The entertainment industry’s been none too chummy with President Trump or Americans who support him, and a new documentary explores the plight of those within the buzzing biz who’ve been docked for endorsing The Donald.
On Monday’s installment of Fox Program Mornings with Maria, guest and filmmaker Daphne Barak talked about her exploration of entertainers X’d for being extra out of step.
As reported by Fox Business, in Trump vs. Hollywood, Daphne speaks with celebrities such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Kristy Swanson, TV’s Scott Baio, Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, singer Kid Rock, Hercules’s Kevin Sorbo, and actor Isaiah Washington.
What the stars reveal is hardly surprising, though it should be: They’ve lost work because, where politics is concerned, they haven’t toed the Tinseltown line.
Speaking with host Maria Bartiromo, Daphne — who’s friends with the nation’s Commander-in-Chief — said her movie is a portrait of the U.S. divided.
And involved in the project’s genesis: a certain Academy Award-winning actor…
“It came, actually, from close friend Jon Voight and President Trump.”
Jon’s certainly made some waves — like when, last year, he declared Trump “the greatest president of this century”:
Jon Voight’s message of peace and love. pic.twitter.com/XHQTjtqsBx
— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) August 18, 2019
Daphne described the mission of the movie:
“We wanted to talk to others that either were scared to voice their opinion or, if they did, they never talked really in-depth about how it hurt them. And you have Scott Baio saying, ‘Hey — we’re willing to talk with the other side. Why aren’t they willing to talk to us?’ You have Dean Cain saying that…until he really announced he was supporting President Trump, he was very liked. And he said, ‘Suddenly people say I’m not educated, I’m like the base…’”
And that’s bizarre because…
“As if the base is not educated, right? And he’s a Princeton grad.”
Per Daphne, she wasn’t trying to create something pro-Trump. She merely wanted to explore the great gap between show businesses and much of the country.
As for those working behind the camera, Daphne relayed that Ratner asserted directors pick “people by talent.”
Yet actors and actresses remain unconvinced — although, she pointed out, those claiming calamity don’t necessarily possess proof of the prejudice:
“[They’re] all sharing that they cannot really prove in writing that they were not included in an audition, but you know, they get phone calls and they know.”
If stars’ careers can be canned by being conservative, then surely it goes the other way as well.
And perhaps there’s some political pandering among phonies just jonesin’ for a job.
In 2013, Hollywood veteran Adam Carolla theorized why Lalaland is largely Left:
“Part of it is a [disingenuousness] of the Hollywood community just coming across a certain way because they perceive that that’s the way the town leans, and ‘I’m going to lean that way’ just from a pure(ly) financial standpoint — ‘I would like to work.'”
According to Adam, there’s also a heapin’ helpin’ of hypocrisy:
“It’s so easy for these guys to come up on stage and go…’There’s a lot of hard-working folks out there that don’t have jobs after the mill shut down, and I’m for these people.’ … Meanwhile, this guy gets back into his limousine, gets back into his leer jet, goes back to his multimillion-dollar mansion. … [A] lot of it is overcompensation. … [T]hey overcompensate worrying about those who don’t have what they have. And they say, ‘Hey, it’s high time rich people pay their fair share.’ Look, they’re free to pay whatever they like. They’re all incorporated, they all have accountants, they all write off their Prius as a company car. Believe you me, they have guys crunching numbers, making sure that, however much money they made…that they hang on to as much of that as humanly possible.”
Carolla with the kill-shot:
“If they were true to their word, they would say to their accountant, ‘Look, you’re fired. I’m gonna do it on TurboTax this year. I’m getting rid of my corporation, I’m not gonna write anything off, and I’m gonna pay the highest percentage the government will allow.’ … But none of them will do that.”
Back to Daphne, don’t mistake her for a bubble-encased conservative — she’s a former liberal whose hosted Hillary Clinton in her own home.
As she explained to Fox, the lady’s been around:
“[My husband] and I have friends from both sides of the aisle. So, I just said, ‘Let’s talk to the other side, too — not only actors, but people behind the scenes, like acclaimed director Brett Ratner; Avi Lerner, who is always a friend; Sylvester Stallone; Mark Geragos, the famous attorney; Eric Roberts. And everything.”
Sounds like something worth checking out.
Enjoy Trump vs. Hollywood on December 14th — on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.
And maybe by then, we’ll know if our current Leader of the Free World will remain in office through 2021– so Hollywood can harm more people who endorse him.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
Eva Longoria Champions Latina Voters, Activates Outrage Over Her ‘Anti-Blackness’
Best-Selling Anti-Racist Author: The Terms ‘Personal Responsibility’ and ‘Legal Vote’ Are Racist
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