Nothing gives me more hope that an actual cultural shift might be happening in Hollywood than the tone of this cover story from the far-left Variety.
It’s…
It’s…
Well, it’s respectful…
Other than an Idiocracy reference that made me laugh, there’s no snark. There are no smug asides.
Wow.
Skydance Media, which is owned by Larry and David Ellison, just gobbled up Paramount, which includes CBS News, and is now favored to gobble up Warner Bros., which would include CNNLOL, the DC Universe, HBO…
But that’s not the story.
The story is that the Ellisons are friends with President Trump. They agree with his politics, and appear to be moving MAGA-quick to break apart the leftist culture at both CBS News and Paramount Pictures.
In other words, the Ellisons are basically looking to do to Hollywood what Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes did to the news business 30 years ago with Fox News—which is to bring conservative, Middle American values to an industry that shunned Normal People for decades.
No, a better example is what Elon Musk did to social media with his purchase of Twitter. He not only opened Twitter up to alternate voices, but this opening forced fascist social media outlets like Facebook to do the same.
Can you imagine that happening to the entertainment business?
And if Paramount chief David Ellison is serious about this and pulls Warner Bros. into his fold… Holy moly.
Why is my cynicism melting away? Why do I now think this kinda might happen? Again, it’s the respectful tone of this Variety article. Generally, when Variety writes about conservatives, you get one of two things: either straight-up contempt or a condescending approach that reads like colonialists reporting on the local natives.
There is none of that here, which can only mean one thing: Variety truly believes Ellison is about to become a major Hollywood player and doesn’t want to alienate him.
“… Ellison’s rising empire [is] one that skews alpha male and that some fear will entwine the studio’s content more closely with MAGA messaging,” writes Variety. “In rapid-fire fashion, the 42-year-old Ellison has become show business’ ultimate disruptor.”
“Taking a page from the MAGA playbook, Ellison doesn’t seem to care about optics. An Oct. 29 round of roughly 1,000 layoffs hit women in high-profile roles hard. Among the 14 reported TV executives who received a pink slip — spanning CBS, BET and MTV — 11 were women,” the report adds. “Over at CBS News, some cuts — like Tracy Wholf, a senior producer of climate and environmental coverage — were viewed as Trump-friendly moves.”
“[Paramount] has also slashed staff and dispensed with top Paramount executives at a dizzying rate, replacing them with executives with unfashionable — by Hollywood standards — viewpoints[.]” This includes “vocal Israel supporters (CBS News editor-in-chief Weiss) to political conservatives (Paramount co-chair Josh Greenstein)[.]”
Although Paramount disputes this, Variety says the culture has already changed to where people are comfortable tuning their office TV sets to Fox News, something that would presumably get you fired pre-Ellison.
This blacklist news is especially fascinating…
Larry Ellison is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The pro-Israel Bari Weiss has been installed as editor-in-chief at CBS News. And now it looks as though Ellison is responding to a celebrity petition to blacklist anyone associated with Israel with a blacklist of his own:
In September, [Paramount] became the first major studio to denounce a celebrity-driven open letter signed by A-listers like Emma Stone and Javier Bardem that called for a boycott of Israeli film institutions implicated in “genocide and apartheid” against Palestinians. (Warner Bros. followed, but cited legal reasons for its decision.) And sources say Paramount maintains a list of talent it will not work with because they are deemed to be “overtly antisemitic” as well as “xenophobic” and “homophobic.” Whether the boycott signatories are on that list is unclear.
If Ellison owns Paramount and Warner Bros., he will have the power to hold those shameful, blacklisting bigots accountable. When you own one-third of the entertainment business…
This, however, blew my mind…
Directing [Paramount’s upcoming Call of Duty] film is Peter Berg, who recently [told Joe Rogan], ‘I think Trump’s doing some great things[.]’”
Then Variety adds that this is “the type of sentiment that could land talent on a blacklist anywhere but Paramount.”
Variety just admitted there’s a left-wing political blacklist.
Nevertheless, it really is too bad that it had to come to this. If you believe in the art—and I do mean the art—of movies, you don’t want to see a Blue Hollywood and a Red Hollywood. But leftists have left us no other choice. To begin with, their rabid anti-art approach to movies has decimated the art. Secondly, they have excluded anyone they see as impure, including obvious talents like Peter Berg. It’s just a fact that when you alienate more than half of the country and refuse access to legitimate talent, a Roger Ailes, Elon Musk, or David Ellison will eventually seize the opportunity to not only snatch up the market share left on the table, but do the right thing, the moral thing, and give the voiceless a voice.
One of the reasons the Golden Age of Hollywood was so golden, and I’m talking about the studio era, was limits. The Production Code limited excessive sex and violence. Then, wanting to appeal to everyone, the studio chiefs limited political messaging. The result was subtext, and the greatest art only works in subtext and theme, and universal ideas. Plus, Hollywood was a town with room for people on the right and left. This tension, this need to compete for hearts and minds, also delivered great art.
Without these limits and without the political competition and tension, we’ve seen Hollywood dissolve into lazy and entitled excess, especially when it comes to propagandizing. Disney couldn’t imagine a time when it might have to compete with a David Ellison, so its attitude was, Let’s go ahead and warp Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Indiana Jones, Willow, and Doctor Who with wokeness. Let’s go ahead and insult the fans. Where else are the MAGAtards gonna go?
The Disney Grooming Syndicate, as well as CNN, NBC, and the rest, might now have that answer.
John Nolte’s first and last novel Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
