Anti-Israel celebs: Free speech for me, not for thee



Actors can’t stop reliving the Hollywood blacklist. So why won’t they speak out against the new, not-so-improved version?

Sen. Joe McCarthy’s Communist paranoia paralyzed Hollywood in the 1950s. The movement sent A-list talent scurrying for cover and made stars keep their far-left views quiet.

Align emailed press representatives for Ruffalo, Nixon, Dunne, Ahmed, Common, Youssef, and Philipps. What are their thoughts on the unofficial Hollywood blacklist targeting conservative artists?

No wonder the industry keeps revisiting the era with films like “The Front,” “Guilty by Suspicion,” “The Majestic,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and, most recently, 2015’s “Trumbo” starring Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston.

Now, a gaggle of stars are warning Hollywood not to repeat the era’s mistakes by punishing pro-Palestinian artists.

Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Griffin Dunne, Riz Ahmed, Common, Busy Philipps, and Ramy Youssef signed an open letter demanding stars be able to speak their minds without professional blowback.

The said letter called for a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza along with the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas in the Oct. 7 massacre. The letter insisted Palestinian “hostages” also be released.

The missive featured another pointed demand:

“to condemn our industry’s McCarthyist repression of members who acknowledge Palestinian suffering; and to eliminate any doubt of our solidarity with workers, artists, and oppressed people worldwide.”

Actress Susan Sarandon, another name on the letter, has a personal stake in the subject. She lost her agent after her extreme anti-Israel views went public. She wasn’t alone. “Scream” star Melissa Barrera exited the horror franchise for similar reasons.

No matter where one stands on the Israeli-Palestinian debate, punishing artists for political viewpoints is anathema to the industry’s creative spirit and the First Amendment.

It’s why Align reached out to seven of the letter’s signees to ask their views on the other blacklist permeating Hollywood. It targets conservative artists like James Woods, Kevin Sorbo, Scott Baio, and more.

Woods and Sorbo have gone public with how their right-leaning views essentially ended their Hollywood careers. The Oscar-nominated Woods hasn’t had a sizable role since 2014’s “Jamesy Boy.” Sorbo mostly works via his Sorbo Studios shingle, creating small-budget titles like “Let There Be Light” and “Miracle in East Texas.”

Baio’s X profile refers to the actor as “happily retired,” but his support for Donald Trump in 2016 helped make that official.

The examples are endless. And while a tiny number of conservatives continue to act, including Jon Voight and Tim Allen, they are the exceptions that prove the rule.

The now-defunct Friends of Abe once allowed conservative artists to meet in secrecy, network, and commiserate about being forced to stay silent. Former members recall fear-filled exchanges, often from crew members recalling the blowback they faced for thinking the “wrong” way in Tinseltown.

The Hollywood Reporter recently suggested that liberal actress Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame might be “shunned” by the industry for supporting her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The former presidential candidate recently endorsed Trump.

Surely, the pro-Palestinian actors are equally concerned about this troubling state of affairs.

Align emailed press representatives for Ruffalo, Nixon, Dunne, Ahmed, Common, Youssef, and Philipps. What are their thoughts on the unofficial Hollywood blacklist targeting conservative artists? Are they aware of the situation? Do they think it’s fair that right-leaning actors must hold their tongues lest they face professional blowback?

The outreach letter featured generous examples of the blacklist in question. No one responded to the query.

It’s not surprising. It’s an open secret the Hollywood press occasionally acknowledges but never questions. Last year, Emmy winner Alec Baldwin addressed the matter but dubbed it “unfortunate.”

Some blacklist sequels are more acceptable than others.

Adam McKay: Hollywood's Oscar-winning climate extremist



You may not know Adam McKay’s name, but chances are you love his movies and TV shows.

“Anchorman.” “Step Brothers.” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” “Succession.”

McKay is one of Hollywood’s most prolific and profitable creators. He’s also obsessed with promoting the climate change agenda on and off screen.

The notion that an Oscar-winning filmmaker would help target timeless works of art seems like a juicy story. So far, the mainstream media, by and large, hasn’t connected McKay to attacks his money helped make possible.

And he’s taken some radical steps along the way.

McKay spent years alongside Will Ferrell, pooling their talents for big, bawdy comedies. That formula worked for a while, but McKay’s inner artiste apparently wanted more.

His 2015 dramedy “The Big Short” spun from the best-selling tome of the same name by Michael Lewis. The film found him fusing laughs with social commentary, all from a rigorously left-leaning agenda. The film earned McKay a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

Suddenly his days of cracking wise with Ferrell were over. Meet Adam McKay, full-time culture warrior.

He wrote and directed the hit piece “Vice” (2018), an assault on both Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans in general, before pooling his creative energies to a project more in line with his eco-passions.

His 2021 film “Don’t Look Up” gave Netflix a streaming smash. The satirical smart bomb mixed the auteur’s wit with a full-on climate change metaphor. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a scientist trying to convince the president (Meryl Streep) that a comet is hurtling toward the earth.

The fictional politicians prove hard to convince.

McKay explained his rationale for the film to the New York Times.

“I’m under no illusions that one film will be the cure to the climate crisis. ... But if it inspires conversation, critical thinking, and makes people less tolerant of inaction from their leaders, then I’d say we accomplished our goal.”

Now, he’s going back to the eco-well. Twice.

He’s set to produce “Stormbound,” a documentary close-up of professional storm chasers. The film, set for a 2025 release, focuses on the alleged impact climate change has on extreme weather events.

He’s also in talks to direct a separate climate change feature after dropping plans to make “Average Height, Average Build,” a conventional thriller that was set to star Amy Adams and Robert Pattinson.

The new project will reportedly be called “Greenhouse,” and the subject falls in McKay’s sweet spot. The drama is based on David Wallace-Wells’ book “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming.” Sam Rockwell and Amy Irving, who previously costarred in “Vice,” may anchor the doom-and-gloom story.

McKay is hardly alone in weaponizing Hollywood product to spread the climate change gospel. The subject comes up frequently on screens large and small, from references in shows like HBO’s “The Last of Us” to major plot points in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”

Recently, we learned of a new “tool” that coaxes storytellers to fill their screenplays with climate change alarmism. The Climate Reality Check works like the feminist Bechdel test does, analyzing stories to see if they sufficiently address the environment.

Journalist John Fund recently reported on how “green billionaires” are trying to cajole screenwriters into adding even more climate change alarmism into Hollywood stories.

Recent films like “Barbie,” “Nyad,” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I” all passed. Barely.

Except McKay doesn’t silo his climate change activism to the big screen.

In 2022, the director/producer wrote a $4 million check to the Climate Emergency Fund. That group is behind some of the attacks on precious art installations across the globe. The fund funnels money to the eco-activists and their various splinter groups, hoping to gain attention for their cause.

Art works by Vincent van Gogh, Sandro Botticelli, Pablo Picasso, and Umberto Boccioni have been targeted over the past few years. None have been damaged to date, but museum experts warn their fragile states make them vulnerable to future violence.

The notion that an Oscar-winning filmmaker would help target timeless works of art seems like a juicy story. So far, the mainstream media, by and large, hasn’t connected McKay to attacks his money helped make possible. Few, if any, journalists have pressed McKay on the topic.

Last year, McKay promised to keep on funding similar protests.

“I stand with those taking action to defend the climate, to wake up the world’s sleeping governments to the terrifying scale of the catastrophe we are now living through.”

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