Hollywood elites like Mark Ruffalo, media elites, and other industry figures are melting down upon the breaking news that Paramount has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit aimed at scuttling its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, headed up by radical California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D).
Details have emerged about the pledges Paramount made to make to settle the lawsuit so that its merger with Warners may continue, an important provision of which is that the studio will maintain its presence in California, Variety reported. Though, the deal doesn’t include a provision to stop Paramount from fleeing the state, according to reports.
Paramount has pledged not to sell either its historic studios in Hollywood nor the Warner Bros. lots once they take control of those facilities.
The studio has pledged to invest an additional annual $300 million on film production in the U.S. — adding up to a total of $1.5 billion in spending on U.S.-based productions. Paramount also reiterated it’s long-stated intentions to release some 30 new film productions each year between its studios and the Warners properties.
Paramount has also agreed to cooperate with a third party organization to help it oversee CNN and CBS News to assure the “news editorial independence” of the two news outlets.
The agreement is a five-year commitment that would last through December of 2031 should the merger close by this year.
“We are grateful to Attorney General Bonta and his fellow AGs, as well as the WGA, for engaging in good faith to find a path forward to a resolution that serves all parties, and to Governor Newsom for his support throughout this process,” Paramount chief David Ellison said in a statement announcing the settlement. “Our shared aim was an outcome that best serves consumers, workers and — most importantly — the creative community so vital to the art of visual storytelling. We’re confident this agreement does exactly that, memorializing a series of commitments that include 30+ films annually and expanded U.S. film production to help revitalize our industry here at home.”
However, many elitist actors, denizens of Hollywood, and other leftists are infuriated that their hero AG Bonta has now settled and closed the lawsuit against Paramount.
Rabid antisemite and Marvel actor Mark Ruffalo, for one, is calling the settlement a betrayal and a “huge win to Trump.”
Hollywood scriptwriter Will Landman lashed out and called California’s left-wing AG a “fucking coward” for settling the lawsuit.
Extreme left-wing former CNN screedist Chris Cilizza called the settlement “utterly appalling.”
Former Biden era FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya claimed that the settlement shows that “billionaires” have “bullied their way to the top.”
Lefty commentator Brian Stelter reposted an admission from Connecticut AG William Tong that he had no interest in protesting jobs in the first place, but was only worried that CNN might have its content moderated.
And radical leftist author Norman Solomon lamented that the settlement is a “massive betrayal.”
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Rob Bonta has spent the day praising the deal.
“We got the antitrust resolution that we wanted,” he said. “Very strong remedies and commitments to address the concerns that we raised.”
“This deal gives certainty about the future of production right here in L.A.,” he said. “That also generates important certainty for this industry that I think is craving it.”