One of the most well-known secrets in Hollywood is never to come out as a conservative. The few brave people who have suffer for us all.
Without going into the history of how Hollywood became such a haven for liberal thought, let’s take a look at what happens when you come out as a conservative in Hollywood.
The latest name to receive scrutiny for a conservative viewpoint is actress and model Julienne Davis, best known for her role in the Tom Cruise thriller “Eyes Wide Shut.” Her “coming out” was originally nothing more than admitting to a few industry friends that she did not share the liberal mindset of mainstream Hollywood.
Word got around. Eventually, Davis was asked to pen a few articles for a slightly right-of-center zine that made its rounds through Los Angeles. It was a decent gig, but nothing that should have created the uproar that it did. The magazine could not even keep its doors open for more than a few months, and shortly after she was hired to write, Davis found herself out of work.
Davis could have covered her tracks by simply saying the the writing was a paid gig. Her friends would have taken that excuse – after all, most of them had done far worse things on screen to make ends meet at one time or another. But instead, she chose to stay true to her convictions and continued to define herself as a conservative in Hollywood, even when there was no monetary reward to be gained from it.
The fallout was pure Hollywood. Davis says that her friends slowly but surely stopped calling – both industry friends and personal friends. Eventually, these associates cut Davis off on social media. As childish as this sounds, Hollywood runs on social media. Becoming isolated there means that you do not have access to work as an actress.
After the shunning, the public ridicule began. Davis was called a racist because of her support for President Trump. She received death threats and suffered public humiliation at industry events. The distancing became especially poignant after Charlottesville, which seemed to create a line in the sand for liberals. If you supported anything conservative after that unfortunate event, you were a racist, a bigot, a killer, a Nazi.
Davis also reports that she ran into personal friends in public who told her that she was still dear to them. However, they could not be seen as being friends on Facebook. Davis also said that she received advice from established industry decision makers to “get back in the conservative closet.” This friend is a closeted conservative as well – a friend who nonetheless could not help Davis get her current project funded because of her public political leanings.
Davis has resolved to take her career into her own hands. The built-in Hollywood network that she should have as an established actress is no longer a viable option for funding projects. She refuses to back away from her conservative values, and so she must take the route that is usually reserved for up and coming indie talent. Her options in the mainstream are limited, and without support from other sources, she and those like her will fail.
Hollywood flatly refuses to consider a viewpoint that is contrary to its own. Conservatives will continue to have a tough time in the business, no matter their previous successes. Even the closeted conservatives who are in the business do not have the clout to get things done.
Bruce Willis and Clint Eastwood are a couple of major names who took hits to their careers when they came out, but fortunately they are in that upper echelon of untouchable talent. Those who really deserve our support are the working actors, actresses, producers and other Hollywood talent who have to put on their pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Let’s dig a bit deeper for folks like Julienne Davis – the people who know they could kill their entire livelihoods for conservatism and do it anyway.
It is up to every conservative to support anyone who upholds our values in such a public way. Conservatism will never die, but only because of the heroic efforts of people who are willing to shortchange their own success for a larger cause.
~ Conservative Zone