It’s hard to say what was the strangest part of the so-called “rally” which unfolded outside Paramount’s iconic arches along Melrose Avenue in Hollywood on Thursday, but the big winner — at least on a messaging level — was an aerial letter banner mocking CEO David Ellison.
What was originally a rally organized by a mysterious pro-merger group known as Neighbors for Strong Communities, which many suspect is a front group for the Ellison family, devolved into two dueling — and poorly attended — press conferences that collectively accomplished nothing.
Leading up to their rally, Neighbors for Strong Communities had been texting Californians to push AG Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust lawsuit against the deal urging a settlement to allow the deal to go through. But as press converged Thursday morning outside Paramount organizers hastily moved it to a nearby sound stage at BLT Studios to avoid what they called a counter-rally that was in the works.
Inside a dimly lit studio that was sparsely attended, close to a dozen Hollywood attendees, including a small group of actors and below-the-line workers voiced their concerns over Ellison’s threat to leave California and the potential job losses that would come from that. P6H had spoken to one of the people prior to the event, Dani Kelly, who runs a podcast studio in Chatsworth, who told us “I need people in the industry here… I will have no business.”
Roger Neal, a publicist working with the mysterious group, which has been accused of being a Paramount-backed “astroturf” campaign — the group has denied any connection to Paramount or the Ellisons — told Page Six Hollywood that it moved its event after finding out it was to be protested by a “Block the Merger”-affiliated group, which was planning its own rally just an hour later in the same spot in front of Paramount’s entrance.
That group, called Free Press, which has nothing to do with the Bari Weiss-founded media company and everything to do with the Jane Fonda-backed Committee for the First Amendment, held their own rally featuring about 15 workers and supporters of Bonta’s efforts to block the merger. Speakers included actress and comedian Alyssa Phillips, and Burbank city council members Nikki Perez and Konstantine Anthony.
Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez told P6H that they planned their counter-event in response to hearing about the pro-merger group’s rally.
If all that wasn’t enough, a plane was circling high above Paramount all morning, flying a banner visible across wide swaths of LA with the words: “Ellison is Trump’s Bitch.” It quickly became the talk of the town as photos of the plane were shared among group chats and on social media.
If attendance at the events was any indication the takeaway was simple: fatigue in this whole thing may be setting in.
