Townhall...
Where Are You, Norman
Lear?
By Ben Shapiro
6/8/2011
This week has been a shocking one for Hollywood. Shortly after
releasing my syndicated column last week, I handed The Hollywood
Reporter a bevy of tapes showing tremendous liberal bias in the
entertainment industry -- and a tape of one top Hollywood creator, Vin
Di Bona (“America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “MacGyver”), celebrating
anti-conservative discrimination in Hollywood. Matt Drudge linked the
piece, sending my book, “Primetime Propaganda,” to the top of the
Amazon.com best-seller charts.
I began receiving emails from underground conservatives in Hollywood
thanking me for revealing what everyone in town knows but few could
confirm: that liberal Hollywood kills careers of those with whom it
disagrees. I even got a few calls from liberals congratulating me on my
attempts to open up the industry to different political viewpoints.
But traditional Hollywood remained silent. They were unruffled by the
revelation that many in their industry hire and fire out of ideological
bigotry. They didn’t even see it as controversial.
Then Lionel Chetwynd stepped up.
For those who don’t know Lionel, a multiple Emmy-award nominee for his
television writing and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “The
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.” Lionel is also a member of an elite
honor society called the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors.
The Caucus was co-created by television icon Norman Lear in 1977 in
order to promote “creative freedom” and “quality and diversity of all
television.”
Unfortunately, Di Bona is a high-ranking member of the Caucus.
Disgusted by Di Bona’s admissions, Lionel quit the Caucus. He was soon
joined by mega-producer Norman Powell. “I knew most of my fellow
members looked upon [conservative] political positions ... as
distasteful,” Chetwynd wrote in his resignation letter. “What I know
understand is the disgust was not for their views, but for their very
person. Such people, Mr. Shapiro’s sources make clear, must be
silenced, and it is therefore proper to make them suffer
discrimination.”
The fallout was immediate and intense. The New York Times covered it.
So did The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
But was Hollywood upset? Of course not.
Secure in their nests of bigotry, mainstream Hollywood ignored the
scandal, refusing to acknowledge the admissions of discrimination.
Marta Kauffman of “Friends” -- a woman who admitted to me that she
stacked her writers room with a “bunch of liberals” -- stated that the
whole hubbub about discrimination was “silly.” Worse, the Caucus
refused to pass an anti-discrimination resolution, explaining that they
are a “non-political” organization and therefore could not stand
against discrimination.
It is time for Hollywood’s free speech advocates to be counted. Where
is Norman Lear, the founder of the Caucus and the liberal First
Amendment organization People for the American Way? On Tuesday
afternoon, I left him a message; I hope to hear back. So far, nobody on
the left has spoken out clearly against such discrimination or in favor
of an end to it. The same industry that fought blacklisting of
communists tooth and nail seems content to allow blacklisting of
traditional conservatives in Hollywood.
We will not stand for it. Americans want our culture back -- and we
want it shaped by people from all sides of the political aisle.
Discrimination in employment based on political orientation is a deep
injustice, and a deeper act of hypocrisy on the part of Hollywood. The
actions of Lionel Chetwynd are only the beginning. Beginning this week,
the crusade for a free and open Hollywood starts in earnest. It will
not end until Hollywood becomes a First Amendment town once again.
Read it at Townhall
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