Jason Alexander, Tim Robbins, W. Kamau Bell, Sam Elliott, Richard Kind, Eric McCormack, Lucy Fisher, and Cathy Schulman join groundswell of opposition; Bonta says merger has “red flags everywhere”

Washington, D.C.—The opposition campaign launched last month against the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is now over 5,000 members strong as California Attorney General Rob Bonta says “red flags are everywhere” regarding the transaction. The groundswell of support, including thousands of film and entertainment industry union members, more than 75 Oscar winners and nominees, and a hundred of the most influential actors and directors, proves that this merger is not a done deal. Jason Alexander, Tim Robbins, W. Kamau Bell, and Lucy Fisher are among some of the most recent notable names to sign on to the letter opposing the merger and supporting action by state attorneys general to stop it.

The campaign, launched by Democracy Defenders Fund, the Committee for the First Amendment, Future Film Coalition, the Writers Guild of America, Free Press, the International Documentary Association, the American Economic Liberties Project, Platkin LLP, Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Center for American Progress, and Public Citizen, has spurred a wave of action against the merger that had previously seemed inevitable — as our colleagues explained in a recent New York Times op-ed.

In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Mark Ruffalo and Matt Stoller summed up the momentum, saying, “This time, there’s real opposition to this kind of corporate consolidation — and a blueprint for how to win.”

Across all opposition efforts, the message is clear: this merger would pose huge threats to freedom of the press, creative expression, and the future of a strong, healthy news and entertainment industry in this country. But it can be stopped.

In the last three weeks, public rallies against the merger have been held in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC and U.S. Senator Cory Booker held a hearing on the dangers of the merger. Last week, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) formally demanded corporate records from Paramount Skydance Corp related to the pending merger, citing concerns about potential political interference and threats to the editorial independence of media outlets like CNN, which WBD owns. Later this month, eyes will be on the News & Documentary Emmys Award Ceremony in New York City, where the potential merger’s chilling effect on free speech and access to news archives will be on attendees’ minds.

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