Hollywood mobilizes: Billie Eilish and more than 550 artists resurrect historical committee against government censorship

The trigger was the suspension of the program Jimmy Kimmel Live! by the network ABC on September 17, after FCC (Federal communications commission) threatening the channel because of the presenter’s comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Six days later, Kimmel He returned to the air. When he returned, he made it clear that he would not apologize, but also aimed his criticism directly in Donald Trumpaccusing the president of wanting to destroy his career and hundreds of program officials.

The government pressure on a night talk show sounded immediate alarms in the industry. Unions and figures of entertainment classified the episode as explicit censorship. And it was Jane Fonda Who decided to rescue the same committee as his father, Henry Fondahelped found in 1947, during the era McCarthywhen artists, politicians and intellectuals were persecuted, included in blacklings and even arrested on charges of communism.

Revived Committee’s statement is directly: the US federal government is repeating the past. “These forces have returned,” says the text, which accuses the current administration of conducting a “coordinated campaign to silence critics in government, media, judiciary, academia and entertainment industry.”

The group makes it clear that it is not political polarization, but constitutional principles. “The ability to criticize, question, protest, and even mock these in power is fundamental to what America has always aspired to be,” says the document, which summons Americans from all ideological currents to join the first amendment, the legal basis of freedom of expression in the United States.

There is also a sharp message to companies that give in to government pressure: “For those who profit from our work while bending to government censorship and cowered by gross intimidation: we see you and history will not forget.”

THE Disney He felt the impact on the skin. According to the newsletter The Handbabasketthe company lost 1.7 million subscribers to its streaming platforms – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN – after the suspension of Kimmel. The number suggests that the public did not passively accept government intervention.

The resurrection of COMMITTEE FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT marks an inflection point. For the first time in decades, Hollywood is formally organized against what he considers an institutional threat to freedom of expression. The question that remains is: Does this movement have enough strength to go beyond the statements and effectively contain the repressive climb that many believe it is underway?

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