Finke quietly drops her claim that the boss 'lied to me'

Nikki Finke's post this morning at Deadline on the changes at Variety almost dripped ice water. She talked about how "my Deadline Hollywood pretty much put [Variety] out of business," and you got the sense she really didn't enjoy having to post about her boss, Jay Penske, detailing a rosy future for Variety and spending all his time in the trade's offices. But did she go over the corporate line when she stated, without nuance or any hedge words, that "Penske lied to me" about hiring Claudia Eller from the LA Times as a co-editor of Variety? Maybe so. (Emphasis added.)

In an update without timestamp, Finke skimmed back on calling the man who signs her checks a liar: "Penske says he didn’t know if she would take the job." (Emphasis added again.) No commentary or explanation offered — such as on whether she was mistaken this morning, or whether Penske ordered her to change it — and no way for readers who came in late to even know what she's updating. Bottom line: No more mention of any lies.