TBTW Friedman Did a Promo For Pro Paramount-Warner Merger Group After They Gave Her $4,500
Today, Rep. Laura Friedman clapped back against Paramount's Chief Legal Officer, telling him that it's her "responsibility to ask questions about mergers that could cost consumers money and put jobs at risk." It's good to see our Congresswoman signaling her opposition to the merger, but for me it comes off as insincere.
It took her 9 months to start signaling opposition against the merger. In that window, she backed the Netflix deal and repeatedly asked for empty pinky promises on jobs and production from the Ellisons.
One instance though was particularly telling.
In early March, days after Paramount pushed Netflix out of the deal, Friedman appeared in promotional material for the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the chief lobbying group for the big studios including Warner, Paramount, and Netflix. They'd like to see a merger. Not just that, MPA has also been advocating for more AI in films and pushing back hard against pending California antitrust reform.
That's not all. According to the Integrity Index's database, Friedman did this promo after taking $3,500 from MPA this cycle and $1,000 from them in her 2024 race.
Doing promos for the parasitic big businesses funding your campaign? Yeah, no thanks.
Maybe this helps explain why Friedman has yet to be as frank and vocal on the merger as numerous other politicians (not all of whom I like) including Sen. Murphy, Sen. Booker, Sen. Warren, Mamdani, and even fucking Steyer. Instead of talking turkey, she prefers to morally posture about "asking questions" and doing rigorous analysis, even though we all already know how destructive this merger would be. Maybe this helps explain why she doesn't have a view on AI in Hollywood. Maybe this also contextualizes why she appears in materials for the BigTech lobby, but has only held one in-person town hall.
I credit her for last week's letter requesting CA AG Rob Bonta exercise scrutiny in prosecuting the case. It was mostly symbolic, Bonta is doing that anyways, but it was a step in the right direction. However, that move was not just too little, too late, but more a product of local pressure than any organic interest in her district's wellbeing.
Ultimately, I'm left unpersuaded that Laura Friedman is anything but a do-nothing Democrat happy to do the bidding of whatever lobby — MPA, BigTech, AIPAC, etc. — that knocks on her door, and one deeply uncomfortable with, if not somewhat antagonistic towards, the very working people she actually represents.
We deserve better. The primary is June 2. Two progressives are challenging her from the left, Joel Lava and Cameron Tennyson. They both are not only outspoken opponents of the merger, but believe in abolishing ICE and blocking aid to Netanyahu. Give them your vote, not this windbag.