The feisty Hollywood journalist known for her endless scoops, Nikki Finke, has passed away. She was 68.
The website she created in 2006 and turned into a vital resource for entertainment news, Deadline, released a notice of her passing on Sunday. According to the website, Finke, who lived a mostly private life, passed away in Boca Raton, Florida, after a protracted illness.
Finke, who is perhaps most known for beginning stories with her signature “TOLDJA” look, had a “take no prisoners” attitude that earned her respect and dread in Hollywood.
According to Deadline, “She shared first-person stories of how she perceived the entertainment sector and was unafraid of ripping down its greatest people.” While making her a hero to many assistants and below-the-lines, her frequently cutting, acerbic articles calling out wrongdoing and wrongdoers as she saw fit irked many in the C-suites who were not used to anything less than adulation.
Finke, a Long Island native who was born in 1953, had a lengthy career that included work at the Associated Press, Newsweek, New York Magazine, New York Observer, and the Los Angeles Times. She began contributing to LA Weekly’s “Deadline Hollywood” section in 2002. She launched “Deadline Hollywood Daily” in 2006, which ushered in a time of quick blogging. Notably, she previously claimed that she paid “14 dollars and change” for the URL.
During the 2007 writers’ strike that halted Hollywood production, she was regarded as the go-to source for news. According to The New York Times, her reporting “solidified her role as a Hollywood power broker.”
She sold Deadline to the media business owned by Jay Penske in 2009. After disagreements with him over editorial matters, she departed the website in 2013.
She founded HollywoodDementia.com in 2015, a website where she and other authors produced Hollywood-themed stories.
Her sister, brother-in-law, and nieces are still alive. Her funeral will be held privately.