, where they continue to repress people.
[01:15:00]
To come after people, to violate their rights, to throw people like five-year-old children and innocent folks that are working at Home Depots or construction sites and have never committed a crime --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NUNEZ: -- and to apprehend them and to put them in detention facilities. My hope is that changes. And so the Save America Movement --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NUNEZ: -- fundamentally wants to put a spotlight on all of these injustices so that the American people could go back to their roots. Because we believe fundamentally --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
NUNEZ: -- that people are good in this country and want to do the right thing.
MICHAELSON: I believe that too. And I hope we can showcase that going forward. Fabian Nunez, thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate you.
NUNEZ: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: President Trump is stepping up his threats to Iran. He's urging Tehran to come to the table to negotiate a deal to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons. If not, he says the next attack on Iran will be far worse than the one carried out last summer.
USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is now in the Indian Ocean. And sources say the president is considering military strikes on Iran's leadership, nuclear sites and security officials responsible for killing anti-government protesters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: That regime is probably weaker than it has ever been. And the core problem they face, unlike the protests you saw in the past on some other topics, is that they don't have a way to address the core complaints of the protesters, which is that their economy is in collapse.
The protests may have ebbed, but they will spark up again in the future because this regime, unless they are willing to change and or leave, have no way of addressing the legitimate and consistent complaints of the people of Iran who deserve better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Now to a CNN exclusive, CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen has reaction from inside Tehran. And we should note CNN operates in Iran only with government permission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTENRATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten Iran's leadership, saying that the United States has amassed a gigantic force here in this region ready for military strikes against Iran. Iran's leadership remains defiant. I was able to speak with the speaker of Iranian parliament who tells me any attack on Iran would lead to a protracted war.
MOHAMMAD BAGHER GHALIBAF, SPEAKER OF IRAN'S PARLIEMANET (through translator): Maybe Mr. Trump can start a war, but he doesn't have control over the end.
PLEITGEN: Now, President Trump's threats against Iran come in the wake of those massive protests that unfolded here in Tehran and other major cities and even towns and villages across the country in the early part of January.
The Iranian leadership acknowledges that thousands of people, most of them civilians, were killed in those protests. The U.S. opposition groups and many of America's allies hold Iran's security forces responsible for those killings. While the Iranians claim the protests were infiltrated by what they call outside groups. In any case, the speaker of Iran's parliament told me Iran is still willing to negotiate with the United States, but not under duress. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Fred for that. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also defending the Trump administration's work with Venezuela's interim government. Of course, he's the top U.S. government diplomat and he says there has been progress, but the transition to democracy requires a phased approach, which is going to take time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: I can point to a number of places, Spain, Paraguay, two examples of places in which there was a transition, you know, from an autocratic regime to a democratic regime. And it took time. I can't give you a timeline of how long it takes. It can't take forever. It can't. It's only -- it's not even been four weeks since Maduro was released. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Year two.
RUBIO: Well, I think we need to be, let me put it to you this way. We need to be much further along six months from now, even three months from now. And it also will depend on the rest of Venezuelan society. How quickly can we get all these Venezuelans that want to go back to Venezuela and participate in civic and economic life back to Venezuela? That's going to be critical here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Rubio also told lawmakers the Trump administration would like to see regime change in Cuba, but he suggested the U.S. would not necessarily be involved in it as it was in Venezuela.
After his testimony, Rubio met with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She says she's working from abroad on important agreements regarding her country's future, but she wants to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible. Machado also had harsh words for the interim Venezuelan president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I think no one has faith in Delcy Rodriguez. What she is she has run out of options. Everybody knows what this regime is all about. We're talking about criminals. They have killed people intentionally. They had made a third of our population leave our country and flee.
They have designed the most criminal torture and repression -- repressive system in history in this hemisphere. This is state terrorism and she's an essential part of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Britain's prime minister is on a rare visit to China. His mission, strengthen ties with the world's second most powerful economy.
[01:20:04]
Keir Starmer told the Chinese president that it is, quote, vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship. And he pointed to climate change and global stability as areas of possible cooperation. President Xi Jinping had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): China is willing to develop a long term stable and comprehensive strategic partnership with Britain which will benefit the people of both countries and also the world. Your visit has attracted a lot of attention. The road to success is often and strewn with setbacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Prime minister's visit surely being watched closely by the White House. He is the latest in a series of Western leaders to look east, and the US's tariff threats and some of its more unpredictable foreign policy decisions.
The man who sprayed liquid from a syringe at Congressmember Ilhan Omar expected to be taken into federal custody in the coming hours. That word coming from the congresswoman herself a few hours ago. She spoke to CNN's Kaitlan Collins earlier about the man who rushed at her during that town hall. Police tell CNN the FBI is now leading the investigation into that attack. CNN's Josh Campbell has been following the story for us. Josh.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONENT: Hey Elex. We're learning more about what was believed to be in that syringe when that man was seen there on video spraying something at U.S. representative Ilhan Omar on Tuesday. A law enforcement source tells me that police believe that cider vinegar. And we're learning more about the man who was taken into custody after that. He's been identified as 55 year old Anthony Kazmierczak. He's a resident of Minneapolis. He was booked on third degree assault. CNN is attempting to determine whether he has attorney representation.
We're learning some more about his background including his social media presence. He had posted certain political items. For example, he had shared a political cartoon criticizing Omar's stance on security spending. He had some past traffic offenses, including two DUIs.
Interestingly, Elex, our colleague Chris Boyette here at CNN spoke to a neighbor who said that just before the town hall the suspect here had asked the neighbor if he would watch his dog because he said he might get arrested. So that could indicate maybe he was planning to cause some type of disruption on the substance itself. Even though that is benign, security experts say that you can still inflict fear just that way.
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It may be and we're speculating here that he just wanted to scare her. He wanted to terrorize her for whatever reason to force her to be more restrained in her own comments.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMETN ANALYST: He's going to face serious charges and the fact that the spray may have been harmless doesn't amount to it not being a threat. Someone who comes in with a fake bomb is still charged with serious criminal charges.
CAMPBELL: Now to that end, the U.S. Capitol Police says that they are pursuing possible federal criminal charges here. They say this incident will be met with, quote, swift justice. Interestingly, that incident on Tuesday came the same day the Capitol Police released new data indicating that there has been a 58 percent spike in the number of threat assessments that they've opened on members of Congress. Elex.
MICHAELSON: Josh, thank you. And can you watch my dog? I might get arrested is quite the comment. For the first time in almost 500 year history, the Church of England has a woman leading the flock.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH MULLALY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: By the help of God, I will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: With those words, Sarah Mullally was confirmed as the Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, the traditional ceremony held at St Paul Cathedral in London, which was specially converted for the occasion.
Mullally will lead 85 million Anglican Church members in more than 160 countries. But her ascent was met with pushback from some conservatives who are opposed to women's ordination and divided over LGBTQ relationships.
Setting interest rates without political interference. That's what the Federal Reserve says it will keep doing, even if President Trump doesn't like it. Details on their latest decision and what it means for you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:28:25]
MICHAELSON: Amid declining sales and plunging profits, Tesla is pulling the plug on two car models that really help make the company a household name. CEO Elon Musk says Tesla is going to stop making the Model S and the Model X. Instead the company will focus on building humanoid robots and expanding its self-driving Robotaxi service. Of course, the company's pretty far behind Google and Waymo on that front.
It is not in wide operation. The taxi service. It still uses Tesla employees as ride along safety monitors. Now Tesla's earnings have fallen in nine of the last 10 quarters and the company's income last year was just 30 percent of what it was at its peak back in 2022.
U.S. dollar snapped a four day losing streak, its worst since April. The dollar's value had lost 2.6 percent on speculation that the U.S. might boost the Japanese yen. When asked about a possible intervention, the U.S. Secretary of the treasury told CNBC, absolutely not. That appears to have calmed the market, especially after this recent comment from President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's great. I mean the value of the dollar. Look at the business we're doing. No dollars -- dollar's doing great. I want it to be just seek its own level, which is the fair thing to do. You could have it, I could have it go up or go down like a yoyo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Well, while a weak dollar can help boost U.S. exports, it also signals that investors could be hedging their exposure to the US.
After three straight cuts, the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates right where they are. And that is not what President Trump wants. CNN's Karin Caifa picks up the story.
[01:30:06]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the Central Bank's first interest rate decision of 2026.
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: In support of our goals today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy rate unchanged.
CAIFA: The Federal Reserve, taking its time, bringing interest Rates down and seeing little urgency, with government data pointing to slower job growth but a relatively low unemployment rate and inflation ebbing even as consumer sentiment numbers point to Americans being in a sour economic mood.
MADISON MILLS, AXIOS SENIOR MARKETS REPORTER: Inflation data has been looking a little bit better and trending in the right direction. And then you have these consumer sentiment numbers really falling off a cliff, indicating that consumers are really worried about their jobs right now.
CAIFA: President Donald Trump, sharply critical of Powell, insisting lower interest rates would spur greater economic growth by encouraging consumers and businesses to borrow and buy, spend and hire.
TRUMP: I'd like to see interest rates go down. Everything else is going down. We have the energy and fuel going down.
CAIFA: The Central Bank did cut rates three times last year as it monitored the economic effects of Trump's policies, especially his broad global tariff plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Well, when we come back, fans wanting Harry Styles tickets for his brand-new tour got a rude awakening when they went online.
Chris Willman, Variety's top music writer, standing by live to talk about why some are criticizing Harry Styles' business model. That's next.
[01:31:30]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: Music fans are once again lighting up social media over how expensive it is to go to a concert. This time the target is Harry Styles. The first batch of tickets for the singer's Together, Together Tour went up for pre-sale recently, and fans have reported long queues. Prices in the thousand-dollar range and some accused Styles of being greedy.
The U.S. leg of the tour includes a 30-show residency at New York's Madison Square Garden. That's the only part in the U.S. You got to go to those New York shows.
Ticketmaster is hosting the sales which is no stranger to controversy. It's currently being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for its ticketing practices.
Joining me to discuss this and more is Chris Willman, a senior writer and chief music critic at Variety. Chris, welcome to THE STORY IS.
CHRIS WILLMAN, SENIOR WRITER/CHIEF MUSIC CRITIC, VARIETY: Great to see you.
MICHAELSON: So we're talking prices here, like the lowest price around $50, the highest price over $1,100. That's with fees. How does that compare to other big artists?
WILLMAN: You know, I understand why fans are shocked. They're getting that sticker shock, especially if they are not attending a lot of those A-list arena and stadium shows but who can afford to go for many of them. So of course, they're not used to this.
I think if you're in the music industry, you're not that shocked. It's kind of close to, on par a little bit over what people have been used to for the big, (INAUDIBLE).
So, you know, Lady Gaga also playing Madison Square Garden. Her top tickets were also just over $1,000. Ariana Grande doing a tour. Her tickets top out at around $1,000. So $1,182 it's a little bit more than -- and it seems -- it seems crazy, I know.
MICHAELSON: And very few people are even able to buy that. That's the face price, and most of them are bought up by resellers. And then you got to spend a whole lot more money to buy them that way, if you really want to go to this sort of thing.
And it's interesting you've said that, like Bruce Springsteen had very expensive tickets, and a lot of his fans gave him a hard time because The Boss was known as sort of the working man, you know, speaking for, you know, those folks in the country.
But you say, Harry Styles, that's not really his brand, right, to be the working man.
WILLMAN: Yes. I mean, you know, people have said, oh, Harry Styles is greedy. And then, you know, does that really hurt him like it does a Bruce Springsteen who's supposed to be a man of the people?
I think, Harry -- people already think of Harry as posh, kind of above it all. And they don't mind that. He charms them out of any elitism they might feel is applied to him.
MICHAELSON: And people do love going to his concerts. They love going to Bruce Springsteen's concerts, too -- some of the great concerts of all time.
And the industry has changed so much in the last few decades, right? As streaming really doesn't pay that much to the artists. So they're really reliant on concerts for most of their money.
And what's really been hurt, you say, is some of the -- a little bit lesser-known artists who really need the money from touring. And some of these big acts are not helping.
WILLMAN: Yes. That's what people in the (INAUDIBLE) are most worried about is the whatever the opposite of the trickle-down effect is, the trickle-down stoppage that happens when, you know, with the Eras Tour or something like that.
MICHAELSON: Taylor Swift's tour.
WILLMAN: Yes, people justify it. Families justify it by this is a once in a lifetime experience. And there's probably some people who are saying that about the Harry Styles tour if they're buying, say, $800 tickets for a family of four, that's $2,400. Oh, it's the experience of a lifetime.
But people in the concert industry don't want you to go to one concert in a lifetime. They want you to go once a month at least. And that's not happening when people are buying tickets in January for $500, $800, $1,000 and going, ok, I've blown my concert budget for 2026.
MICHAELSON: On one night, whereas before they might have spent that over 5 or 6 nights.
WILLMAN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And so -- and you see that a lot of these other bands are struggling right now, right? Especially the way the music industry business is set up.
[01:39:45]
WILLMAN: Yes. So it's so top heavy. I mean, touring is a bigger and better business than it's ever been at the top level. And yes, so many of those mid-level acts are struggling. And we're seeing, you know, some half-empty arenas where people have overestimated what their draw is and things even get canceled.
MICHAELSON: It is a strange business.
Lastly, we are just about to wrap up. You will help to lead Variety's coverage of the Grammys on Sunday, biggest night of the year for music awards. What are you most excited about?
WILLMAN: You know the performances. Some of them still haven't been announced, so I'm kind of looking more at the winners and what's going to happen.
And you know, there's excitement over will Bad Bunny win. And, you know, a week later he's doing the Super Bowl so we can get the controversy started a week early. If Bad Bunny sweeps the Grammys.
And I think there's like a chance that he'll do very well because the recording academy recently invited everyone who votes for the Latin Grammys to be part of the regular Grammys.
And I think that demographic shift in the votership may give Bad Bunny -- put him in favor.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And then, of course, he heads to Santa Clara the following week, where he will headline the Super Bowl, which is going to be really interesting to see all of that.
You can check out Chris' coverage of all of it in Variety, including Sunday night. You'll be busy doing lots of stories, as we see one of the biggest nights in music, the Grammy Awards.
Chris, thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it.
WILLMAN: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: And thank you for watching THE STORY IS.
For our international viewers, WORLDSPORT is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with more of THE STORY IS.
Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you right after this.
[01:41:27]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: A new queer romance novel is following in the footsteps of popular streaming series "Heated Rivalry". Cat Disabato's book "Rooting Interest" was just published this week. It's published by 831 Stories and follows a female sports journalist after she gets pulled off the football beat to cover women's pro basketball, and in the process falls into a bit of a will they, won't they romance with the star basketball player of the team that she's covering.
The author of "Rooting Interest" Cat Disabato is here live now.
Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. Congrats on the book.
CAT DISABATO, AUTHOR, "ROOTING INTEREST": Thank you so much. Yes.
MICHAELSON: This is your first romance novel.
DISABATO: It's my first romance novel, yes.
MICHAELSON: Why romance?
DISABATO: Oh well, I was a romance reader before I was a romance writer. And I really love the publisher. And I was getting really into the WNBA, so I had this idea for romance novel set in that world. And luckily my publisher was right on the same vibe as I was. So, yes. About a little bit more than a year ago, we decided to go for
it.
MICHAELSON: And you just did a celebration of it at Ripped Bodice, right?
DISABATO: Ripped Bodice bookstore. Yes.
(CROSSTALKING)
MICHAELSON: We've got some pictures of that. Tomorrow, you've got another celebration of this at the women's sports bar.
DISABATO: Yes, it's a bar called Untamed Spirits in Silver Lake. It is L.A.'s like it's a newer women's sports bar. It's really fun. And it's sort of our book launch party. And people can buy tickets on the Website, 831Stories.com.
MICHAELSON: So we see some of this -- this bar you were just at was all about or that store is all about romance books.
5DISABATO: Yes.
MICHAELSON: It's an interesting moment in this conversation because we see this, this explosion of popularity for "Heated Rivalry", which is about, you know, men in sports. And that has been kind of a taboo.
DISABATO: Yes.
MICHAELSON: But women in sports has not been as much --
DISABATO: No.
MICHAELSON: -- of a taboo. Why do you think the difference between the way that sort of lesbians have come out and gay men really haven't?
DISABATO: Well, if we're talking about like women's basketball specifically, and the WNBA specifically, that really came around from a lot of activism by the athletes themselves.
You know, when the WNBA first started, there was a lot of pressure on the athletes to stay in the closet, to sort of perform a sort of femininity off the court.
And really, a lot of women sort of came together and decided to push back against that. And they did it long enough ago that there's now sort of a rich history in women's sports and the WNBA, specifically of, you know, being open about their sexuality and being open about their political leanings as well.
I think that also it was just a culture that was built up that allowed for them to do that kind of pushback in the way that somewhere in maybe the NHL, there's not a culture of openness there.
MICHAELSON: You think that that maybe is changing in this moment. Your book -- DISABATO: I certainly hope so. Yes. No, I think so. I mean, if you're
seeing the reaction to "Heated Rivalry", you're hearing a lot more stories of gay men, who maybe played in the NHL or played hockey on a high level, talking about, you know, being a gay athlete. And so it's really exciting to see all those stories coming out.
MICHAELSON: You know what's also exciting? I love good merch.
DISABATO: Oh, yes.
MICHAELSON: So this is a sweatshirt for your fictional team, the Hollywood Lights.
DISABATO: The Hollywood Lights.
MICHAELSON: Which is great, by the way, great name.
DISABATO: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: The Clippers should steal this and get a new name. But this is 831, which is --
DISABATO: The publisher, yes.
MICHAELSON: -- they created all this merchandise for you.
DISABATO: Yes, I know, it's crazy. They do such a good job, right? Like, this is amazing. They showed it to me. The Clippers can't have it. It's ours. It is branded. But yes. They've they have this sweatshirt that you can buy on their Web site.
They also have like -- like hats, and they have -- at the party, they have these basketballs with the logo on it. Yes. That's a sports romance hat that they have with the colors. So they're really good at creating this.
MICHAELSON: I mean, does it make it feel more real seeing stuff like that come to life?
DISABATO: Yes. It's unusual for a publisher to do it, but I think it really creates sort of an expanded universe for the book and for the readers.
[01:49:47]
DISABATO: I'm a reader of their novels before I was a writer of one of their novels, and it's really fun to kind of -- I don't know if you've ever read a book, and once you're finished, you're kind of like, oh, I wish I could, like, get more into this and do more and experience this for a longer period of time.
And I think they build up these universes around it so you don't have that like intense reading hangover right after you finish a book.
MICHAELSON: This is very cool.
And it also feels like we're at a real inflection point for women's sports.
DISABATO: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Right?
DISABATO: Indeed, yes.
MICHAELSON: An expansion, you're literally doing a signing at a bar that's just dedicated to women's sports. That didn't exist like five years ago.
DISABATO: No, I mean, like it barely existed three years ago. I mean, I -- when I was in fact writing a lot of this book, I used to go to this sports bar that doesn't -- it's no longer there. It was a great bar. And they were wonderful people, the bartenders, the owners.
But, you know, I would go and I'd have to sort of like, ask them to turn women's sports game on the TV and maybe have, like a small screen like somewhere when -- especially when, like, you know, Dodgers game is on most of the most of the screens are going to be on that.
And now I have a place that I can go where I know that, like, the game I want to watch is going to be on screen. And not only that, you're going to be in a room full of fans.
MICHAELSON: Which is an awesome moment.
DISABATO: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Congratulations.
DISABATO: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: Cat Disabato, thanks for coming in.
We'll be right back to wrap things up right after this.
[01:51:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: R&B star Chris Brown appeared in a London court on Wednesday. It was a brief hearing before his assault trial starts in October. Brown is accused of attacking a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub back in 2023. He denies the charges.
The 36-year-old granted bail in May after paying nearly $7 million. He then started his Breezy Bowl 20 tour, which ended in October.
First lady of the United States, Melania Trump, ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. She was there promoting her upcoming documentary "Melania".
It chronicles 20 days around the Trumps' return to the White House last year. "Melania" set to premiere at the Kennedy Center on Thursday and will be in theaters on Friday. Thanks so much for watching us for this edition of THE STORY IS.
We'll be back tomorrow with more including our panelists, Peter Hamby and Melanie Mason.
Have a great night, great day. See you tomorrow.
[01:56:27]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
