The SOPA blackout that featured blank pages on popular internet websites on Wednesday, and the top Hollywood supporters of SOPA are reacting by blanking out the Obama administration in terms of their campaign donations.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos and other major donors from his industry have been in contact with the president and his campaign team saying they will not be participating in upcoming scheduled fundraisers for the president.
The Stop Online Piracy Act has pitted two strong aspects of the U.S. economy against each other with the entertainment industry supporting it and Silicon Valley types opposing it, claiming the legislation would greatly inhibit their ability to improve and expand their internet platforms.
The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) is also a bill supported by major industry moguls like News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch, but opposed by Internet pioneers such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Mr. Murdoch earlier this week tweeted his frustration with the Obama administration, “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.”
The News Corporation CEO isn’t the only frustrated one either. Former Connecticut Democratic senator and current chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America Chris Dodd is furious with the Internet companies that staged the SOPA blackout Wednesday. The MPAA chief hasn’t stated that he will be withdrawing monetary support from the president, but he released a press release on the MPAA website in response to the blackout.
Mr. Dodd called it a “dangerous gimmick” by Internet companies because he believes the websites who engaged in it are not even targeted by the anti piracy acts.
Several upcoming Los Angeles based fundraisers featuring first lady Michelle Obama have also been cancelled by their Hollywood executive hosts.
According to Deadline, Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman Jim Gianopulos communicated with Mr. Sarandos that he would not be donating any more money to the Obama campaign.
The White House posted a message on its website over the weekend stating that the president’s administration would not be supporting either the SOPA bill in the House or the PIPA bill in the Senate.
The message from Hollywood elites seems to be similar to the message from Internet giants; Both groups are banded together in an effort to get members of Congress to value their interests with both bills.
Deadline reports that Mr. Obama’s top Hollywood contributors donated more than $55 million to the president’s campaign through September of 2011.
The president and his staff have not commented on the issue.
