Hollywood Conservatives on the Down-Low in Age of Trump

David Ng of The Los Angeles Times spotlighted how “the political closet is now a necessity for many” Hollywood conservatives in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump.

Ng led his Saturday feature with the testimony of Schindler’s List producer Gerald Molen, who underlined that the “acrimony” towards Republicans in the entertainment industry is “front and center.”

The journalist underlined that “since the presidential election, some conservatives feel that their political beliefs are more of a career liability than ever — even for those traditional Republicans disenchanted by President Trump.” He cited the recent experience of writer Andrew Klavan, who disclosed that producers “called my agent asking, ‘Why would you represent this guy?’ Anything that lowers your odds is going to hurt.”

Ng later zeroed in on how, just like in the broader ideological movement, “Hollywood conservatives are…a divided group when it comes to Trump, whose brash style and controversial policies on trade and immigration have alienated many Republicans.”

‘There are very conservative people in FOA [Friends of Abe, an organization of entertainment industry conservatives] who are troubled by his rhetoric,’ said executive director Jeremy Boreing, a filmmaker and self-described Trump skeptic. ‘There are others who are very gung-ho and supportive of him. There are people who are cautiously optimistic and others who are just cautious’

Boreing also asserted that “Hollywood was a more pleasant place for conservatives during Obama’s tenure because Hollywood was in a good mood.”

Molen, Klavan, and Boering aren’t the first Hollywood conservatives to go on the record about the hostile climate in the entertainment industry after Election Day. Shortly before Inauguration Day, Ben Stein accused liberals of “trying to shut down free debate in Hollywood.”

The Times writer later quoted from a “prominent TV and movie actor who requested his name not be used for fear of professional repercussions,” who denounced the “McCarthyism coming from the left” in Hollywood. The same unidentified actor claimed that “political shouting matches have erupted on the set of one of his shows and that a conservative producer he works with has been shunned by colleagues.”

The same actor doubled-down on his attack on the Hollywood left: “If you are even lukewarm to Republicans, you are excommunicated from the church of tolerance.”

[image via screengrab]