'Paralyzed': Here's how Trump is so effective against a 'weakened' Hollywood

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U.S. President Donald Trump stands next to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev (not pictured) at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 8, 2025. REUTERS Jessica Koscielniak

Journalist Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the film “The Apprentice,” tells the New York Times that the Hollywood entertainment industry may be too weak to battle an autocrat willing to use the levers of government against it.

“Hollywood is no longer protected by its glamour and profit margins,” said Sherman. “It’s still reeling from the collapse of traditional business models — box office, cable fees, advertising — and the aftereffects of pandemic shutdowns and writer and actor strikes. Entertainment companies, up against tech behemoths with endless resources and an algorithmic sensibility, are desperate to consolidate. They have shed tens of thousands of jobs under pressure to make money-losing streaming businesses profitable. And that’s before A.I. makes these upheavals seem quaint. In this weakened state, the entertainment industry simply can’t afford to fight.”

These are no longer the days of powerful organizations with imperious public relations departments, said Sherman, who watched his well-reviewed “The Apprentice” project fall off the radar after Trump campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, called it “malicious defamation” and Trump threatened to sue the producers and any company that released it.

“Going into the festival, my producers had lined up screenings with every major studio and streamer. There was tremendous interest from buyers. When Mr. Trump’s campaign attacked the film, the radio went silent,” said Sherman. “Every major Hollywood studio and streamer passed.”

Eventually, independent distributor Briarcliff Entertainment bought the film, which went on to receive two Oscar nominations. But Sherman said Trump’s pressure campaigns are delivering their intended effect.

“Hollywood is paralyzed creatively. In meetings, studio executives say they don’t want projects that are political or could be perceived as anti-Trump. They seem genuinely afraid of an audience that they no longer understand and that may not share their progressive values,” said Sherman. “… The decision by Disney, ABC’s owner, to pull the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air ‘indefinitely’ for comments he made after Charlie Kirk’s assassination feels like a dark turn.”

Before Kimmel, Sherman said CBS’s owner, Paramount, settled Trump’s “bogus lawsuit” against “60 Minutes” and canceled Stephen Colbert. And Trump is now demanding NBC drop late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.

Will Hollywood draw a line? Sherman is skeptical.

“One talent manager texted me that Mr. Kimmel’s ouster could be when Hollywood is finally galvanized to push back,” recalled Sherman, “The manager then cited Hollywood’s “truth to power” fils, like “All the President’s Men,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and “Spotlight.”

But those films were released during a time of healthy box office sales in a culture that hadn’t gone fully berserk with social media, Sherman warned.

“Today’s Hollywood faces a bleaker reality,” he said. “We all do.”

Read the New York Times report at this link.

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