New York
CNN
—
A budding media start-up producing a culinary docuseries has been stuck in limbo for months. After being approved for USAID funding, the show’s co-founders discovered that the agency’s money never cleared — and now the Trump administration is caught in a legal battle to dismantle USAID.
Styling itself as an heir to Anthony Bourdain’s legacy, “The Envoy Show” aims to spotlight the seven “food wonders” of the world while examining how food is stimulating local economies in its upcoming freshman season. “The Envoy Show” is set to premiere on Amazon’s Prime Video in summer 2025.
But the show has hit a snag before even debuting. The media start-up’s first episode was approved for sponsorship with funds from the US Agency for International Development during the Biden administration, but it still hasn’t seen a dime. “The Envoy Show” has been left to foot the entire bill, straining its start-up coffers without the promised government assistance.
Shortly after entering his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order freezing foreign development assistance for 90 days pending assessment, a move bolstered by the State Department’s issuing a stop-work order on existing foreign assistance and new aid.
Already, the courts have challenged Trump’s attempts to dismantle USAID. But he says he intends to appeal the rulings, leaving affected agencies uncertain about the future.
“Wild surprise,” Anne Marie Hagerty, who co-founded the show with Rachael Scott, told CNN. “Now we’re on the hook for paying people that the government was going to pay.”
To make up for the missing funds, Hagerty took out a six-figure personal loan to ensure everyone on the team is compensated on time.
“As founder, I have not paid myself a dime yet to prioritize paying my team,” Hagerty said.
Sponsorship approval and USAID confusion
For its debut episode, “The Envoy Show” focused on a West African grain called fonio. The docuseries began holding conversations with USAID in June and was approved to discuss sponsorship logistics on August 27.
During the Biden administration’s final months, USAID and trade group Prosper Africa green-lit funding for the fonio episode. Prosper Africa, USAID and the agency’s Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Activity — which helps facilitate bilateral trade between the US and Africa implemented by DAI — wanted to confirm the show’s sponsorship before October to ensure the funds would come from USAID’s 2024 budget, Hagerty and Scott said.
After months of back and forth, the purchase order was issued to Alo Media, the show’s parent company, in December, according to a copy of the document obtained by CNN.
Hagerty followed up with ATI on January 20, noting that the payment had yet to arrive. She was told that ATI was investigating. That same day, Trump was inaugurated into the Oval Office and signed the executive order that froze all foreign assistance.
During a January 22 meeting, Hagerty and Scott said a USAID contact apologized for the issue and said they would resolve it. Less than a week later, Marco Rubio, the newly minted secretary of state, announced a stop work order. Then, in a late February court filing, the administration signaled it had ended around 5,800 USAID awards, followed by the elimination of 5,200 out of 6,200 USAID programs in March.
Hagerty and Scott finally received an automated email on January 30, five days after news of Rubio’s stop work order had broken. The email, which CNN has reviewed, notified “The Envoy Show” of the order and encouraged “subcontractors, grantees, vendors, and consultants” to “avoid incurring new costs as of January 27, 2025.”
The notice came two weeks before “The Envoy Show” sent a team to Senegal.
“By the time it became clear the payment wasn’t coming, we were already too deep into production,” Scott said, stressing that they were given every confidence the money was on the way as late as January 22.
Hagerty repeatedly followed up with ATI about the funds over the following weeks. Finally, on February 21, she got a response.
“Pursuant to the attached email and Executive Order and (stop work order) notification sent to you, we are not in a position to confirm this sponsorship,” an ATI representative said in an email. “Should the situation change, we will reach out as soon as we get more guidance.”
A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed that “The Envoy Show” is a subcontractor with USAID partner DAI and that USAID has not made payments to the show. They did not clarify what happened to the funds or confirm whether USAID will uphold its sponsorship.
DAI also did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
More than 50 days after Trump announced the USAID freeze, Scott and Hagerty still don’t know whether they will ever receive the sponsorship funds.
Though the lack of USAID funds “won’t tank us,” Scott emphasized that, as with any start-up, every penny counts. Scott and Hagerty declined to share how much they are owed in sponsorship funding and how much they ultimately spent on the episode.
Despite being distributed by Prime Video, the show is 100% independently owned and operated.
In early March, the Supreme Court shut down Trump’s bid to freeze USAID’s billions in foreign aid. And on Tuesday, a federal judge indefinitely blocked the administration’s attempts to dismantle USAID, saying its efforts likely violated the Constitution. Although Trump promised to appeal the March decision, Hagerty and Scott say the ruling has “given us hope.”
On March 19, an ATI representative finally responded to Hagerty and Scott.
“Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact timeline, but we are doing what we can to close out things properly and meet obligations to partners as soon as possible,” the ATI representative said.
But, for now, USAID funding for “The Envoy Show” — along with thousands of programs that provide relief globally — will remain in limbo.
