Trump calls Hollywood 'racist' as a satirical film that depicts liberal elites hunting 'deplorables' for sport is set for release
- President Donald Trump went after Hollywood on Friday, calling the industry "racist" and "really terrible."
- "What they're doing with the kind of movies they're putting out is actually very dangerous for our country," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he prepared to head to his golf club in New Jersey.
- It's unclear what Trump was referring to, but Universal Pictures has faced backlash in recent days for promoting "The Hunt," a satirical film about liberal elites hunting "deplorables" from the rural US for sport.
- Universal Studios pulled TV and digital ads for the film after two mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, roiled the country last weekend.
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President Donald Trump on Friday went after Hollywood, calling the industry "really terrible" and "racist."
"Hollywood - I don't call them elites, I think elites are people they go after in many cases - Hollywood is really terrible," the president said, speaking to reporters on the White House lawn as he prepared to depart for his golf club in New Jersey.
"You talk about racism, Hollywood is racist," he added. "What they're doing with the kind of movies they're putting out is actually very dangerous for our country. What Hollywood is doing is a tremendous disservice to our country."
It's unclear what Trump was referring to, but Universal Pictures has invited backlash in recent days for promoting "The Hunt," a satirical film about liberal elites hunting "deplorables" from the rural US for sport. "Deplorables" is the term that Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, used to describe Trump supporters during the election.
Universal Studios pulled TV and digital ads for the film after two mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, roiled the country last weekend.
"Out of sensitivity to the attention on the country's recent shooting tragedies, Universal Pictures and the filmmakers of 'The Hunt' have temporarily paused its marketing campaign and are reviewing materials as we move forward," a Universal Pictures spokesperson told Fox News late Wednesday.
The movie has infuriated many in the conservative sphere, who say it promotes violence against people with opposing political views.
Tim Young, a conservative political satirist who hosted a comedy program on The Daily Caller, told Fox News he found it "remarkable that the left blames Donald Trump's rhetoric for violence, then literally spends millions to normalize the killing of people based on politics."
The president invited sharp scrutiny after last weekend's shootings, especially after law enforcement officials discovered that the suspected shooter in El Paso posted a racist manifesto online shortly before carrying out the massacre that echoed much of Trump's incendiary rhetoric about immigrants.
The El Paso and Dayton shootings also shifted the spotlight back to the rising threat posed by right-wing extremism and white nationalism.
The FBI has 850 open domestic terrorism investigations. Of that number, 40% involve racially motivated violent extremism, and a majority of those cases involve white nationalists, the bureau said. FBI Director Christopher Wray also told Congress last month that the agency counted 100 domestic terrorism arrests in the past nine months.