Even Murphy Brown has Trump fatigue. In last week’s episode, she threw down her remote and said, “I’m not watching anymore!” Ironic, of course, since millions of viewers stopped, or didn’t start, watching the new edition of CBS’ “Murphy Brown.” Conservatives figured, correctly, that she’d be trashing their leader weekly, and it seems liberals would rather watch Rachel Maddow.
Creative folks are learning they need to tread carefully doing anything dealing with politics these days, even if only tangentially winking at the chaos in the current White House. Despite possible resonance with the Stormy Daniels brouhaha, “The Front Runner,” a movie about the sex scandal that brought down Sen. Gary Hart, was a quick bust at the box office. Despite constant Nixon-Trump comparisons, Charles Ferguson’s documentary “Watergate” made little noise. “The Parisian Woman,” a Broadway show from the man who gave us Netflix’s “House of Cards,” made several poorly veiled references to the Trump administration. It was a dud.
Still, some persist. Among the films selected by Sundance for its festival next month is “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” The title of the documentary is a quote from the current president. Trump idolized the man profiled in the film, which Sundance describes as revealing “how a deeply troubled monster manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.” But will potential audiences want to pay for it, let alone distributors pick it up?
“It’s risky, especially since the real unfolding drama on cable is more compelling,” says Jonathan Alter, political reporter and co-director of an upcoming HBO documentary called “Breslin and Hamill.” That network suggested (“smartly,” Alter says) that although New York legendary journalists, Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, covered Donald Trump as a businessman, any specific mention of his presidency would be unnecessarily explicit.
As The New Yorker’s humorist Andy Borowitz points out, it’s easier for journalists and even stand-ups to respond to daily events as opposed to creators of long-form entertainment. “Though every now and then,” Borowitz says, “there has been a joyous accident like ‘Wag the Dog,’ where something mirrors contemporary events with eerie perfection.”
Now, all multiplex eyes are on Adam McKay’s “Vice,” which follows the long and winding road of Dick Cheney. In the freewheeling style of writer-director’s “The Big Short,” the $60 million film features Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Steve Carell. The performers are popular with both boomers and millennials, but will the former be reluctant to relive unpleasant times, and the latter interested in a man who largely called the shots behind a president seen as intellectually limited?
Cheney, in fact, also features in another upcoming Sundance selection called “The Report,” starring Annette Bening as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The film deals with her investigation of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program during the second Bush administration. (Still awake?)
Eyes will also be on a Broadway show coming in the Spring called “Hillary and Clinton.” John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf may be stellar as the former first couple, but will they be enough to overcome not only Trump, but Clinton, fatigue?
Also Broadway-bound is “Dave,” a musical based on the 1993 film about an “imposter” in the White House. Producer Allison Thomas, who oversaw a successful trial run in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, said she’s aware of the potential challenges in presenting politically themed material. “We do not want to do the ‘SNL’ version,” she says. “The movie was written about Reagan, filmed during Bush, released under Clinton. The lines that got the most laughter and applause in Washington were all from the movie.”
Bryan Cranston is single-handedly turning the theatrical version of “Network” — based on the 1976 film — into Broadway’s toughest ticket to get. But the truth is, while the original film now seems remarkably prescient (TV show begets a man who taps into public anger), the play has lost much of its satirical bite and plays more like a preachy parable about the dangers of television.
Dangerous or not, it is television that has arguably been best able to navigate merging the Trump era with political history. A&E’s recent documentary “The Clinton Affair” was well received, largely because we all wanted to hear Monica Lewinsky’s side of the story. The Kiefer Sutherland series “Designated Survivor” has been picked up by Netflix, and its upcoming Season 3 will deal with that TV president’s election campaign, fake news and all. What those shows, wisely, do not do is pretend there is a buffoon currently occupying the White House.
Perhaps the safest way to dramatically show what is — or is not — happening in today’s White House is through unfiltered written history. In Doris Kearns Goodwin’s latest book, “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” she speaks about the empathy of past presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, who once blamed “a very large part of the rancor of political and social strife” on the fact that different subsets of the population “are so cut off from each other that neither appreciates the others’ passions, prejudices and point of view.”
Not a word about you-know-who, but we get it.
12 Music Stars Who Slammed Trump for Using Their Songs at Campaign Rallies (Photos)
Axl Rose
After Guns N' Roses frontman learned that "Sweet Child O' Mine" was being played at the president's rallies, Rose fired off a series of tweets accusing Trump of using licensing loopholes to ignore his request to stop playing the band's music. "Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent," Rose tweeted on Nov. 4, 2018.
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Pharrell
On Oct. 27, 2018, the day after the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that left 11 dead, Trump played Pharrell's 2013 summer hit "Happy" at a rally in Indiana, according to reports. Pharell's attorney Howard King sent a cease and desist to Trump with a statement regarding the usage. "There was nothing 'happy' about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose," the letter read.
Corina Marie
Neil Young
If you go way back to when Trump first announced he would be running for president at the Trump Tower in 2015, you may remember that Neil Young took issue with Trump's use of "Rockin' in the Free World." "Donald Trump was not authorized to use 'Rockin' in the Free World’ in his presidential candidacy announcement," a spokesperson for the musician's Lookout Management said in a statement in 2015. Young recently reiterated his feelings on his official Facebook page: "Legally, he has the right to, however it goes against my wishes."
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Prince's estate
According to Rolling Stone, Prince's estate had to issue a statement after various Trump rallies played "Purple Rain." "The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or The White House to use Prince's songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately," Prince's half-brother Omarr Baker wrote on Twitter Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018.
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Adele
Trump didn't stop at the rock genre when choosing his campaign playlists. After it got around that his rallies included songs like "Rolling in the Deep" and "Skyfall," a spokesperson for singer Adele made clear she wanted no part of it. "Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning," her spokesman told The Guardian at the time.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones have tried to stop Trump from playing the band's music on several occasions, including after Trump accepted the bid to be the Republican Party's nominee in 2016 to the tune of "Start Me Up." "The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately," a Stones spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
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R.E.M.
At a Trump rally in Washington D.C. Sept. 2015, R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World" played while Trump walked up the podium. Word of the band's song playing at the rally prompted the band's official Facebook page to release a statement: "While we do not authorize or condone the use of our music at this political event, and do ask that these candidates cease and desist from doing so, let us remember that there are things of greater importance at stake here. The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture, and not allow grandstanding politicians to distract us from the pressing issues of the day and of the current Presidential campaign."
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Elton John
According to CNN, Elton John was among the major names the Trump administration reached out to to perform at his inauguration. John's team declined. But even before then, John's team publicly denounced any use of his songs for Trump's benefit. "Elton's music has not been requested for use in any official capacity by Donald Trump. Any use of his music should not be seen as an endorsement of Donald Trump by Elton," John's publicist said, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.
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Steven Tyler
In 2015, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler's reps sent a demand to Trump's team to stop playing "Dream On" at his rallies, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Unlike other similar demands, Trump publicly announced he would stop. "Even though I have the legal right to use Steven Tyler's song, he asked me not to," Trump tweeted. "Have better one to take its place!"
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Queen
The anthemic "We Are the Champions" played while Trump walked up to the stage during the Republican National Convention in July 2016. Queen member Brian May released a personal statement regarding the usage: "Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump's platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool. Our music embodies our own dreams and beliefs, but it is for all who care to listen and enjoy."
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The O'Jays
O'Jays lead vocalist Eddie Levert spoke out in 2016 about the use of "Love Train" during Trump's presidential rallies. "I wish him the best, but I don't think he's the man to run our country. So when he started using 'Love Train,' I called him up and told them, 'Listen, man, I don't believe in what you're doing. I'm not with you. I don't want you to use my voice. I'm not condoning what you're doing," Levert told Billboard.
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Rihanna
Over the weekend of Nov. 3, 2018, Washington Post bureau chief Philip Rucker tweeted that Rihanna's 2007 hit "Don't Stop the Music" was playing during one of Trump's Tennessee rallies. Rihanna herself responded to the tweet, saying: "Not for much longer... me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies, so thanks for the heads up philip!"
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From Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to pop star Rihanna
Axl Rose
After Guns N' Roses frontman learned that "Sweet Child O' Mine" was being played at the president's rallies, Rose fired off a series of tweets accusing Trump of using licensing loopholes to ignore his request to stop playing the band's music. "Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent," Rose tweeted on Nov. 4, 2018.