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Heller or Highwater: Risa Heller attends the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip, contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, found yourself in a PR pickle? You might need the services of the “Queen of Scandal PR,” Risa Heller, who is not only currently representing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, but also the paper that has broken the yarn wide open: The New York Times. Tonight Breaker goes inside The Gray Lady to find staffers frustrated at the potential conflict of interest.
Also, The Economist has dialled up the cringe factor, sending a push notification to subscribers many have perceived as being in very bad taste. Plus scene reports from a gathering celebrating late journalist Annette Witheridge, and who was at the launch of Ron Howard’s new documentary Avedon?
Finally tonight, our Reading, Listening and Watching list with the latest on the David Walliams accusations after he lost a legal battle not to be named, cuts on the way as Skydance tries to reclaim some cash and an A.I. job interview goes pear-shaped.
Mentioned tonight: A.G. Sulzberger, Meredith Kopit Levien, Alex Levy, John Rizzo, Katie Hill, Sam Dolnick, Patrick Healy, Katie Kingsbury, Jodi Kantor, Jim Stewart, Stella Bugbee, Lisa Tobin, Carl Swanson, Jacob Bernstein, Jeremy Peters, Edmund Lee, Katie Robertson, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Joshua Benton, John Herrman, Hamish McKenzie, Annika Inampudi, Javier C. Hernández, Kiuko Notoya, Andrew Marchand, Mike Vrabel, Dianna Russini, Adam Nossiter, Karen Attiah, Russell Brand, Ian Winter, Rosamund Urwin, Jem Bartholomew, Dana White, Cat Zakrzewski, Liam Bowman, Charlotte Tobitt, Joe Flint, Katherine Hamilton, Brian Steinberg, Dan Neidle, Jemima Goldsmith, David Walliams, Diane Sawyer, Amy Griffin, Tyler Denk, Bryan Barletta, Julie Pace, Nicholas Johnston, Jim Waterson, Chris Giliberti, Sara Goo, Ramin Beheshti, Kate Lindsay, Luke Vargas, Mark Stenberg, Lance Frank, Preeya Goenka, Sofia Coppola, Sarah Harrelson, Rachel Feinstein, Coco Mellors, Tamara Jenkins, Jeffrey Deitch, Karon Davis, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Hernan Diaz, Ian Malone, Ron Howard, Grace Burns, Orson Fry, Justin Wilkes, Harrison Vail, Darcie Reisler, Caroline Avedon, Vicky Ward, Barry Levine, Jane Ridley, Dan Bates, Sara Nathan, Bill Hutchinson, Hugh Dougherty, Louise Thomas, Alex Burton, Martin Gould, Matthew Wells, Edward Helmore, Fran Drescher, Robert Kraft, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Holmes, Jeff Shell, Jeff Zucker, Ray Dalio, Bobby Kotick, Win Butler, Alice Sebold, Hasan Minhaj, Mario Batali, Anthony Weiner, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Clash, Olivia Nuzzi, Victor Tangermann and more.
New York Times’ PR “Conflict”
At The New York Times 175th anniversary gala in September, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien mingled with guests including Padma Lakshmi, Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Fran Drescher, Robert Kraft and Senator Chuck Schumer.
Also at the Spring Studios event was crisis comms exec, Risa Heller, who Breaker first revealed last November had been retained by The Gray Lady in early 2025 to “advise on executive and corporate communications, as well as other issues related to business and branding.”
Heller, who we have previously dubbed the “Queen of Scandal PR,” has also previously represented Elizabeth Holmes, Jeff Shell, Jeff Zucker, Ray Dalio, Bobby Kotick, Win Butler, Alice Sebold, Hasan Minhaj, Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents, Mario Batali, Anthony Weiner, Harvey Weinstein, and (Breaker’s favorite) Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo. She also won a Breaker award last December for Scandal PR Operator of the Year.
In the spring, Heller began contacting senior investigative journalists and tabloid editors, claiming to represent Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's "family foundation" and wanting to…
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.