Disney and Sony are among the film industry companies that donated to the re-election campaign of Louisiana Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards in the wake of the governor’s trip to Los Angeles last fall to meet with Hollywood film executives.
Edwards — who, in May, signed a bill into law that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected — received $35,000 from film companies following a trip to Los Angeles in October to promote Louisiana’s generous tax subsidies to the film and television industry.
“Edwards spent two days in California meeting with executives from major Hollywood studios, including Netflix, Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Walt Disney Studios, HBO, Hulu, CBS and Sony,” reported The Advocate. “Edwards said the outlook is optimistic, though he didn’t bring back announcements of any major new projects.”
“The message that I received loud and clear out there is that they really like Louisiana — they like doing business here and they have renewed confidence in the stability of the motion picture tax credit,” Edwards said when he returned from his trip, according to the report.
However, the Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday that “the most immediate impact from the trip … was new Hollywood donors for his political campaign.”
The governor’s most recent campaign filing shows Disney contributed $5,000, as did Sony, Quixote, Manhattan Beach Studios, and 21stCentury Fox in the wake of his trip.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) also donated $5,000 to Edwards’ campaign.
In addition, CBS and Paramount studios each contributed $2,500.
Louisiana has a jungle primary system with Republicans Ralph Abraham and Eddie Rispone running for the GOP nomination.
According to a report at Monday News 360, a Remington Research survey commissioned by Abraham — currently a member of Congress — found Edwards and Abraham were tied at 45 percent each, with ten percent undecided. The survey, taken in early June, polled 1,471 likely general election voters in Louisiana and has a margin of error of 2.6 percent.
Hollywood celebrities and film industry leaders condemned Georgia’s new “heartbeat” law that also prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually at about the sixth week of pregnancy.
Disney and Netflix threatened to boycott Georgia — which is reportedly the third-largest film production hub in the country — but have continued and even stepped up filming in countries in which abortion is entirely illegal or highly restricted.
Pro-abortion activist and actress Alyssa Milano called for a Hollywood boycott of Georgia if Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law. Milano then followed with a call for a sex strike, urging women to engage in abstinence from sex to protest the end to “reproductive rights.”
Last week, Milano, star of Netflix’s Insatiable, and co-author Ben Jackson unveiled a map intended to assist those in the Hollywood entertainment industry to locate pro-abortion areas in the United States, “where it is safe for women to work.”
The map indicates both Georgia and Louisiana are color-coded red, meaning abortion is “most threatened” in these states.
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