Posts
Ah, Hollywood, the glittering cesspool where virtue-signaling is the real currency, and actual talent takes a backseat to performative outrage. Just when you thought Tinseltown's elite had exhausted their bag of tricks in the Israel-Hamas blame game, along comes another open letter demanding a boycott of Israeli film institutions. Because nothing screams "peace and understanding" like silencing creators based on their passport, and especially their religion.
Enter Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the media behemoth behind everything from HBO bangers to those endless HGTV house flips, who's just thrown cold water on the whole circus. According to reports from Variety and Deadline, WBD has flat-out refused to sign the pledge that's already snagged signatures from a who's-who of A-list scumcrumpets itching to flex their faux moral superiority.
The outlets dropped the news on Thursday, detailing WBD's polite but firm smackdown of the letter, which has been circulating like a bad script no one's buying.
"Warner Bros. Discovery is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for its employees, collaborators, and other stakeholders," a company spokesperson told both news sources. "Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or ancestry. We believe a boycott of Israeli film institutions violates our policies."
Boom. Straight talk from the suits who actually run the show, not the ones mugging for Instagram likes. The rep didn't stop there, reportedly adding that while WBD encourages folks to air their personal gripes, "will continue to align [their] business practices with the requirements of [their] policies and the law."
For the uninitiated, WBD isn't some fly-by-night outfit. They own Cartoon Network (where your kids' brains get marinated in memes and trans cultivating), CNN (endless hot takes), DC Studios (superheroes saving the world, ironically), the Food Network (because carbs don't discriminate), HBO (prestige TV for when you want to feel smart), HGTV (dream homes for dreamers), TLC (reality TV's guilty pleasure), and a boatload more. Oh, and they've got that shiny museum in Burbank, California, where you can pretend the magic of movies hasn't been hijacked by politics.
This isn't WBD flying solo, either. Last month, Paramount, home to CBS news cycles, Comedy Central roasts, MTV moonwalks, Nickelodeon slime fests, Viacom empires, and a streaming service slinging everything from Yellowstone spin-offs to, well, Red Alert, a docuseries chronicling the horrors of the October 7th attacks, told the boycott brigade to kick rocks.
"We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace," Paramount declared, in what has to be the most refreshingly adult statement to come out of a studio lot since the invention of the blockbuster.
It's almost poetic: While Paramount's pumping out content that dares to document the brutal realities of Hamas's savagery, the boycotters are out here playing apartheid bingo. In case you're wondering, if Israel wanted to create genocide in Gaza, they would have finished the job in 45 minutes after they were attacked on October 7, 2023.
Speaking of the signatories turning this into their personal Emmys for activism, the list reads like a casting call for "Woke Wonders": Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man with a side of sanctimony), Emma Stone (Oscar darling gone rogue), Elliot Page (formerly Ellen, now had her breasts removed and given fake junk, fully transitioned into protest mode), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker vibes meet justice warrior), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk smash... opinions), and Tilda Swinton (ethereal weirdo with a grudge).
And that's just the headliners. The full roster balloons past 5,000 film industry types, including Adam McKay (the Don't Look Up doomsayer), Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Winter (Bill & Ted's existential crisis), Bowen Yang (SNL snark turned serious), Diego Luna (Rogue One rebel, apparently off-script), Eric Andre (chaos agent), Guy Pearce (Memento for the movement), Hannah Einbinder (Curb Your Enthusiasm's next-gen), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones grit), Olivia Colman (The Crown's queen of calm, now coronated in controversy), Olivia Cooke, Rob Delaney (cat tweets to cataclysm), Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on her shoulder), Wallace Shawn (Inconceivable!), and Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, poorer judgment).
Their manifesto is a melodramatic screed claiming Israeli film institutions are "implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people." The goal, they say, is to "end complicity in their oppression." Cue the eye-rolls and the faint whiff of BDS rhetoric that's been debunked more times than a plot hole in a Marvel sequel.
But hold the popcorn, because the pushback is as star-studded as it gets. Over 1,200 entertainment pros fired off a counter-letter late last month, courtesy of non-profits Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) and The Brigade. It's a full-throated smackdown of their colleagues' "efforts to silence fellow entertainers and filmmakers."
"We call on all our colleagues in the entertainment industry to reject this discriminatory and anti-Semitic boycott call that only adds yet another roadblock on the path to peace," it wraps up, hitting like a mic drop from the rational side of the room.
The signers is a motley crew of heavy hitters who actually seem to remember what "inclusive" means: Gene Simmons (KISS legend with zero tolerance for BS), Howie Mandel (germaphobe but not phobia-phobe), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan's tough love), Lisa Edelstein (House M.D.'s empathy expert), Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, especially sanity), Regina Spektor (piano poet with principles), Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy's better half, unfiltered), Tara Strong (voice of your childhood cartoons), and even Sherry Lansing, the ex-CEO of Paramount Pictures who clearly didn't get the memo on flipping the script.
In a town where cancel culture is the unofficial state religion, it's downright refreshing to see Warner Bros. and Paramount drawing a line in the sand, or should I say, refusing to burn the bridges to Tel Aviv. Hollywood's boycott brigade might pat themselves on the back for "speaking truth to power," but let's be real: This is just another chapter in the endless saga of elite hypocrisy, where A-listers lecture from their gated estates about oppression they wouldn't recognize if it photobombed their red carpet.
Kudos to the studios for keeping it real. Maybe next time, the signatories can boycott something that doesn't reek of thinly veiled bigotry. Until then, pass the remote—I've got some non-boycotted binge-watching to do.
If you like Brain Flushings and want to Buy Me a Coffee, I would appreciate it, as it supports my work. Obviously, there is no pressure but I certainly wouldn't stop you.
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment