Celebrities in the film industry who openly express their conservative political views and support of President Donald Trump face consequences such as losing their jobs, according to Daphne Barak, a filmmaker, author, journalist, and celebrity interviewer.
Barak has interviewed many Hollywood conservatives including Kristy Swanson, Kid Rock, and Kevin Sorbo for her new film “Trump vs. Hollywood.”
It was not easy to secure interviews for the film, Barak told The Epoch Times in a recent interview for “Crossroads.”
One very famous Oscar-winner asked Barak not to make him come and talk about his political beliefs, Barak said.
“It was really, really difficult to get them to talk,” she said.
Actor Kevin Sorbo, who Barak interviewed for the film, said that because of his support for Trump his agency dropped him “like a hot potato” and he was told that nobody would give him a job.
However, Barak said that it’s difficult to prove that Trump supporters in the film industry find it hard to get jobs because of their political views. Many filmmakers say that it is not true and explain that they judge people by talent, she added.
But mega-producer Avi Lerner told her that it was common knowledge in Hollywood and that most of the industry is liberal, but he himself had never judged people by their political opinions.
Barak called this practice “blacklisting,” and said that it reminds her of the McCarthy era.
She believes that freedom of speech became the first constitutional amendment for a reason.
“So if people cannot express their political opinion or social opinions, because they’re scared not to be employed, what are we talking about?” Barak said.
However, there are Trump supporters in the film industry who are not affected by such practices, Barak said, providing the example of Jon Voight, a legendary actor and Oscar-winner, who is playing a KGB agent in a new biopic of Ronald Reagan.
“And some of them like Scott Baio and Kristy Swanson who are part of our film and basically found more roles in faith movies or right-wing movies,” Barak said. Actor Isaiah Washington has been creating his own films, Barak added.
“They are very creative people, very talented. But isn’t it a shame that they don’t have enough chance to be part of the mainstream Hollywood?” Barak said.
The idea to create the documentary was born in December 2016 when her friends were preparing to participate in Trump’s inauguration, Barak said. Some of them received threats that their performances would be boycotted because of their participation, Barak explained.
“Every election is usually 50-50 so every election a bit less 50 percent of the people feel that we elected the wrong guy, right? I mean, they voted for somebody else. But the hatred and the violence, the emotions were never there. It was always ideological, it was logical, not emotional. And this is very dangerous.”
“We have to become back one America. We can agree to disagree. We can, you know, we can vote for different people, believe in different agendas but we are so fortunate to be American, to be part of the biggest democracy in the world,” Barak said.
“I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and interview the biggest dictators. There are countries [where] people are in jail just because they didn’t vote for the right guy or they didn’t say the right thing. We are so fortunate. Let’s embrace it,” Barak concluded.
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