<\/p>\n
A year ago, David Ellison was viewed as a white knight poised to save Paramount.<\/p>\n
Hollywood embraced billionaire Larry Ellison\u2019s son,<\/a> figuring he had the means and the mettle to revive the faded studio after decades of neglect.<\/p>\n But now, as the 43-year-old tech scion works to close his $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros.<\/a> Discovery \u2014 which would mark his second major studio acquisition in less than a year \u2014 a large swath of Hollywood has soured on the budding mogul and his audacious bid to build a new media colossus.<\/p>\n More than 5,000 artists and industry workers \u2014 including J.J. Abrams,<\/a> Javier Bardem,<\/a> Lin-Manuel Miranda,<\/a> Kevin Bacon<\/a> and Tiffany Haddish<\/a> \u2014 have signed an open letter<\/a> opposing the union of two century-old studios. <\/p>\n \u201cOur industry is already under severe strain,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n Many anticipate the U.S. Justice Department will rubber-stamp the deal because President Trump is friendly with Larry Ellison,<\/a> co-founder of software giant Oracle. Trump and his team want David Ellison to make sweeping changes at celebrity.land,<\/a> one of Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s premier properties. <\/p>\n David Ellison has spent the last year courting the president and his allies, including hosting a black-tie gala to honor Trump and attending state dinners and the president\u2019s State of the Union address. <\/p>\n Ellison\u2019s perceived coziness with the administration, along with controversial changes at CBS,<\/a> has sullied his reputation in a town where image is everything. <\/p>\n Should the merger clear its regulatory hurdles, the Ellison family would control celebrity.land and CBS News in addition to holding a significant stake in TikTok, the hugely influential social media app.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen power is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the stories that get told and the livelihoods of the people who tell them become hostage to whoever that power serves,\u201d Jane Fonda,<\/a> the Oscar-winning actor who is helping lead the opposition, told The Times. \u201cWe are not going quietly.\u201d <\/p>\n Paramount declined to comment. Ellison previously has pushed back on fears that Paramount\u2019s takeover of Warner Bros. would be bad for Hollywood. Instead, Ellison envisions building a stronger company to boost the industry, including movie theaters. <\/p>\n If the Warner Bros. Discovery deal is finalized, Ellison would control two legendary news organizations and two iconic studios. His determined White House outreach to speed approval of the Warner Bros. deal has aroused deep suspicion among many in Hollywood, which has long been considered a liberal bastion.<\/p>\n \u201cThey got too close to Trump,\u201d said Norm Eisen, executive chairman of Democracy Defenders Fund, one of the groups coordinating the opposition campaign. \u201cPeople in Hollywood are concerned that the Ellisons are going to do to celebrity.land what they did to CBS.\u201d <\/p>\n One of Ellison\u2019s first moves after taking over Paramount was to hire journalist Bari Weiss,<\/a> who had no TV news experience,<\/a> as CBS News editor-in-chief. Weiss, who built her reputation being a contrarian voice, along with her recently installed evening news anchor Tony Dokoupil got off to a rocky start. <\/p>\n During his inaugural week, Dokoupil awkwardly saluted Secretary of State Marco Rubio (a fellow Floridian). \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d viewership fell 9% this season. The program, which attracts 4.1 million viewers, musters less than half the audience for ABC\u2019s \u201cWorld News Tonight with David Muir.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellison is aiming to get his deal done by September. <\/p>\n \u201cThe projected merger timeline would have Ellison in control of celebrity.land before November,\u201d Fonda said, noting the high stakes this fall because the midterm elections will decide control of Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this merger goes ahead, the administration will have yet another lever to cast doubt on results it does not like,\u201d Fonda said. \u201cThis is about corruption, not optics.\u201d<\/p>\n Her group has urged California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to file a lawsuit to try to block the merger. Bonta has said his team is reviewing potential antitrust concerns with the deal, which he said has \u201cred flags everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Some in Hollywood favor Ellison\u2019s takeover, saying it would lift two middling players to create more robust competition to Netflix, Disney and Amazon. <\/p>\n \u201cThis deal will set up an environment where we will have four competitive streaming services, and that\u2019s a good thing for the creative community,\u201d said Ari Emanuel, executive chairman of WME Group and Ellison\u2019s agent.<\/p>\n Ellison is pressing ahead, working to secure government approvals in Britain, Europe and the U.S. Prominent Democrats in Congress have decried the deal<\/a> and Ellison\u2019s proposed ownership structure, which would include the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi as significant, but passive, investors.<\/p>\n Paramount leaders have tried to keep their heads down by focusing on their businesses. This year, the company has signed deals with Kim Kardashian, Neil Patrick Harris, Tituss Burgess and Kinetic Content, the reality TV firm behind Netflix\u2019s \u201cLove Is Blind.\u201d <\/p>\n But the \u201cblock the merger\u201d campaign has picked up prominent Paramount and Warner Bros. talent, including Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam McKay<\/a> (\u201cThe Big Short\u201d); \u201cSouth Park\u201d co-creator Trey Parker;<\/a> and Emmy Award-winning actors Noah Wyle<\/a> (\u201cThe Pitt\u201d) and Mark Ruffalo,<\/a> a stalwart of critically acclaimed HBO productions,<\/a> including \u201cTask.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n Some filmmakers have privately discussed whether to steer clear of Paramount, according to people knowledgeable of the discussions who were not authorized to comment. Taylor Sheridan, the prolific producer behind \u201cYellowstone\u201d and \u201cLandman,\u201d last fall opted to switch teams. He eventually will make new shows for NBCUniversal instead of Paramount.<\/p>\n CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert\u2019s sign-off<\/a> Thursday night has added to the hand-wringing. <\/p>\n Colbert learned he was getting the boot in July, two days after he called Paramount\u2019s $16-million settlement with Trump \u201ca big fat bribe\u201d during a show monologue. Paramount had agreed to pay the money to end Trump\u2019s lawsuit over edits to a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview, a payout blasted by 1st Amendment advocates who viewed the Trump suit as frivolous.<\/p>\n Paramount settled because it needed Federal Communications Commission approval as part of its sale to the Ellison-owned Skydance Media. Paramount\u2019s CBS has blamed declining revenues for its decision to oust Colbert, which came just before Ellison officially took the keys to Paramount. <\/p>\n This week, for the first time in 18 years, CBS will fall short of claiming the largest live audience in broadcast TV. NBC snagged the ratings crown, thanks to its sports-heavy lineup, prompting NBC late-night comedian Seth Meyers to crow about his network\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken down CBS,\u201d Meyers told advertising buyers last week in New York. \u201cWell, the Ellisons did, but I like to think we helped.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellison\u2019s supporters view the anti-merger campaign as politically motivated. <\/p>\n \u201cSo much of the criticism and negative sentiment originates from [Ellison\u2019s] apparent relationship with Trump,\u201d said one observer who was not authorized to speak publicly about the topic.<\/p>\n But interviews with numerous industry insiders reveal that concerns over Paramount\u2019s proposed purchase of Warner go well beyond anti-Trump sentiment \u2014 or worries about celebrity.land\u2019s future. <\/p>\n The merger comes during an existential crisis for the industry, and for Los Angeles, as the shift to streaming has upended established business models. <\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s Ellison, Amazon, Apple or Netflix, these are essentially tech companies that are gaining increasing control over what has been a cultural and entertainment sector,\u201d said Dominic Asmall Willsdon, executive director of the International Documentary Assn.<\/p>\n Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apple\u2019s outgoing Chief Executive Tim Cook also have openly embraced Trump, which some see as a pragmatic move to curry favor in Washington to advance their sprawling businesses, which include film and TV operations in Culver City.<\/p>\nHollywood opposition<\/h2>\n