If there was any lingering doubt that Hollywood has a decidedly liberal slant, this new report should quash them.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the members of the modern entertainment industry appear to be collectively turning their backs on tech mogul Elon Musk — and it’s all got to do with politics.
The Reporter opened the report by mentioning unconfirmed plans for Musk and one of his companies, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, to unveil a self-driving taxi.
However, the event to reveal that vehicle — tentatively titled “CyberCab” — has been indefinitely postponed.
“But, if it does move forward, the global launch of a new Tesla at Warners is certain to raise eyebrows in Hollywood and draw scrutiny toward the chummy relationship between the carmaker’s increasingly controversial CEO, Elon Musk, and Warner’s embattled chief executive, David Zaslav,” the Reporter noted.
After noting that Warner Bros. refused to comment on this report, The Hollywood Reporter pivoted to some curious editorializing of Musk’s unique politics.
(It’s not entirely fair to call Musk “liberal” or “conservative.”)
“As Musk has continued his trajectory into the MAGA-verse — pledging allegiance to right-wing conspiracies, amplifying racist and antisemitic messages, disparaging trans people, including his own daughter, and endorsing Donald Trump — his stock in Hollywood, and that of his brand, has plummeted,” the report states.
“Elon is very outspoken, and his political views are not as popular in the entertainment industry,” a Hollywood CEO (in charge of making movies more eco-friendly) told the Reporter.
Do you like Elon Musk?
That CEO, Debbie Levin, continued by explaining how Hollywood often ties their conscience to money.
“The Tesla became the ‘It’ car in terms of electrification,” Levin told the outlet. “If you could spend $100,000 on a car, that was sort of the way to go to show that you care about the environment.”
Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of Auto Pacific, a Southern California-based mobility research firm, told the Reporter that even beyond sentiment and popularity, the numbers aren’t in Musk’s favor.
“Certainly we have seen sales drop significantly at Tesla this year,” Kim said, before further explaining that Tesla was losing market share in the very field it helped pioneer: commercially available electric vehicles.
“Despite all the headlines, EV sales are still growing,” Kim said. “They’re just not growing at the same speed that they were before. But Tesla is actually losing sales.”
Alexander Edwards, president of a California-based consultancy firm, made it clear that politics were a part of this.
“Rejection of Tesla recently spiked and continues among Democrats. They want nothing to do with Tesla,” Edwards said, before adding that Republicans just generally aren’t that interested in electric vehicles to begin with.
For Musk’s part, the eccentric billionaire generally seems imperturbed by all the outside noise.
Musk has made it clear that he wants as little to do with California (and therefore Hollywood) as possible, moving his major businesses out of the Golden State while decrying the Democrat leadership in the state.
It is worth noting that, despite growing resentment from the left, Musk — who has come out in support of former President Donald Trump in the forthcoming election — still offers Vice President Kamala Harris the same platitudes as he did Trump.
But if this report is anything to go by, it’s clear Musk should expect no platitudes from the left.
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