Boo-hoo, Melissa.

Actress Melissa Barrera is opening up about her brief Hollywood exile following some ghastly comments said after Oct. 7.

'We haven’t seen this before in our country. So Americans who don’t travel, who 80% don’t have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete.'

The “Scream” star appeared to be Hollywood’s next “It” girl before she took a side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That cost her a part in “Scream 7” and appeared to chase some studios away.

“It was quiet for, like, 10 months ... I was still getting offers for small things here and there – I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing — but [the message] was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything.’”

What did she say? She called Israeli’s counterattack against Hamas “genocide and ethnic cleansing” and suggested the Jews control the media.

She currently has three new projects in the works, for what it’s worth. Some exile.

Now, compare that to conservative actors who face years of shunning for sharing conservative thoughts. Think Kevin Sorbo, James Woods, and many more.

Sorry, “Scream” queen. We’ll save our sympathies for them ...

Stiller not sorry

Ben Stiller admits comedians work with cultural handcuffs today.

Yes, cancel culture isn’t as muscular as in recent years, and the woke mind virus has taken some body blows of late. Take a bow, Christopher Rufo, Robby Starbuck, and Matt Walsh.

Still, comic actors have to tread carefully when trying to crack us up. Stiller said as much while reflecting on his celebrated 2008 comedy “Tropic Thunder.” The film’s politically incorrect yuks are legendary, including Robert Downey Jr. donning blackface to play a vain actor desperate for Oscar fame and fortune.

Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do. ... Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business. I think even at the time we were fortunate to get it made, and I credit that, actually, to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. He read it and was like, ‘All right, let’s make this thing.’ It’s a very inside movie when you think about it.

He's right, of course. Stiller also refuses to publicly apologize for making the film, no small measure given the cultural pressures facing him. Remember, blackface sitcom episodes were memory-holed in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 death.

Still, wouldn’t a better reaction be to do it all over again? Make another raucous comedy that’s smart, satirical, and hits below the belt. Stiller has the clout to do it, the celebrity Rolodex, and the wit.

Don’t just lament the cultural scolds. Defy them ...

Stone cold

At least she didn’t call us “Deplorables.”

Actress Sharon Stone lashed out at the election results by insulting more than half the nation.

“We haven’t seen this before in our country. So Americans who don’t travel, who 80% don’t have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete.”

Now, let’s see if she follows that up by making good on her threat to leave the country under a Trump 2.0 administration. We may lose a third “Basic Instinct,” but somehow we’ll survive ...

Diddy's OJ play

It’s the only card he has left.

Sean Combs played the Race Card™ during his latest legal maneuver to avoid decades of jail time. The superstar singer/actor/producer is facing charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, part of an elaborate lifestyle that was covered up for far too long.

Suddenly, his infamous “freak-off” parties and lavish lifestyle are under new, withering scrutiny, and his future looks bleak. So he charged his legal team with slamming the prosecution as being racially motivated.

"The government’s arguments that asking his children to post birthday wishes on Instagram and that he is not entitled to publicly express his opinion that this prosecution is racially motivated are, quite simply, an unconstitutional effort to silence him,” read a letter to the court on his legal team’s behalf.

This could be the trial of the new century, and it’s already taking a page from the O.J. Simpson playbook ...

Are you not entertained?

They just can’t help themselves.

Hollywood stars just can't resist making everything about President-elect Donald Trump

Legendary director Ridley Scott is the latest to catch DJT fever, comparing a villain in “Gladiator 2” to the 45th and 47th president.

Denzel Washington’s Macrinus proves formidable in the Hollywood sequel, a power broker who uses the heroic main character played by Paul Mescal for his own nefarious purposes.

He evolved into a very rich merchant selling s*** to the Roman armies — food, oil, wine, cloth, weapons, everything. He maybe had a million men spread around Europe. So he was a billionaire at the time, so why wouldn’t he [have ambitions toward the throne]? ‘Why not me?’ He’s also a gangster — very close to Trump. A clever gangster. He creates chaos and from chaos he can evolve.

Whatever you say, Ridley. The rest of us are over here munching our popcorn and trying to escape from the 24-hour news cycle.

Mike drops trou, Netflix drops ball on Tyson-Paul brawl

This is a Hollywood mea culpa no one saw coming.

In 2018, actress Rebecca Hall apologized for having starred in not one but two Woody Allen movies. This was the peak of #MeToo mania, when it was suddenly cool to bash Allen for decades-old allegations that he molested his daughter Dylan Farrow.

'This is like Blockbuster still trying to collect late fees for those VHS tapes.'

Funny how those allegations didn't bother the Hollywood elite until film producer Harvey Weinstein’s precipitous downfall in 2017.

Hall even vowed to contribute her salaries to the Time’s Up foundation, created in the wake of the Weinstein scandal.

Turns out she’s sorry for saying she’s sorry.

"I kind of regret making that statement because I don't think it's the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation. … I regret this decision and wouldn't make the same one today.”

Huh? What changed? The #MeToo movement collapsed, for starters. Celebrity political endorsements are now about as popular as eating Tide Pods. Hall suddenly realized she didn’t want to be an actress — slash — activist.

And Allen keeps making movies. A gig’s a gig, right?

Kamala stalks Kimmel

Hasn’t Jimmy Kimmel raised enough cash for Democratic coffers? The “Man Show” host turned progressive shill is furious that he’s still receiving fundraising emails from the Kamala Harris campaign.

The failed Kamala Harris campaign, to be exact.

“’There has never been a more important time to donate to the Harris Fight Fund Program’ than right now.’ … Now, I’m not an expert when it comes to campaigns, but I’m pretty sure there has been a better time.”

“This is like Blockbuster still trying to collect late fees for those VHS tapes.”

Will this stop Kimmel from resuming his 24/7 Trump-bashing? Of course not. Still, it's nice to see some bipartisan outrage from TV’s most predictable, and suddenly sad, clown …

Cher and share alike?

Who knew “I Got You Babe” had a double meaning?

The smash Sonny and Cher ditty that rocked the charts in 1965 proved a prelude to Sonny Bono’s financial wickedness. That’s according to the 78-year-old Cher, who opened up about her late husband’s financial moves in a New York Times interview tied to her just-released memoir called … “Cher: The Memoir.”

“He took all my money. … I just thought, 'We’re husband and wife. Half the things are his, half the things are mine.' It didn’t occur to me that there was another way.”

Perhaps she channeled those memories for her solo career, including 1974’s “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves”?

No downtime for Denzel

Denzel Washington’s retirement sounds … busy.

The superstar recently hinted that he has but a few more movies left in him, somber news for movie-lovers across the globe.

“I don’t know how many more films I’m going to make,” Washington, 69, said. “Probably not that many. I want to do things I haven’t done.”

Since then, he leaked that he’ll co-star in the upcoming “Black Panther 3.” That’s not all. He has two more “Equalizer” sequels planned. Nothing says striking new creative ground like extending a franchise built from an '80s TV series into its fifth installment.

Maybe Washington spent a few too many days away from a film set’s perks and figured retirement is for suckers …

Technical decision

That overhyped match between brawlers Jake Paul and Mike Tyson drew a whopping 108 million viewers across the globe. Rumor has it a good 50% of them actually saw Paul whip “Iron” Mike and not a buffering wheel of doom.

At least the unlucky ones were spared the sight of Tyson’s 58-year old tuchus. To paraphrase the former and future first lady, “Be better, Netflix …”

They come back. They always do.

Advertisers make nice with Musk

Neil Young and fellow aging rebels pulled their music from Spotify in 2022 after the platform refused to cancel host Joe Rogan for his contrarian pandemic views. Young and company later returned their music to Spotify after their cancel culture attack swung and missed.

Now, it’s some of the world’s biggest corporations backpedaling on their anti-free speech efforts.

IBM, Disney, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Comcast pulled their advertising from X, the platform formerly known as Prince, last year to protest owner Elon Musk. Why? He’s a free-speech fan. Those corporations? Not so much.

Now, all of the above are back on the platform, sending their sweet, sweet ad cash to Team Musk’s coffers.

They could have just funneled that cash to Bluesky, the new choice of the Resistance(TM). Chances are they probably realize it’ll be the next Mastodon or Threads before long.

'Reagan' actor Robert Davi on Hollywood left: 'They want DEI except for thought'

Robert Davi didn’t just bring Leonid Brezhnev to life in “Reagan,” this year’s eagerly awaited biopic of the 40th U.S. president. The veteran actor brought volumes of research to both the role and the set.

Davi, beloved for work in classics like “Die Hard,” “The Goonies,” and “Licence to Kill,” spent time in Russia speaking to citizens about the late Soviet Union leader.

In a business that routinely punishes conservative stars, the film's producers bucked groupthink, casting not only Davi but talented actors such as Nick Searcy, Pat Boone, and Kevin Sorbo.

He dug deep into Brezhnev’s complicated legacy, learning of his bond with President Richard Nixon and affinity for fast cars.

Command performance

For Davi, “Reagan” deserved nothing less than his full commitment. It explains why he has endured as an actor whose career stretches back to 1977’s “Contract on Cherry Street” with Frank Sinatra.

“Reagan,” now available via digital on demand, finds Davi and co-stars fleshing out “The Gipper’s” remarkable life and political career. Some viewers, familiar with iconic Reagan moments like his “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” speech, may not know how Reagan battled communism behind the scenes in Hollywood.

For Davi, the biggest takeaway may be how little has changed in America since the Reagan Revolution.

Back to the future

He said pop culture and the press loathed Reagan, much as they do President Donald Trump. In fact, the moment Trump descended the Trump Tower escalator to announce his candidacy, the actor connected the mogul’s populist message to that of vintage Reagan.

Davi also notes that both Reagan and Trump were badly underestimated by their opponents — until it was too late.

The actor wishes the film could have included even more of Reagan’s life and legacy. Notably, he would have loved to see Nancy Reagan (Penelope Ann Miller in the film) reacting to new President George H.W. Bush’s vow to build a “kinder, gentler nation” — a not-so-subtle dig at his former boss of eight years.

An 'eye-opening' biopic

Still, the movie packs plenty into the running time, including how Reagan reached across the aisle to get legislation done. His scenes with Congressmen Tip O’Neill (Dan Lauria) epitomize that attitude. It also explains the dawn of the Reagan Democrat.

That, and so much more featured in the film, will prove “eye-opening” to younger viewers, Davi predicted.

“The new generation needs to watch that to understand the difference between the extreme left and the conservative movement,” he said.

Davi’s “Reagan” contributions didn’t end with his Brezhnev performance. The versatile star also sings two tracks on the film: “This Town” and “Nancy (with the Laughing Face).” He studied music extensively earlier in his career and, in recent years, has brought the Sinatra catalog to vibrant life via “Davi Sings Sinatra.”

He also directed the charming 2007 film “The Dukes” along with the 2022 biopic “My Son Hunter,” which cast Laurence Fox as the embattled first son. The film stands in sharp contrast to how Hollywood either ignored or lionized Hunter Biden throughout his various scandals.

Davi’s conservative bona fides are no Hollywood secret. He continues to work, although often in independent features like this year’s “Bardejov.” That film recalled the true-life heroism of Rafuel Lowy, who saved hundreds of Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

Hollywood rebels

It’s no accident that Davi is not the only openly right-of-center actor in the “Reagan” cast. In a business that routinely punishes conservative stars, the film's producers bucked groupthink, casting not only Davi but talented actors such as Nick Searcy, Pat Boone, and Kevin Sorbo.

Sorbo has said his unofficial Hollywood blacklisting began roughly a decade ago when his agent left him over his conservative beliefs. Oscar nominee James Woods hasn’t had a sizeable film role since his supporting turn in 2014’s “Jamesy Boy.”

Davi confirms the new blacklist is “worse than it was during the McCarthy era,” adding that communists did infiltrate the Hollywood community during the 1950s.

For his part, Davi won't be cowed. He contributes thoughtful op-eds to Breitbart News and keeps creating art on his terms. He promises a new album to drop in 2025 in addition to a European tour. He’s close to starting work on a new film called “The Ministry” about a group tied to vigilante justice.

The ultimate irony? Hollywood continues to make movies about the blacklist era while stars are penalized for their political beliefs in 2024, he said. George Clooney will bring his “Goodnight, and Good Luck” film, recalling journalist Edward R. Murrow’s scraps with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, to Broadway starting in March.

“They want DEI except for thought. … People wanna talk about the ‘fascists’ in the MAGA movement,” Davi said with a laugh. “The fascists in the liberal left will denigrate you, dispel you.”

Frat guy to DEI: Will Ferrell's unfunny fall

Comedians defending comedy, what a concept (with apologies to Mork from Ork)!

This week, it’s Jon Stewart’s turn.

Will Ferrell is on a mission – crush all the goodwill he generated with 20+ years of great big-screen comedies like 'Elf,' 'Old School,' and 'Step Brothers.'

The “Daily Show” host actually took the media to task for getting the vapors over bawdy jokes told at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally by Tony Hinchcliffe.

“There’s something wrong with me, but I find that guy very funny,” he said of the “Kill Tony” host.

Stewart continued his defense, throwing salt on an open DNC wound in the process.

“Bringing him to a rally and have him NOT do roast jokes is like bringing Beyonce to a rally and not — oh!”

That Harris campaign gaffe – Beyonce gave a brief endorsement last week but neither sang nor danced for thousands of fans — didn’t become a media narrative. Stewart used it all the same. He can go back to trashing Trump now, but for a moment he let his bipartisan side show.

Rebel comic's F-bomb frenzy

And then there’s Marc Maron.

The former comedy rebel plays by all the woke rules. He’s even shouted down his fellow comics for daring to suggest woke bylaws hurt comedy.

Yeah, he’s that laughably out of touch.

Now, he’s attacking comic podcasters for interviewing Sen. JD Vance and President Donald Trump. Think Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Tim Dillon.

Or, as Maron calls them, “fascists.”

Whether or not they are self-serving or true believers in the new fascism is unimportant. They are of the movement. Whether they see themselves as acolytes or just comics doesn’t matter. Whether they are driven by the idea that what they are fighting for is a free speech issue or whether they are truly morally bankrupt racists doesn’t matter. They are part of the public face of a fascist political movement that seeks to destroy the democratic idea.

If he keeps this up, some network bigwig will give him a deeply unfunny late-night show.

The Way-ans forward

We miss the “Scary Movie” franchise.

The saga not only shredded horror movie tropes but employed two very funny comic teams. Members of the Wayans family fueled the first two installments, while “Airplane!” alum David Zucker took over for chapters 3, 4, and 5.

Now, the Wayans are back for another installment. Yes, we’re exhausted by Hollywood’s endless reboots, but the Wayans remain comic royalty. Plus, various Wayans made us howl before the comedy police started pulling people over.

Think “In Living Color,” for starters.

Marlon Wayans, for one, is not a fan of the new woke order.

'I ain't listening to this damn generation,” he said in 2022, skewering cancel culture in the process.

Here’s betting the family that gave us “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” also loathes those woke comedy cuffs.

Kamala drops mic

Diva alert!

Vice President Kamala Harris has an open invitation to appear on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Except the Democrat insists that the podcast giant come to her, not vice versa.

Even more jaw-dropping? She’ll only sit down with Rogan for an hour-long chat. Rogan’s interviews typically go from two to three hours in length. No-go, says the former “Fear Factor” host.

Looks like the interview won’t happen at this point. And to be fair to Harris, sparing us from a three-hour vibe-fest might be her first real accomplishment.

Ferrell forgets 'Old School' lessons

Will Ferrell is on a mission – crush all the goodwill he generated with 20+ years of great big-screen comedies like “Elf,” “Old School,” and “Step Brothers.”

He began his curious quest in 2016 when he flirted with a Ronald Reagan “comedy” about the late president’s Alzheimer’s disease. Only a swift public shaming campaign caused him to drop out of the project.

He hasn’t made us laugh-laugh in some time, with Apple TV+’s 2022 film “Spirited” doing him, and us, few favors.

More recently, he starred in the documentary “Will & Harper,” a buddy road trip featuring his longtime male friend’s life post-transition. Ferrell wondered in various press interviews why trans people get so much hate, ignoring the real concerns parents have with doctors who transition children.

Now, he’s out with a new, vulgar song meant to replace Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” And worst of all, he’s hitting the streets with the screechy Billy Eichner for more “White Dudes for Harris”-style shtick.

Can we have the old Will Ferrell back? Please?

Stars call for border sanity at 'Line in the Sand' premiere

James O’Keefe looked out of his element at Mar-a-Lago last week.

The undercover journalist sported a tuxedo, not a disguise, and everyone at the red carpet movie premiere knew who he was.

'You don't see news correspondents really going to Mexico. You see some YouTubers ride the train, but we rode La Bestia, and you'll see that in the film.'

O’Keefe’s “Line in the Sand,” showing exclusively on the Tucker Carlson Network, finds the muckraker outlining the atrocities along the U.S.-Mexico border by fusing his trademark undercover reportage with traditional storytelling methods.

The results are chilling, unexpected, and raw.

The documentary both evokes empathy for the wave of immigrants flooding into the country and outrage at the greed, corruption, and government excess that has kept the roiling tragedy alive so long.

Truth social

The screening attracted an eclectic group of supporters, including several MMA fighters, social media influencers, and Donald Trump’s second wife.

MMA legend Tito Ortiz savaged the media for making a movie like "Line in the Sand" necessary. The narratives in the film stand in stark relief to border press coverage.

“The mainstream media has been telling a lie for such a long time, and it's making people believe it. This is Psychology 101. This is, if you tell somebody a lie long enough, they think it's the truth. And, I mean, my mother's a victim of it herself,” Ortiz said. “She's a lifelong Democrat. I try to make her believe into the truth, but she believes what she sees on mainstream media.”

The outspoken patriot said it’s crushing to watch the current administration turn his country from the land of opportunity to a free lunch free-for-all.

“What [O’Keefe] has done is expose what is really happening and what’s going on in this country, and it’s heartbreaking for me,” he said.

Evading capture

"Line in the Sand" comes to us with an assist from Carlson, who created a new platform from scratch following his abrupt Fox News exit.

This DIY strategy is something actress Sam Sorbo knows all about. Sorbo Studios, the production company she formed with husband/actor Kevin Sorbo, allows the canceled couple to make movies on their own terms.

Such radical independence is "even more important these days because the media has so been captured,” Sorbo said. “That's a term that's new for us, but it's a term that applies now. And so what they're doing, branching out on their own in a hostile environment, even, is so difficult. And that's why I'm here supporting them.”

Sorbo also praised "Line in the Sand" for opposing the Biden administration’s open-border policies.

“We're left with millions of people here in the country illegally, people we don't know, people who have not been vetted, and an extraordinary surge in child sex trafficking that is untold,” she said.

Risky business

O’Keefe, who lovingly steered his parents down the red carpet, called the documentary a “long-form” version of his undercover stings. He added that he hopes to remind Americans of the vital importance of genuine investigative journalism, something too few news outlets are willing to invest in.

“I think that there really isn't any investigative journalism really out there. There's a lot of podcasts, but not a lot of journalism. It's very expensive. It's very risky, a lot of liability associated, a lot of danger associated with it,” said O’Keefe, who put his own safety on the line to capture the footage found in "Line in the Sand."

“You don't see news correspondents really going to Mexico. You see some YouTubers ride the train, but we rode La Bestia, and you'll see that in the film.”

The train in question lets illegal immigrants hop aboard and travel through Mexico toward the U.S. border.

Ex-factor

Marla Maples, visiting an old haunt from her days as Trump’s wife, said "Line in the Sand" puts the emphasis where it belongs: on the vulnerable children most affected by the border chaos, ripped away from their families or plunged into the nightmare of human trafficking.

The film’s mid-section explores this frightening reality.

It’s why she went back to Mar-a-Lago on a muggy fall day. She also defended her former husband from a non-stop Hitler comparisons.

I've known Donald Trump since I was 20 years old. We went to church. His daughter converted to Judaism. He has Jewish children. I study from the Torah, and I study the teachings of Christ. He's always supported that. For my daughter's wedding, we did a Torah session. We did a Shabbat here at the wedding for all those that were Jewish and supported all of that. So again, it's a false narrative to try and take away his ability to help America and help the people.

Joy in the fight

Singer Joy Villa had Trump’s back virtually from the jump. And she stood there mostly alone, at least in celebrity circles.

“When I came out [as a Trump supporter], nobody was out in a very public way at the Grammys,” she recalled. “I was fed up. I felt like Madonna can come out and say, ‘I'm gonna wear a pussy hat and let's kill the president.’

“And I'm like, ‘Wait. I live in Hollywood and I'm pro-Trump. Why am I not represented?’ And everyone loves to fight for, oh, black rights, Latino rights, which I'm black and Latino,” she said. “And it's not about that. It's about what do we think. Not just how we look.”

That was then. These days, figures as far afield as Dr. Phil and Dennis Quaid are openly supporting the former (and future?) president.

“Now we have an outpouring of support for Donald Trump in the public eye. It's incredible,” she said.

That matters in her eyes.

“There's really good people out there who are feeling like they can't speak up or they'll fear for their lives, their livelihood, their jobs, all of that,” she said. “So when celebrities do speak up ... it makes the little guy less afraid.”

Ma'am in the Mirror: Spinster celebs tout joy of self-love

You don’t spend years trashing former Vice President Dick Cheney and then suddenly embrace the GOP leader.

Well, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz do, but not far-left funnyman Jon Stewart.

The guy they said is unfit to run for president is currently the president. Nobody has any issue with that. Which makes it very obvious that he’s not the president.

During an interview with Walz, the former and current “Daily Show” host had a simple reaction to Cheney’s support for the Democratic ticket:

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

When the knucklehead in chief pointed out that they'd also landed the endorsement of a certain mega pop star, Stewart was not consoled.

“What country did Taylor Swift get us to invade?” he asked.

When court jesters have more backbone than your presidential ticket, you know there’s trouble.

Go Wes

Wesley Snipes must be laughing up his sleeve.

The action icon played Marvel’s antihero “Blade” in three films, all before the MCU took over Hollywood in 2008, starting with “Iron Man.” But when Disney decided to revive the vampire slayer, it went to Oscar winner Mahershala Ali to play the lead.

Great choice, but why not Snipes? He’s still fit at 62, and he brought the character back in the summer’s blockbuster “Deadpool & Wolverine.” He hasn’t lost a step.

Maybe the Comic-Con gods have smiled upon Snipes after all. The “Blade” revival has had more delays than days shooting. The project’s director stepped down earlier this year, and an alleged peek at the early script — which six writers have taken a whack at so far — showed it was as woke as a “Captain Marvel” trilogy.

As Blade himself said, "Some mother****ers are always trying to ice-skate uphill."

Now the film has been taken off the 2025 release schedule, with no update in sight. Snipes isn’t getting any younger, but why not hand the story back to him and be done with it?

Doc crock

Liberal Hollywood reporters have their heads in the sand. That’s the kindest explanation for missing too many great stories to count.

Need an example? The far-left Deadline shares a podcast recap on the state of documentaries. One takeaway? Gosh, conservatives just can’t seem to make a decent one.

Really. Really?

"What Is a Woman?"
"Am I Racist?" (the most successful doc in a decade)
"The Fall of Minneapolis"
"How Jack Became Black"
"What Killed Michael Brown"
"Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words"

That’s just off the top of this scribe’s head. “Minneapolis” may be the most impactful film I’ve seen in years. Haunting. Powerful. Unforgettable.

It’s bad enough that Hollywood tilts to the left so hard it hurts. Can’t a few honest journalists cover the biz without liberal blinders on?

Biden his time

It must be nice to be a rebel comic like Tim Dillon.

The podcaster tells the jokes others in the mainstream won’t. The reward? Both a Netflix stand-up special and now a new Netflix comedy called “This Is Your Country.” Think the best of "The Jerry Springer Show" ... but intentionally funny.

Now he’s calling out the biggest news scandal of the year. Except no one in the mainstream press will cover it.

Who is our president again?

It’s technically Joe Biden, but we all realized after the June 27 presidential debate that he’s but a figurehead at this point.

So Dillon said as much:

The guy they said is unfit to run for president is currently the president. Nobody has any issue with that. Which makes it very obvious that he’s not the president. Nobody’s worried about his senility in any real sense because he wasn’t removed from the presidency. He’s sitting in the Oval Office supposedly making decisions about America. We’re supposed to believe that.

He's right. Of course. Late-night comics were too busy raising money for Biden’s doomed re-election campaign to joke about it.

Solemates

Celebrities are always one step ahead of us normies. Maybe two.

Consider Britney Spears and Chelsea Handler. While most of us saps are trying to find our soulmates, these two did it in a heartbeat: They looked in the mirror.

Handler recently bragged that she has a great relationship with herself and doesn’t need a man, something that threatens the fellas.

Not to be outdone, Spears shared a wedding picture on her Instagram feed announcing she had married herself.

Can you do a wedding registry for one?

Kamala's comedy cult: Late-night hosts venerate veep

Regrets, Jerry Seinfeld has a few.

No, he isn’t apologizing for skewering pro-Palestinian protesters at his comedy appearances earlier this year.

'Maybe this election, maybe you don’t have a candidate that you love, but you have to have an issue that you, maybe the somebody you love is you.'

He’d do that again in a heartbeat.

He wants to take back his thoughts on the “extreme left” crushing comedy.

Et tu, Jerry?

In an interview published in Variety yesterday, the "Seinfeld" alum mused:

Does culture change and are there things that I used to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target. You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian. ... So I don’t think, as I said, the "extreme left" has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.

Did Seinfeld catch holy heck in the comedy community for that initial opinion? The backpedal here is Tim Walz-weird, Jerry!

And he was right the first time, of course.

'Joker's' home invasion

The movie that scared Warner Bros. executives silly is coming home for Halloween.

“Joker: Folie a Deux,” which may lose the studio up to $200 million, will be out on VOD Oct. 29. It opened Oct. 4, crashed at the box office, and then plummeted an astonishing 80% in week two.

Who could have predicted a film that ditched everything that made the first “Joker” click and added musical numbers might disappoint at the box office?

The film feels like an elaborate trick from director Todd Phillips. Guess he loved that ”Joker burns money” meme so much he brought it to life.

Hathaway's hash

Word salad. It’s catchy and delicious!

Consider Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. She dropped in on a Broadway fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week. The “Les Miserables” star assumed the best way to honor the presidential candidate was to talk just like Harris.

“We got a big choice to make, America, you have to make a choice, you do have to vote. Maybe this election, maybe you don’t have a candidate that you love, but you have to have an issue that you, maybe the somebody you love is you. You gotta vote for yourself, America,” she said.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, no?

No ha-has from Harris hacks

We knew late-night hosts have no shame, but this is getting absurd.

Both Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert shifted from partisan hacks to literal cogs in the DNC machine earlier this year. They hosted Democratic fundraisers for President Joe Biden before the not-so-active senior’s cognitive decline made its national debut June 27 at the presidential debate.

The comedians covered up that open secret for three-plus years. And happily so!

Now they’re pouncing and seizing on a generic medical report from Harris that says she’s in excellent health.

“This weekend, Harris released her latest medical report, which states that she's ‘in excellent health.’ It's great that just the words ‘excellent health’ kinda feel like a dig at Donald Trump. They should follow that up with ‘can walk up stairs’ and ‘is potty trained.’”

Satire needs a kernel of truth to be funny. Break out a magnifying glass, and you still won’t find anything funny there.

Sad? Yes. Funny? Not so much.

'Saturday Night' dies

“Saturday Night” is dying at the box office.

The film capturing the chaotic moments from “Saturday Night Live’s” first episode earned mostly positive reviews and solid box office results from its New York/L.A. debut. The film opened wider over the weekend, and audiences mostly stayed away. The film earned $3.9 million on 2,300 screens.

Maybe we don’t want to be reminded of a time when SNL delivered smart, irreverent comedy without an agenda. For longtime fans, that’s a jagged little pill to swallow.

At any rate, "Saturday Night" is notable for at least one reason. After decades of box-office flops based on SNL characters, this is the first bomb based on the show itself.

Align interview: Pat Boone

Pat Boone’s plan to be a teacher/preacher got interrupted by a career still going strong 70 years later.

The pop icon's early success gave way to decades atop the show business ladder. Hit songs. Blockbuster movies. Best-selling books. Music spanning gospel, country, pop, rock, and more.

'God lets us reap the consequences of our actions and our betrayal of him ... the worse we get, the harder times we get, and then a revival breaks out.'

Remember “In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy," his disc of heavy metal covers? Boone teamed with Alice Cooper to present the award for "Hard Rock/Heavy Metal" at the 1997 American Music Awards.

He looks back with a chuckle, content to have provided for his wife and young child at the dawn of a remarkable career.

At 90, retirement isn’t on the agenda. There’s still too much to create, and pop culture could use Boone’s God-fearing art.

Still.

His early success struck him as a curiosity, nothing more.

“It was something I would tell my kids and grandkids about,” Boone tells Align about signing with a “Tennessee start-up” label called Dot Records in the mid 1950s.

That initial pairing yielded “Two Hearts.” Boone never looked back.

“Well, it was fun to do, and it became a million-seller,” he says of the song, adding he followed it up with a cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame.” “All of a sudden I was a teen idol. ... It wasn’t a goal, but it was happening to me.”

Fame, fortune, and endless opportunities followed, but Boone wouldn’t take any ol’ project that crossed his path. Then or now.

“I just kept on doing what I could honorably do,” he says, adding he would go through a song’s lyrics with a “fine-toothed comb” to make sure it matched his godly values. He even turned down a project co-starring Marilyn Monroe.

Along the way, he realized he didn’t have a traditional congregation like he once imagined for himself. He’d use his pop culture perch instead. He could reach the masses on his own terms.

White artists from the 1950s have been criticized for appropriating R&B, sometimes known then as “race music,” for their own benefit. Race relations were fraught at the time, and the music industry often placated white audiences for its content.

Boone sees it differently. Consider his take on “Ain’t That a Shame.” He says it outsold Domino’s version, but since the singer owned the rights to the song, he benefited from both versions.

The cover version steered bigger royalty checks his way, Boone says.

The ageless crooner is proud to share another anecdote tied to improving race relations. He recalls receiving praise from the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He once appeared on a Rainbow Coalition Chicago radio program to promote an album of R&B covers he sang with the original musicians.

That impressed the civil rights leader, apparently.

“I think Pat Boone did more for race relations in his early career than any other artist,” Jackson said, according to Boone. “Not only singing the songs and bringing them on his television show but treating [black musicians] as peers and equals.”

Boone, who appeared in hits like “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959) and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1965), keeps busy on the big screen to this day. He snagged a small role in the recent “Reagan” biopic and plays an older Thomas Jefferson in “The American Miracle” co-starring Kevin Sorbo, slated for a 2025 release.

He hasn’t stopped singing either. Not only did Boone croon a bit during the Align conversation, his 2023 release “Country Jubilee” features five of Pat Boone's Top 100 Country recordings. That includes the duet "You and I," featuring Crystal Gayle.

The entertainer is keenly aware of the state of the America, cautiously optimistic despite cultural trends.

“God lets us reap the consequences of our actions and our betrayal of him. ... The worse we get, the harder times we get, and then a revival breaks out,” he says. Boone’s America went from singing a patriotic song before the school day started to being taught “warped history” in public schools.

“Now, you can’t say anything about Jesus or patriotism,” he notes.

He also finds hope in the “miracle” of President Donald Trump surviving the July 13 assassination attempt and coming back stronger than ever.

Trump, like President Ronald Reagan before him, survived a bullet and proceeded to do “what God wanted him to do.”

“We’re going to hear more of [Trump’s] confession of faith and how God spared him. Americans will resonate with that,” he says.

The Cringe of All Media: Simping Stern hosts Kamala lovefest

You're the putative King of All Media, and you have Vice President Kamala Harris in your studio.

What do you ask first? So many options!

'I plan on waking up on November 6 with Madam President,' the governor said before Kimmel silently cried, 'Cleanup on aisle 4!'

If you said, “Do you nap?” give yourself a gold star.

That was literally Howard Stern’s first question when the veep's softball interview tour stopped by his studio. Never mind that Harris can’t even navigate easy interviews, supplying Team Trump with more commercial fodder than any campaign could crave.

Just know that Stern followed up his fawning interview with President Joe Biden a few months back with another cringe-fest weeks before Election Day.

Howard, it’s time to hand over your crown …

Walz-y move

Harris’ ace VP pick isn’t much better.

Gov. Tim Walz sailed through his softball question barrage from Jimmy Kimmel this week, the host practically waving a flannel shirt in the air to remind us that Walz is just reg’lar folk.

And then Walz pulled a Walz.

“I plan on waking up on November 6 with Madam President,” the governor said before Kimmel silently cried, “Cleanup on aisle 4!”

Final 'Boss'

Amazon Freevee is “Sorry Not Sorry” about ending its “Who’s the Boss?” reunion plans.

The streamer flirted with an update on the ABC sitcom starring Tony Danza and a young Alyssa Milano. The actress is much better known these days for her far-left bona fides and hosting the “Sorry Not Sorry” podcast.

Maybe her becoming a hard-left radical who alienates large swaths of the country factored into the decision …

Feig fumbles 'Jackpot'

If Judd Apatow once ruled as Hollywood’s King of Comedy, Paul Feig was its crown prince.

Feig co-produced “Freaks and Geeks” with Apatow and later directed “Spy,” “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat.” He also directed episodes of “The Office,” ”Parks and Recreation” and “30 Rock.”

Not too shabby.

And then he foisted the “Lady Ghostbusters” debacle on an unsuspecting public in 2016.

Did Feig misplace his funny bone? Has anybody seen it?

He expanded his genre focus after that debacle (“A Simple Favor,” “The School for Good and Evil”) before returning to comedy with this year’s “Jackpot!”

That Prime Video original might be the worst comedy of the year. Years, to be exact.

So the news that he’s directing “The Housemaid,” a thriller starring Sydney Sweeney, brings a sigh of relief. There’s nothing funny about Feig’s comedy tailspin …

Warner Bros. to Phillips: Joker's on you

Todd Phillips, meet the Warner Bros. bus backing over you.

Phillips’ “Joker” earned the studio north of $1 billion back in 2019. That gave Phillips all the creative freedom necessary to make a musical sequel.

Yes, “Joker: Folie a Deux” is a musical about a murderous mental patient and his new gal pal (Lady Gaga).

The film, naturally, is tanking stateside. Now, according to World of Reel, studio suits are using industry mags to blame Phillips for the debacle.

They’re not wrong, per se, but using studio leaks to malign an artist who swung for the fences and missed feels wrong. But it’s oh, so right for kind, tolerant Hollywood …

'SNL' dunks on Dems

Is “Saturday Night Live” regretting its transformation into MSNBC light? The show’s bipartisan approach to political satire evaporated during the Obama years. It's only gotten worse since then.

The show mostly ignored President Joe Biden’s obvious mental decline and VP Kamala Harris’ word salad recipes.

Yet the first two “SNL” episodes of the new season, its 50th, suggest the show may be trying to channel its earlier incarnation.

Over the weekend, Jim Gaffigan played Gov. Tim Walz as, well, a knucklehead. The show even had Gaffigan, a raging anti-Trumper off screen, reciting Walz’s “friends with school shooters” line from the recent VP debate.

Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris is shown drowning her sorrows in wine, a possible nod either to those who think she’s a cool wine mom or that her incoherency is tied to the bottle.

It’s even more noteworthy because we’re mere weeks from Election Day and “SNL” has been a reliable part of the Democrats’ machine for more than a decade.

Even a far-left sketch show may not be able to resist the grossly incompetent Harris-Walz ticket.

New doc 'Get the Jew' confronts anti-Semitism, media bias

The New York Times, the Atlantic, and CNN have all gone Hollywood, creating documentary divisions that align with their progressive worldviews.

Why not the Wall Street Journal?

'It’s incredible that the New York Times, managed and run by Jews, chose to report it that way. Why is there that bias?'

“We feel there should be something on our side,” says veteran filmmaker Michael Pack, the writer/director/producer of “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.”

It’s why he joined forces with the WSJ’s opinion section to create docu-shorts on topics progressive filmmakers won’t touch. First up? The Crown Heights riots.

Tragic story

On August 19, 1991, a Jewish man accidentally drove into two black children, killing young Gavin Cato. Riots broke out across the New York City neighborhood, spiking already tense relations between black and Jewish residents. Lemrick Nelson, who is black, stabbed Jewish scholar Yankel Rosenbaum to death during the three-day melee.

Then-Mayor David Dinkins did little to stop the chaos targeting the Jewish community. Sound familiar?

“’Get the Jew’: The Crown Heights Riot Revisited” takes us back to those tumultuous days. The featurette, available for free Oct. 7 via YouTube and outside the WSJ’s paywall, lets key figures from the era recall that tragic New York story.

Horribly prescient

Pack says the Crown Heights riots offered a “timely” tale for the first short out of the gate, but the project proved horribly prescient.

“We didn’t know that another Jew would be stabbed in Crown Heights weeks before we finished the film,” Pack says. “[The attacker] was shouting, ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Do you want to die?’ The issue is different, but the anti-Semitism remains.”

“Get the Jew” recalls how the Rev. Al Sharpton played a consequential role in the riots, with critics suggesting he doused the city’s fires with rhetorical gasoline. Sharpton appears in the docu-short to explain his presence in the saga.

“He does a very good job defending his position. … He knows how to handle difficult questions,” Pack says of the MSNBC host. “It’s a cornerstone of these films. We give everybody a chance to make their case.”

The docuseries hopes to “tell stories in a straightforward manner, not to preach or advocate,” he adds.

Both sides?

Part of that story is media bias, another element that speaks to modern times. A New York Times reporter recalls the shock of learning that his employer said both sides were culpable in the chaos.

That’s not what he saw over that three-day period.

“It’s a very key part of the narrative, and it is surprising,” Pack says of the media’s coverage at the time. “In those days you would get to a phone booth and call your editor, read the story to him over the phone. [The reporter] was watching this anti-Semitic riot and the New York Times reports it as if there were both sides fighting. That’s not what was happening, as Ari Goldman, then reporter, recognized.”

“It’s incredible that The New York Times, managed and run by Jews, chose to report it that way,” he adds. “Why is there that bias? You can see that today in how they report on what Israel does versus what Hamas or Iran does.”

Another chilling note in the film? How Mayor Dinkins let the chaos rage without attempting to restore law and order, echoing the inaction by Gov. Tim Walz during the 2020 George Floyd riots.

“[Dinkins] himself isn’t anti-Semitic, but he felt, in my opinion, that politically he couldn’t act,” Pack says. The mayor eventually called in police to quell the riots, but it happened only after protesters hurled debris at both him and the chief of police during a press conference.

'An easy sell'

Actor Tim Blake Nelson of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” fame narrates “Get the Jew.” Nelson portrayed the title character in dramatic re-enactments in Pack’s “Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power,” originally on PBS, now streaming on Amazon

The filmmaker thought the actor matched the material well.

“He’s very interested in politics and is an open-minded person,” Pack says of the versatile actor. “He’s been involved in causes like stopping anti-Semitism. This was an easy sell for him.

Pack says the current plan is to produce from three to six WSJ docu-shorts a year. That’s in addition to his work as head of Palladium Pictures. That new enterprise finds Pack and his son, Thomas Pack, producing feature-length documentaries that aren’t likely to come from Hollywood Inc.

The company’s WSJ alliance is only part of the big picture. The company is producing feature-length documentaries and serving as an “incubator” for “right-of-center, non-woke filmmakers.” It’s all about stories that won’t be told by mainstream filmmakers.

“The goal is to reach the center,” he adds.