Words & Phrases We Can Do Without

‘Liberal Hollywood’? More like ‘Craven Entertainment Corporations’

The myth that Hollywood is a bastion of leftism dies hard. Contrary to the right-wing cliché, a social, political, and economic dichotomy has existed for years. Regardless of the leanings of the creative community, large companies are inherently conservative and all too eager to enable oppressive government.

Sure, the “talent” (writers, directors, composers, actors) is overwhelmingly Democratic—but the mega-media entities (studios, streaming services, distributors, networks) have always acted like every other corporate interest. (Even the actors ranks have been filled with Republicans for decades.) Moreover, the entertainment corporations historically have been sheepishly compliant, willing to defer to authoritarian power even if it means compromising creative independence and First Amendment freedoms.

Back in 2003, Tim Rutten wrote about the decidedly anti-progressive bent in corporate media, describing the late Jack Valenti—a former LBJ advisor who ruled supreme for decades as the industry’s cheap lobbyist—as “Hollywood’s sonorous paladin of unshakable centrism.”

Rutten also recounted the aversion to progressivism dating back in 1934 when socialist Upton Sinclair won California’s gubernatorial nomination. Hollywood executives not only raised money (docking employees’ pay) to defeat him, but smeared him by putting out “dozens of phony newsreels, subsequently distributed free to theaters up and down the state, in which seedy, suspicious looking immigrants with vaguely Russian accents endorsed the Sinclair program.” Yikes.

In the 1930s, Hollywood moguls wound up altering or even canceling films so as not to offend Hitler (!) and retain their German market. Without the complicity of studios, Sen. Joseph McCarthy would not have been able to harass, blacklist, and even lock up actors and writers accused of being “communists.”

As Hollywood studios have transformed into multi-armed conglomerates that regularly must seek approvals from the federal government for everything from mergers to broadcast licenses (and at the state and local level, for tax breaks, labor legislation, etc.), they have become politically indistinguishable from other corporate behemoths. They snuggle up to whomever is in power.

No one should be stunned, therefore, that ABC/Disney and CBS/Paramount caved when confronted with authoritarian bullying and extortion. The Democratic appointed FCC commissioner sounded off this summer when Paramount/CBS settled the ludicrous 60 Minutes lawsuit so as to close its merger with Skydance Media. “After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,” commissioner Anna M. Gomez said.

It has become so cringeworthy that even former Disney CEO Michael Eisner has piped up:

Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment? The “suspending indefinitely” of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC's aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation. Maybe the Constitution should have said, “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.”

(By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.)

Fortunately, just as labor unions around the country have stood on the front lines in the fight to defend democracy, the Hollywood guilds/unions representing actors, directors, musicians, and below-the-line craftspeople and technicians have not adopted corporations cowering posture. In response to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension, four unions jointly put out a blistering statement, which took the corporate leaders to task.

“When a private citizen, business, or television network bows to government intimidation, it strikes at the heart of our First Amendment rights,” the unions declared. “[M]edia companies have a responsibility to defend their workers and the integrity of the stories they tell. All broadcasters must stand firm in defense of free expression and the First Amendment, not capitulate to a policy of political appeasement.” The Writers Guild put out an equally powerful statement, which included this: “Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world.”

Ultimately, Disney was forced to cave when the financial and reputational damage in suspending Kimmel proved too much. So let’s do away with the noxious phrase “liberal Hollywood,” an intended slur from the right that has never matched reality. In fact, for all their liberal “principles,” industry leaders—just like many universities and law firms—have gone along with authoritarian commands to get along with the Trump regime. Better to acknowledge that Hollywood, like Wall Street, is run by weak-kneed corporations all too eager to cut deals with autocrats.

No matter what the politics of actors, writers, and the rest of the talent pool, the entities that give them a platform are sadly part of the collapse of civil society. Fortunately, creative players can find ways to get in their licks on corporate media platforms. They also now can make their way to new outlets, some of which are not as dependent on government largess. Increasingly, artists—like journalists—may find that practicing their craft and maintaining First Amendment freedom require they leave and even boycott the most cowardly corporations.

Unless and until entertainment corporations feel countervailing financial pressure at least as powerful as what Trump applies—from consumers, viewers, subscribers, cruise and theme park visitors, advertisers, litigants, and the general public—this will not change anytime soon. (Keep watching this space; we’ll keep seeking to inform our readers about actions you can take.)

Once again, we’re reminded that elite entities won’t save us; it’s up to Americans working collectively to save our democracy.