Ari Emanuel in Conversation with Rachel Maddow: Roll the Calls

Ari Emanuel leads TKO as executive chair and CEO and is executive chairman of WME Group, two companies that sit at the center of sports, entertainment, and culture. Since co-founding Endeavor in 1995, Emanuel has repeatedly transformed the business of entertainment—merging William Morris Agency and Endeavor to form global enterprise WME, acquiring IMG and UFC, and ultimately bringing WWE and UFC together to form the sports powerhouse TKO. Based in Beverly Hills, Emanuel continues to build across ventures that include the global events and experiences company MARI and the Las Vegas Raiders.

Rachel Maddow is anchor of the Emmy Award-winning “The Rachel Maddow Show” which airs Mondays at 9pm ET on MS NOW. “The Rachel Maddow Show” features Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis and stories no other shows in cable news will cover. In 2025, Maddow released “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order,” her fifth original podcast and first under the MS NOW brand in her expanding multiplatform portfolio. The six-part series has been at the top of Apple Podcasts’ Top Series chart for weeks, and exposes the extraordinary chain of events behind the U.S. government’s decision at the outset of World War II to incarcerate tens of thousands of immigrants and U.S. citizens solely based on their race. Maddow launched the podcast “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra” in 2022, an eight-episode historical nonfiction series set in World War II-era America that tells the story of January 6th from 80 years ago, when a violent movement on the American right joined forces with members of Congress to undermine democracy. The series profiles lawmakers who aided insurrectionists by participating in a plot to spread misinformation throughout the country, and spotlights journalists and activists who fought to stop the seditionists when the American judicial system failed to do so.Maddow also previously launched the podcast “Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man,” in 2018 which was nominated for a Peabody Award for Best Radio/Podcast. “Bag Man” details one of the most brazen political bribery scandals in American history, taking listeners back 45 years to dig into a story that got overshadowed in its day. Both ‘Bag Man’ and ‘Ultra’ were both chart-topping series, dominantly holding the #1 position on Apple Podcasts for multiple weeks in a row. When “The Rachel Maddow Show” launched in September 2008, it was the most successful show launch in MS NOW history, immediately boosting ratings in its time slot. “The Rachel Maddow Show” was named one of the top shows of the decade by the Washington Post in 2009. Maddow was also named a “Breakout Star of 2008” by The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times named her to the “Best of Television 2008” and she was named one of the “Top Ten Political Newcomers of 2008” by Politico.com. “The Rachel Maddow Show” has won three Emmy Awards including for Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis (2011, 2017) and Outstanding Live Interview. Maddow has received in total six Emmy nominations including for Outstanding Host – News Program – Individual Achievement (2009), Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis (2011, 2017 and 2018, 2019) and Outstanding Live Interview (2017). Maddow has been honored by the Interfaith Alliance with the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award and received the 2012 John Steinbeck Award from the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose University. She has received two Gracie Allen Awards including Outstanding Host – News/Non-fiction in 2012. “The Rachel Maddow Show” has been nominated twice by the Television Critics Association for the “Outstanding Achievement in News and Information” category and the show took home a GLAAD award in 2010 and 2017. In 2019, “The Rachel Maddow Show” won a Gracie Award in the "Interactive Media" category for “Bag Man,” and a Shorty Award for Best Branded Podcast. The podcast has also been nominated for a Peabody Award for Best Radio/Podcast. Maddow was named an MSNBC political analyst in January of 2008. She first gained national prominence as a host on Air America Radio, where she worked from its inception in 2004. Prior to joining AAR she worked for WRNX in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and WRSI in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Maddow is the author of “DRIFT: The Unmooring of American Military Power,” which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list in March 2012, as well as “Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth,” which was released in October 2019 and also #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism” which was released in 2023. Maddow received a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University. She earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. She lives in New York City and Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.