Hollywood Silent When China Dictates “Don’t Say Gay”
CLAY: I wanted to mention this, Buck, as we continue to deliver body blows on hypocrisy, which is a lot of what I think we do on a day-to-day basis. You can agree or disagree on principle, but hypocrisy is what really, I think, ultimately ends up moving people who are in the persuadable camp.
And you just heard from, by the way, Senator Ron Johnson talking about what a battle it’s going to be in the state of Wisconsin because there are relatively few persuadable voters. And I think that’s gonna be true in Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, all the big battleground statements in 2022 and 2024.
But we played the audio, Buck, of Amy Schumer and company, Wanda Sykes, I think Regina Hall, I believe was her name, the hosts of the Oscars. And, remember, Buck, they came out and said, “We’re going to ‘gay, gay, gay, gay,’ and if you live in Florida, deal with it,” and all the Hollywood celebrities laughed and they obviously were misattributing what the language in the parental rights bill in Florida actually says in the so-called “don’t say gay” bill.
But to point out how much of hypocrites they are, Buck, there’s a new Harry Potter movie came out. I’m probably gonna take my kids to go see it this weekend, the story of Dumbledore. Those of you out there — parents young enough to have read it yourself, parents, grandparents, whatever you may be — there are elements of Albus Dumbledore.
I don’t know why it was important, but J. K. Rowling said he’s gay, and so there are elements of him being gay somewhat in that movie. It’s PG-13. It’s for older kids, right? China is going to show that movie, Buck. They have struck all reference to gay out of that movie. Not one single Hollywood star has pointed out that China can literally say to Hollywood “don’t say gay.”
And every single Hollywood studio — this one is MGM in particular — immediately says, “Yes, sir! As you wish, sir!” gets on their hands and knees and bows to the Chinese dictators. But when they when they make up an allegation about Florida, they all flout — they all speak big, but they won’t say a word to China when they actually tell Hollywood “don’t say gay.” They just take it.
BUCK: And of course, there’s a huge opportunity here for them if they wanted to take it, right? If this were really about standing with the LGBTQ+ community… I think I got it right. If they wanted to take a real stand, they would say, “We could release this film or release this show in China with the following constraints. But we refuse,” Clay.
“We refuse because this is about human rights and human dignity and the equality and the goodness of our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. We’re not going to abandon them for the almighty dollar in China.” Oh, no! They actually are, though. See, that’s the thing: They actually will, is the point, because otherwise they’d have such a great opportunity here to make that big moment, that stance, and they could really do something.
