This should have been Hollywood’s happiest moment since “Barbenheimer.”
A New York City juried found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts Thursday. And, yes, some of the usual suspects flooded X with joyous messages.
GUILTY!!!!!
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) May 30, 2024
Look closer. Or, just read the entertainment press.
The Wrap: An Exhausted Hollywood Can’t Celebrate Donald Trump
You might have expected loud and sustained cheering from Beverly Hills to Calabasas to Malibu. But social media was oddly calm among bold-faced names, and the responses in the power suites of the entertainment industry were not what you might expect.
It’s not an isolated account.
- Hollywood, once wall-to-wall Never Trump, is unsure how to proceed in an election year.
- We’re still waiting for Taylor Swift to do what the Left has been demanding for months – endorse President Joe Biden. We haven’t seen a flood of anti-Trump projects in the culture.
- Michael Moore’s camera is collecting dust on a shelf.
- The proposed Jan. 6 series (or is it a movie?) either isn’t happening or remains the best-kept secret in Tinsel Town.
Now, the one movie engineered to take out Trump may not even grace a U.S. theater before Election Day.
“The Apprentice,” a scathing portrait of a young Donald Trump, dominated Cannes Film Festival.
But nearly two weeks after its premiere, the film still doesn’t have a U.S. distributor. Is Hollywood too scared to release it? https://t.co/dKGvCjYD9X
— Variety (@Variety) May 31, 2024
World of Reel notes that “The Apprentice,” the cinematic hit piece targeting Trump’s ‘80s era, can’t find a U.S. distributor.
“Nobody Wants to Buy It”
Hollywood has little appetite for an anti-Trump feature film? This Hollywood??
The problem runs deeper.
Over at the far-Left CNN, the site says Hollywood can barely rally behind President Joe Biden.
CNN spoke with a dozen publicists, agents and political strategists who are advising celebrities this upcoming election cycle. All of these individuals described the high risk involved for public figures to make an endorsement in today’s polarized world, explaining that many celebrities might instead align themselves with specific issues [emphasis added] rather than a candidate this year.
Nonsense.
We’ve been living in a polarized climate for years without any such hesitation. Celebrities had little reluctance boosting Biden and Hillary Clinton in previous election cycles.
What changed?
Hollywood is scared silly, and rightly so. The industry is contracting. Jobs are increasingly scarce in the post-strike world. The desperation is so profound all we see are more sequels, prequels, re-imaginings and reboots.
Chris Hemsworth is headlining a “Transformers”/”G.I. Joe” crossover film, fusing two tired franchises. The flop sweat beads are in plain sight.
Streamers are bleeding red ink. Legitimate fears of how A.I. will impact the industry are widespread.
WHY I’M STRIKING: “What concerns me the most is AI… If computers are taking over our jobs, what happens to us” – ‘S.W.A.T.’ actress Rochelle Aytes tells Deadline at the first responder drama picket at Warner Brothers today #SAGAFTRAStrike pic.twitter.com/jfxfe7zY4b
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) October 6, 2023
The summer box office is off to an ignominious start. And that’s after blockbuster after blockbuster went bust last year. The Biden economy is making all of the above worse. Much, much worse.
Suddenly, alienating your remaining customers with a virtue signal endorsement isn’t smart
And then there’s Hamas.
Both CNN and The Wrap note that some stars are frightened to back Biden. And the Israel/Hamas war is partly the reason.
CNN:
According to multiple sources consulting celebrities who spoke to CNN, celebrities are weighing whether or when to publicly endorse Biden for the 2024 election amid an increasingly fraught political landscape and as simmering tensions over Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza escalate across the country.
TheWrap:
The truth is the entertainment industry has been in a state of emotional paralysis for months, less about the widely loathed Donald Trump than about Israel’s war in Gaza that has divided friends and driven a wedge into the liberal and heavily Jewish community of Hollywood.
Breitbart News’ John Nolte sheds more light on the matter.
Biden is in a pickle. If he doesn’t support Israel, he loses the left-wing Jews who offer a ton of financial support. If he supports Israel, he loses huge swaths of the Arabs, artists, and academics that can swing a tight election.
Need a final reason for Hollywood’s current uncertainty regarding Trump v. Biden? Try two.
One, even progressive stars know President Biden is mentally diminished, even if they won’t whisper it aloud. The sorry state of the country proves it. So do endless viral clips of Biden mangling the English language.
Joe Biden legit can’t speak. This isn’t normal. He has dementia. Running him again in 2024 is beyond reckless. pic.twitter.com/0Slw56BErY
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 15, 2023
The second?
They may loathe Trump and everything he embodies, but their industry was in far better shape during his four years in office. Hollywood is collapsing during the Biden era. It’s not entirely the aging leader’s fault, given streaming woes, the rise of YouTube and other leisure diversions.
Biden still gets the blame for the economy. He earned it.
Maybe a second Trump term wouldn’t be the disaster Robert De Niro claims.
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