Hollywood Moguls Shut Off Obama’s Donation Spigot Over Admin’s Piracy Bill Stance
by HollywoodlandAll of President Barack Obama’s desperate outreach to Hollywood may end up going for naught.
Obama, who in recent days has sent out a wish list of celebrity surrogates he hopes will push his re-election campaign and assigned a special envoy to curry favor with Tinsel Town, now finds himself cut off from some of the fattest wallets in the industry.
Deadline Hollywood is reporting that some major movie moguls are refusing to cut the Obama campaign any more gaudy checks due to the administration’s refusal to back the MPAA’s online piracy legislation.
The blowup came after President Obama on Saturday dashed moguls’ hopes that he would remain on the sidelines in the dispute over the U.S. House Of Representatives’ Stop Online Piracy Act and the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act. In a posting on the White House web site, three of the Obama administration’s top officials for Internet and intellectual property matters said that they share many of the concerns that the Internet community has about the Hollywood-supported bills.
The trio said that they “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and Special Assistant to the President Howard Schmidt tried to soften the blow to Hollywood by acknowledging that that online piracy is “a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response.” They added that they plan to host an online event “to get more input” on the matter….
But Hollywood moguls … took this as a declaration of war. “We just feel very let down by the administration and Obama for not supporting us,” one chief explained to me. “At least let him remain neutral and not go against it until we can get the legislation right. But Obama went against it. I’m personally not going to support him anymore and not give a dime anymore,” one movie mogul who’s also a well-known Obama supporter told me this week….
Several moguls have informed Obama’s newly anointed Hollywood re-election liason to the entertainment community Nicole Avant and her husband who is helping her, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, that they are pulling out of major fundraisers planned over the next few days and won’t participate in any more headed by Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (whom they see as in the pocket of the Internet giants like Google).
It will be interesting to see which side actors take in the furious debate. Celebrities have been singing Obama’s praises, more or less, even despite the economy’s sluggish pace and depressing job statistics. Will said stars still rally ’round their president if they sense Obama doesn’t have their back on the piracy matter and, indirectly, their personal fortunes?
Read the full Deadline Hollywood story for more details.
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72 Comments
Could it be that I am actually in agreement with Obama?
A few days ago I am in agreement with Howard Stern…
Time to get an alignment check, it seems…
well, the nascent Police State needs this legislation.
Cass Sunstein is especially anxious on this. But the useful idiots in Hollywood see a dichotomy? They no like?
Strange world- then again, maybe not so strange after all…
Commies like B. Hussein O. Jr. do not believe in private property. They aim to control the government that controls all the property.
I had to laugh when I saw that photo of Obama. Who's wallet is he holding? Is it the taxpayers? The sh* t eating grin tells me it's possible
perhaps the energy sector needs to do this too, so bozo will reverse his position on the pipeline.
And I with Bill Maher over urinegate about the Marines. Are they(some of the left) coming around? Nah, just politically expedient for today, I suspect.
Grandstanding. When push comes to shove, they'll support him. Where else are they going to go?
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
La La Land Dupes stop the cameras for 10 seconds and get wise. Your Hero bites the hand that feeds him. You don't believe me ask Rev. Wright and look how he used his Grandmother. Snap out of it and put the script down. Time to grow up and deal with reality…aaand Action.
He finally got the guy who wasn't paying his "fair share" – he gave him back the picture of his family though
Given how unpopular the legislation is turning out to be with the voters, he doesn't have a whole lot of choice does he? He'd be cutting his own throat to come out in support of it. And it's not like the Hollywood 1%ers are going to suddenly start donating to the GOP instead.
In other words the Hollywood elite are throwing a tantrum because they aren't getting their way– shocking.
A teachable moment that the republicans are no more interested in individual freedom than the democrats. In any case, who does hollywood think they are kidding. What are they gonna do, support romney? After a symbolic delay, the liberal money will flow again.
not yet. Wait until he beats Mittens and THEN watch tehe $#!+ hit the fan.
Just triangulating. Absent a populist backlash, he would not care either way–folks are just making him choose between money and votes for a change.
To the Bank Annie cause when push does come to shove . That's all that matters.
"Stop Online Piracy Act" – as usual, Congress attaches a name to a bill that begs the question "how could you be against that?", but (again as usual) even the most cursory look at the bill reveals yet another barely-veiled attempt by the federal government to take a chainsaw to what remains of our liberty. As for Hollywood's reaction: though it does not surprise me in the least, I have to ask why it is that the very group of people who so eagerly climbed aboard the OWS bandwagon in solidarity with the "common man" – who insist that there must be equal outcome for all; who think socialism is the only true way – can become so indignant when the "common man" downloads free movies and music rather than pay for it. After all, it's just another form of that wonderful socialist concept of wealth distribution.
Obama was also against the NDAA’s discretionary detention provision, which of course he signed anyway…
Even the libs can take the guy
Please help remove this guy ASAP
I love it when leftists fight.
Wealth distribution: not with my money is the mentality. Is the Hollywood mantra. Excellent commentary.
Otraitor is a Marxist Muslim Racist scum. That is all that we need to know. I mean what does this POS have to do to show people what he is? My God have the people of this country become this stupid? Or are the Marxist press just covering up how much the majority hates this man.
My modem died the other day and it took me 36 hours to replace and talking to others, my reaction to being cut-off from the internet was typical.
Having said that, if any, any politician starts to build a framework that will limit or cut-off internet access for law abiding people, that politician's goose is cooked and his career will be finished right quick.
Every elected official in America is wise to take notice of the fact that one doesn't screw with the free speech of Americans.
Funny how Obama was all for this stuff until he realized it would make him unpopular. He'll think of a way to do it with execute orders soon, I'm sure.
Guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored.
Funny, I haven't seen any of these movie companies going out of business.
As with the smoke bombing by occutard last nite, all his chickens are coming home to roost. About time.
Don't you just love irony?
For decades Hollywood has been leading the charge of lowering society's standards and expectations of behavior. Those lower standards have given rise to a huge number of Americans who think they are entitled to free everything, including entertainment – the very entertainment Hollywood produces!
Hollywood, you have been hoisted on your own petard. How does it feel?
I'm pro "piracy" for myself and would definitely boycott any company backing this.
But it's free advertising for them anyway. Justin Bieber Youtube clicks on free music lead to him being able to schill perfume to 12 year old girls.
I'm pretty sure no 12 year old NEEDS perfume so that's created a new market.
If they were real business people instead of propagandists they'd figure out how to navigate without stooping to try to purchase, own and push around a president to monitor and control the public.
Some here have already touched on hypocrisy of Corporate Hollywood's desire for SOPA while tripping all over themselves to be in solidarity with OWS. THEY in Hollywood are entitled to the fruits of THEIR labors …even to the extent of Congress passing overreaching legislation to protect it … but bankers aren't (forgive all loans) home builders and sellers aren't (free housing) doctors aren't (free medical care) teachers aren't (free education).
Obama's 'disagreement' with SOPA/PIPA is very…loose. It is obvious he is doing it because it is an election year. I believe if this were Jan of 2011, he'd be all in to it. Call me cynical, I suppose. Of course even a broke clock is right twice a day, eh?
A series creator who's show is shown for free is complaining about piracy on twitter right now. He is upset because he googled his show and found a pirate site with a Blockbuster ad attached. As much as I can sympathize, I am unsure that piracy eats away at the bottom line as much as these people like to say. I wonder if that is what the big wigs are telling these show creators? I bet they are getting 300 percent profit on things instead of 400 percent XD. He is asking what do we do? Well there are laws against piracy right now – enforce the laws. With SOPA/PIPA in place there will still be piracy. It's a case of punishing the innocent while not harming the guilty. (HMMMMM…..)
What do you all think? How should the government handle piracy?
SUPER WEDGIE!
Brilliant. Leftists are oh so happy to have wealth distribution, just not theirs. The government shutting down the Internet has no connection to stopping piracy and will certainly not stop China's violation of copyright laws.
Couldn't agree more. If anything they might not give Zed the amount of money he wants, but they'll give him something along with their votes.
There's no way IMHO, that they're NOT voting for him.
Me too, but it won't last. They'll be kissing and making up long before November rolls around.
Our government won't let our Navy take care of piracy on the high seas. Now they want to go after it on the Internet?
Oh, please. In the end every last one of these 'moguls' will line right back up at the Obama table. They will continue to give money, they will continue their support, and they will, in the end, vote for him and every other far-left candidate on the ballot.
Obama losing his Hollywood sugar-daddies? That's the best thing that has happened regarding over SOPA and PIPA. I am in favor of anti-piracy enforcement and the protection of intellectual properties, but I don't trust this administration to enforce it impartially and fairly.
But they might stay home on election day, which is just as good. Or withhold the much needed lucre which is also good. They don't need to vote against him to hurt him.
Good luck. The list of companies backing SOPA/PIPA is vast and far reaching.
I mean, a boycott will do more than changing your Facebook avatar, but trying to boycott every company supporting this disastrous legislation is a very tall order.
What's wrong elitists????? The muslim prez getting to you too?
Yes, I agree, he's like the second coming of Pol Pot. (sarc).
Dummy.
I guess Hollywood knows to keep a watch on their wallet.
WHy stop supporting him? He's taken away more freedoms and bypassed the law more than all administrations in US hx combined. You knew he was a tyrant and voted for him anyway. if he gives you back your online gay porn, you'll keep paying him?
Exactly. They'll all fall in lockstep and bend over backwards to get Chairman O re-elected, no matter what.
It's all about money – especially with the sanctimonious rich liberals who swear it's not.
The government IS handling piracy and has been since DMCA was enacted. It's that series creator who is at fault for not complaining and having it taken down.
Not to worry, Biden is in SF, CA looking for $ in all the right places. Obama threw H'wood under the bus and is letting the Silcon Valley Uberrich ride in the bus!
Richman reported he was ushered out of the fundraiser after Biden started taking a few questions from the audience of about 110 campaign contributors. “The event raised somewhere between $275,000 and $1.1 million,” according to his report.
The event was one of several stops Biden and his wife made in the Bay Area today.
Biden plans to meet this evening with local tech leaders, including the heads of Apple, Google, Yahoo, Netflix and Zynga, but those meetings are not open to the media, the White House said
Meant to use quotes after …ride in the bus! Sorry.
"Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, that they are pulling out of major fundraisers planned over the next few days and won’t participate in any more headed by Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (whom they see as in the pocket of the Internet giants like Google)."
I wonder when this was stated since they just had dinner last night with Joe Biden in Palo Alto. Along with the heads of Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, E.A, etc.
I agree with this, which is one reason I oppose the SOPA/PIPA act. The series creator was going on about how budgets will be slashed if we don't do something, and show quality will go down. I thought "You know – a show depends on it's writing. A well written and well acted show could have cardboard boxes for props and still be good." I'm of the opinion that a budget can be to big. Look at Hollywood – many of their big budgeted movies stink.
Of course I'm also of the opinion that the entertainment industry needs to move out of Hollywood and beyond the reach of the studio system as it now stands.
this clearly cannot be right. we all know that hollywood leftists do not care at all about money, they care only about saving the world and freeing tibet and all that. the idea that they would abandon "the light bringer" over something so base as profits is absurd. what do you think they are, capitalists?
Something about all this doesn't smell right…… I have to admit that, I think for the 1st time ever, I actually agree w/ the man about a decision. But he & Hollywood are too lovey-dovey to break up over something like this … it just feels like there's a lot of back room gaming going on behind the curtain w/ this one.
I dont believe Weinstein has cut Obama off—He stopped short of giving Obama a blowjob when he appeared on O'Reilly last month?
I agree with others here that Hollyweird is still in the Toddler's pocket. They're just having a tantrum right now because they're not getting the support they thought they had already paid for.
Dear RF,
Baloney! Most people support SOPA
just as they support laws against
Shoplifting.
People understand theft is theft.
Sincerely,
John Lepant Brighton CO
Dear PTB,
Individual freedom doesn't include theft.
Sincerely,
John Lepant Brighton CO
Dear mike
SOPA doesn't affect law-abiding
people, only thieves.
Sincerely,
John Lepant Brighton CO
Gentle Readers,
Pres. Obama has published 2 books, both autobiographies.
Can you find any ' free copies ' offered anywhere on
the internet? Of course not! Legions of lawyers
diligently protect Pres. Obama's created content.
It's easy for Pres. Obama to have ' concerns '
about SOPA, while his content is being protected.
Trouble is that small indie content producers
don't have a legion of lawyers, big publishing
houses and an entire Justice Dept. to protect
their created works.
That's what SOPA is about.
Sincerely,
John Lepant Brighton CO
Dear John,
A straw man doesn't constitute an argument.
Dear PT,
The theft is real, not a straw man.
- John
VOTE FOR MARK REED and throw out Burman and Sherman. Mark Reed is the ONLY TRUE CONSERVATIVE in this race.
Talking out of the other side of his mouth. SOPA is on and the average internet user is about to get run over in the backlash. Whomever you are, save yourself and makes friends with a techie. You'll be seeing him or her more often than you do yourself in the mirror.
You're very right. I haven't been much of a "pirate" so far, so I guess the answer is to step that up in rebellion.
Most Hollywood crap doesn't appeal to me right now anyway though, which is the actual reason their business is in the toilet.
Hollywood urinates on the only part of the public that would be more likely to pay for product.
People understand theft is theft but they also understand that SOPA is overly broad in it's execution.
Remember when during the early Tea Party protests a CNN reporter lost it while interviewing a Tea Partier and started screaming at him about how grateful he should be for all the government does for him? Then some other Tea Partiers' posted the video on YouTube so CNN used a copyright infringement claim to have it taken down and then the Tea Partiers released footage of their own confrontation with the reporter where they took her to task for her biased reporting, a confrontation that CNN neither filmed nor broadcast, and CNN tried to use a copyright infringement claim to get that one taken down too? Well SOPA would have made it easier for them to block/censor the second video even though they had no legitimate claim against it.
BRAVO ConnyUSMC. I have to second what you said!!
as usual, Congress attaches a name to a bill that begs the question "how could you be against that?", but (again as usual) even the most cursory look at the bill reveals yet another barely-veiled attempt by the federal government to take a chainsaw to what remains of our liberty.
This is standing operating procedure to attach a name OPPOSITE to what it really is. What they are trying to do is confuse, evade and manipulate and double speak who THEY feel are the STUPID AMERICAN PEOPLE. HOW DARE THEY!
This tactic is finally getting recognized for what it is. A sham and a shame on Congress. CALL IT WHAT IT IS! AND get these creeps who seek to pull the wool over the eyes , rug under our feet of the voters who put them in office… OUT OF OFFICE.
Dear RF,
No, SOPA protects the 2nd video which is the
created content of the Tea Party member who
made it.
As to YouTube, please remember that YouTube
is a wholly owned subsidiary of GOOGLE and
that site is extensively monetized. If you upload
content you created voluntarily, that is fine, but
to upload other peoples created content without
their permission is theft.
GOOGLE opposes SOPA as they earn millions
from content theft on YouTube, GOOGLE BOOKS
by providing internet services, including
SEO, to content thieves.
Like 'em or not, CNN has ownership of their content.
If you are a Conservative, a Libertarian or a member
of the TEA Party, you should support protections for
private property, even if it belongs to CNN.
Protecting the rights of people we don't agree with
is part of the price of freedom.
Should the creator of the 2nd video choose to
monetize the content, the money should flow
to that content creator, not a thief.
Sincerely,
John Lepant
These Hollywood weasels will still vote for him. They are that dumb.
Not really ->
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/megaupload-t...
Dear mike,
Thank you for the link. Good article,
but it inadvertently makes the case for SOPA.
Have you read SOPA?
#1 MegaUpload was monetizing
the theft, and they were aware of it, making them
participants in the crime. The locker analogy
used in the article doesn't apply if the locker
owners knowingly profit from the crime.
#2: SOPA would establish Process. That
would have protected the LEGITIMATE
content on Mega.
SOPA would protect the honest people.
Please, do read the bill. Then post
comments about things in it you don't
like. ( Me too – there are things in it
I don't like either. )
This is like having laws against auto theft
or shoplifting. There are already
laws against theft.
However, having laws specific to autos
and shoplifting establishes Process which
aids law enforcement while protecting
honest people. That's why we have them.
Sincerely,
John
If Obama becomes President for another four years, this country will lose MORE jobs and we will ALL become poor. The best way to save money….. don't pay for entertainment… NO movies, NO music, NO plays, NO eating out, etc.! In the end the entertainment business loses! Smart move to support him!
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