“Hollywood is doing the unthinkable – going red. Not since the Reagan-era 80s has there been such an open rejection of identity politics.”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
Not since the Reagan-era 80s has there been such an open rejection of identity politics.
When an industry titan such as Brian Grazer — who produced the film adaptation of JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ — says he voted for Trump in 2024, the shift is tectonic.
Grazer came out, as it were, in a Fox Nation documentary series titled ‘Art of the Surge’, during which we see him discussing his vote in a VIP box with Trump at an Army-Navy football game.
The confession felt like ‘getting canceled’, Grazer tells his cohorts. After divulging his intentions to some women he knew, he said they reacted with shock.
‘All the women looked in and go, “You mean, you’re not voting for Kamala?” And I go, “I just can’t do that.” And then one of them leaned in further and said, “Are you voting for Trump?” And I said, “I am.” I swear!’
Grazer may be unusual in admitting it, but plenty of people in the industry are just like him. Yet they fear being open about their vote, with good reason.
Look at Sydney Sweeney, targeted by the woke left for her American Eagle denim ad.
When tarring her as a racist didn’t work, they dug up her voter registration — and yes, the 27-year-old actress, one of Hollywood’s newly minted superstars, registered as a Republican in June 2024.
In her new cover profile for the Wall Street Journal magazine, Sweeney refuses to discuss her politics. And this is a woman who otherwise describes herself, in this very article, as ‘pretty blunt’.
‘I’ve never understood why people try to beat around the bush and not just be direct,’ Sweeney says.
Perhaps her decision to stay apolitical is a financial one. As Michael Jordan famously (shrewdly) said, ‘Republicans buy sneakers, too.’
If the last election proved anything, it’s that celebrities — no matter how A-list — have zero influence in the way average Americans vote.
Look no further than Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey and, of course, Taylor Swift, who seemingly thought her immense popularity could sway the election to Kamala Harris.
Alas, it could not. Have most celebrities taken the note?
No — of course not!
Stephen Colbert just got himself canceled and the whole Late Show with it.
Howard Stern has been on the bubble since inviting Harris on his show, confessing his terror should Trump win.
‘You’ve gotta win,’ he told her on air last October. ‘You just have to… like, the sun’s literally gonna go out.’
The only thing on the way out is Howard’s career. Oh — and his reputation as someone who understood his audience and never, ever would have talked down to them this way.
Same with Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael Patrick King and Cynthia Nixon, whose on and off-screen wokeness killed ‘And Just Like That’.
Disney’s ‘Snow White’ remake was doomed not just by insisting on a Latina version of the heroine, but statements and posts made by 24-year-old leading lady Rachel Zegler, who called the entire concept of the classic ‘outdated’, agitated for Palestine and said she hoped that ‘Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace’.
Producer Marc Platt was reportedly so alarmed he flew to New York City to hold crisis talks with Zegler. Disney scaled back the film’s premiere considerably. But the harm was already done.
Platt’s son Jonah, in a since-deleted post, said what would have been unsayable just two years ago.
‘Her [Zegler’s] actions clearly hurt the box office’, Jonah posted in March. ‘Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue-collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful.’
Zegler, according to her IMDB profile, has yet to book another acting job.
Just weeks ago, Disney and Lucasfilm company settled a lawsuit brought by actress Gina Carano, who was fired after posting right-leaning tweets.
Her lawsuit was funded by Elon Musk and resolved with a Lucasfilm spokesperson stating that ‘Ms. Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect’.
In other words: Carano wasn’t a racist, transphobic bigot who deserved to be fired.
The examples just go on: Lena Dunham, one-time feminist provocateur whose latest Netflix show ‘Too Much’ is a critical flop and has yet to be renewed; MSNBC gets spun off from NBC Universal and changes its call letters to ‘MS NOW’; Dylan Mulvaney’s book ‘Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer’, released in March, flopped; Bud Light, nearly brought down by its partnership with Mulvaney, debuted a new, male-centric ad campaign at last year’s Super Bowl starring Post Malone, Trump supporter Dana White, and Peyton Manning.
And what do you know — it worked. Bud’s ad was the sixth-most watched on YouTube that night, according to Variety.
Quietly, inexorably, Hollywood moves not just to the center but to Red America. Taylor Sheridan’s modern-day Western ‘Yellowstone’, which premiered in the middle of President Biden’s first (and only) term, was a mammoth, mainstream hit.
Sheridan followed with ‘Landman’, set in Texas oilfields and recently renewed for Season 2.
Bravo, with programming that normally caters to coastal elites, premiered Season 2 of ‘The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys’ in June.
Marvel star Chris Pratt this week told Bill Maher — who had a private dinner with President Trump in the White House earlier this year — that he loves the MAHA movement and his wife’s cousin, HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
‘There’s certain things [that Bobby] oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way — like getting terrible toxic stuff out of our kids’ food,’ Pratt said. ‘I’d hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I’d be having an allergic reaction to.’
Now it’s woke Hollywood causing allergic reactions.
Consider that one of Netflix’s biggest shows isn’t ‘With Love, Meghan’ or anything the Obamas have produced but ‘The Hunting Wives’ — a MAGA-adjacent soap set in Texas with guns as the most prominent prop.
Showrunner Rebecca Cutter told Variety that when she was pitching the show, she was asked: ‘Is this a show that both liberals and conservatives can watch?’
Cutter says she replied, ‘Yes, absolutely… My first job is never to be political or put my agenda in it.’
Talk about waking up.