When the Trump Administration put the legal status of millions in limbo by announcing plans to rescind DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — the tech industry quickly objected.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it a “sad day for our country.” Apple boss Tim Cook tweeted support for the company’s 250 Dreamers — a name often used for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. Microsoft’s president told NPR that authorities would have to “go through us” to deport Dreamers. Uber published a blog post defending DREAMers written by its chief technology officer, Vietnamese refugee Thuan Pham.
But aside from Disney, most Hollywood studios have remained conspicuously quiet.
TheWrap reached out to all six major studios to see if they had a comment on the DACA decision or any information about the number of employees potentially affected. Representatives from Warner Bros. and Universal declined to comment, while Sony, Fox and Paramount did not respond to requests for comment.
Only Disney joined celebrities like Ava DuVernay, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Josh Gad who have offered their support for Dreamers.
“The Dreamers impacted by this cruel and misguided decision make significant contributions to our economy and our country, and I urge Congress to take immediate bipartisan action to pass legislation that will protect these innocent people,” Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in the statement.
Whether studios weighed in or not, the DACA backlash hit them, at least indirectly: Uncertainty around the decision, coupled with anxiety about North Korea, contributed to stocks plunging on Tuesday. Fox and Viacom, Paramount’s parent company, were down more than 3 percent.
One public relations executive who works with several large corporations told TheWrap that DACA has dominated discussions today, especially among California-based businesses, as he’s worked with clients to draft DACA reaction statements.
But Tuesday’s announcement has been expected since news reports about it last week. What’s taking the entertainment industry so long?
Ross Gerber, the president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, said the difference in corporate culture between hierarchical Hollywood and a much more “team-oriented” Silicon Valley is a major reason tech leaders got their messages out so fast.
“They are very exploitive in Hollywood of their workers,” Gerber told TheWrap. “Hard to see them making statements.”
The public relations executive said that entertainment companies he’s spoken with are unanimously opposed to the DACA decision, but cautious about how to say so. He said that most companies that have spoken out likely prepared their comments ahead of time.
“Almost all my clients are talking about it and whether or not to say anything or not,” he said. “Most statements were prepared last week.”
Studios may also be afraid to go out on a political limb at a time when the theatrical business is struggling with the worst summer in years. Hollywood’s soft power has been a formidable force in promoting American values, but on Tuesday its silence was noticeable.
Here's Everyone Who Dumped Trump This Week (Photos)
In the wake of Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally, "Unite the Right," in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend, several business leaders, council members and media personalities severed ties with the president. Quite a lot actually.
Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Plank and Krzanich both followed Frazier's lead in quitting the council, citing Trump's Charlottesville response. Trump tweeted condemnation of Frazier, who is black, but for some reason said nothing about these two.
WikiCommons
Alliance for American Manufacturing president Scott Paul Early Tuesday morning, Paul became the fourth CEO to quit the manufacturing jobs group, and yes, he cited Trump's response to Charlottesville as the reason.
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Trump Makes It Worse Tuesday afternoon, Trump shocked the country with an off-the-rails press conference at Trump Tower in which he appeared to defend and sympathize with the racist mob in Charlottesville. Trump insisted there was blame, as well as "many fine people" on both sides of the conflict in which nazi-sympathizer murdered one person and injured 19 more with his car.
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AFL-CIO Bails Out Soon after Trump's rant, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations president Richard Trumka resigned from the manufacturing council.
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Advisory Councils Disband On Wednesday, members of Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum agreed to disband after Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville. Soon after, the president announced via Twitter that he was ending his executive councils.
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"I Voted For Trump, And I Sorely Regret It" That's the title of a New York Times op-ed written by Julius Krein, the founder and editor of pro-Trump website American Affairs. It went viral, though mainly because people were mocking it.
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Trump Loses a Murdoch James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox and more importantly son of media magnate and conservative icon Rupert Murdoch, dissed Trump in a widely circulated email to employees. He also said he and his wife will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League over POTUS' response to Charlottesville.
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The Arts and Humanities Council Disses Trump, then Disbands The Arts and Humanities Comittee resigned Friday morning en masse with a letter written so that the first letters of every paragraph spelled “RESIST.” The members include Kal Penn, Paula Boggs, Chuck Close, Richard Cohen, Fred Goldring and more.
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Bannon Ousted White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was reportedly fired Friday morning, though he insists he resigned July 27—giving two weeks’ notice—but his leaving was put off because of the events in Charlottesville. He will return to Breitbart news to go to “war” for Trump.
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Still More Resignations Politico reported Friday afternoon that a "wave of resignations" hit the Commerce Dept.'s "digital economy" board. More than half the members of the 15-member board resigned.
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A Billionaire BFF Bails on Trump Billionaire investor Carl Icahn stepped down Friday afternoon as unofficial special advisor to Trump, though he doesn't pile on. “I sincerely regret that because of your extremely busy schedule, as well as my own, I have not had the opportunity to spend nearly as much time as I’d hoped on regulatory issues,” he said in a letter to Trump.
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From the manufacturing council to James Murdoch, Trump’s response to Charlottesville has severed ties
In the wake of Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally, "Unite the Right," in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend, several business leaders, council members and media personalities severed ties with the president. Quite a lot actually.