Nikki Finke, the veteran entertainment journalist who founded Deadline in 2006 and helped grow it into a major player among Hollywood trades, died Sunday morning on October 9 2022 in Boca Raton, Florida after a prolonged illness. She was 68.
Finke’s take-no-prisoners style angered many of showbiz’s top players and delighted others. She often scored huge exclusives, and when they were confirmed by comms teams or publicists, Finke would update her story using her signature “TOLDJA!”
Among Finke’s, most famous assignments were her “live-snarking” of Hollywood awards shows including the Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes.
She applied warning labels to many of those live blogs, including, “Come for the cynicism … stay for the subversion” and “Not for the easily offended or ridiculously naive.” Indeed, no exec, star, producer, or topic was safe then in any other Deadline post.
“At her best, Nikki Finke embodied the spirit of journalism and was never afraid to tell the hard truths with an incisive style and an enigmatic spark.
She was brash and true,” said Jay Penske, founder, chairman, and CEO of Penske Media Corporation, which acquired Finke’s blog in 2009. “It was never easy with Nikki, but she will always remain one of the most memorable people in my life.”
A Long Island, NY native, Finke’s pre-Deadline journalism career included positions around the world with some of the most powerful and influential media outlets: as an Associated Press foreign correspondent in Moscow and London, a Newsweek correspondent in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and a Los Angeles Times staff writer covering entertainment and features. She was West Coast Editor and Hollywood columnist first for the New York Observer and then for New York Magazine. She also hosted an entertainment industry radio show on public radio in Southern California.