Paramount’s “About Us” Was Filled With Fake Latin for Months — and Nobody Noticed

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There are many ways to learn about a company. Read its annual report. Follow its earnings calls. Or, in Paramount‘s case, click on its “About Paramount” page, where, until very recently, you’d find several paragraphs of incomprehensible gibberish alongside a photograph of a fictional mob boss.

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,” it read, “consectetur adipiscing elit.”

Couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

The page, which had apparently been live for months, was obviously a work in progress — Latin dummy text is what web designers use as a placeholder until supplied with real words. But it was still a head-scratcher, considering Paramount’s new overlords at Skydance have had more than a year since the merger to whip up fresh corporate boilerplate.

The image of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone kind of made sense — The Godfather remains one of the studio’s historic high points. Still, one can’t help but wonder if perhaps Top Gun might have been a safer choice. Or SpongeBob. Because with David Ellison now running Paramount and his billionaire father, Larry, backing the enterprise, it’s probably best to avoid associations with any other sort of family business.

There were other parts lower down on the page that also needed attention (the same three executives were listed as running multiple divisions, and two of them don’t even work there anymore). But, of course, these sorts of technical snafus happen. Remember when Netflix mixed up its blurb for a Tinker Bell movie with the synopsis for Tangerine? (“Her pimp cheated on her while she was locked up. Now this working girl sets out to claim her pound of flesh.”)

Paramount, which didn’t respond to Rambling’s request for comment, finally did get around to fixing it; last week, the unfinished “About Paramount” page was replaced by an “About Skydance” page with actual corporate copy. This time, there was no picture of Brando.

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This story appeared in the Nov. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.