Author Christian Toto has thrown down the gauntlet to Hollywood, challenging the industry to “wake up” to woke ideology’s destructive grip on entertainment.
In an interview with Breitbart News’ editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on Breitbart News Daily on Sirius XM Patriot 125, Toto spoke about his new book Virtue Bombs: How Hollywood Got Woke and Lost Its Soul. He also dissected late-night comedy shows, the Oscars, and the industry’s complicated relationship with China.
“I don’t hate Hollywood. I don’t hate movies. I don’t hate actors,” Toto said. “I’d love for someone one on the left, someone who’s in the system, to say, ‘Oh my gosh I’ve heard about this stuff. I’ve seen the virtue signaling, I’ve seen comedians afraid to tell a joke. I don’t know why that is though, and I don’t know why that’s a problem.'”
“This is a problem. Wake up,” he added. “I’d love for someone on the sensible left to read it, for someone in Hollywood to say that this is not the way our industry should run. It’s wrong.”
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In reality, much of Hollywood’s wokeness is performative, said Toto, who is a former Breitbart News writer and now runs the popular site HollywoodinToto.
“A lot of these actors don’t want to be woke but they’re scared they’ll lose their jobs of they’re not,” he said. “If you just stay quiet it’s not enough.”
Even the biggest stars are hostage to woke culture. “If Scarlett Johansson, the most attractive, talented — her movies make money — if she can’t stand up to the woke mob for a nanosecond, if she takes the wrong role and apologizes profusely, what chance does the average guy or gal have when they’re attacked?”
Johansson was attacked by the cancel mob three years ago when she took a role playing a transgender individual, ultimately dropping out of the movie following widespread media pressure.
Wokeness is fundamentally antithetical to creativity, according to Toto.
“What you’re doing is interrupting the artistic voice,” he said. “You want to tell story? Wait, stop! You have a great joke to tell? Wait, stop! What we’ve seen on college campuses is this attack on free speech. We kind of tut-tutted it like that’s just college kids. It quickly bled into the culture at large as we we’re seeing now.”
Toto expressed cautious optimism about the opportunities for non-left-wingers to create their own culture. “There’s never been more hope in a way because there’s so many things not being said, so many jokes not being told. But it’s hard to get there. And then you face cancellation.”
He said conservative attempts to create their own entertainment are only in the early stages.
“It’s so small in scale at this point. It’s frustrating. It’s little tuffs of grass ppopping out of the raw dirt. But we should embrace those movements,” he said.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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