This is from Steve Bacher…
OK, I'll buy that there is no deliberate conspiracy on the part of Hollywood professionals to not hire some particular actor based on political views. But isn't it possible that a number of separate, individual Hollywood professionals, who happen to have similar political views to one another, independently each decide to avoid hiring a particular actor based on personal political biases?
Something similar to how Colin Kaepernick just happened to be unable to get drafted by any major sports team. Probably not a conspiracy, but just a lot of team owners thinking along parallel lines.
There is no human being in the country over the age of five who knows less about football than I do so my ability to discuss the Colin Kaepernick matter is limited. All I know is he was one of the more vocal defenders of players "taking a knee" during the National Anthem, which he did. It would not be a conspiracy or blacklisting if everyone decided individually not to hire him. It might be a form of discrimination but — as you know — to have a conspiracy, people have to conspire.
If the wielders of power got together and said "Let's punish this guy" and that could be proved, he could have a helluva case. I would imagine it would turn on what evidence there was they did that, whether there were other possible reasons to pass on Kaepernick, whether others of like political persuasion were so targeted, etc. I'm not qualified to judge that.
The answer to the question in your first paragraph is, yeah, it's possible someone could decline to hire someone because of their politics but why? There are Conservatives in the film community and one might be the best possible choice for a certain role. The only situation that I can imagine is if we were producing a movie with a strong political message — say, a drama about what a horrible person Donald Trump is — we just might not want a Trump-lover playing a key role, expecting him to deliver lines he thought were bullshit. I don't think the charges of blacklisting are about that.
By the way: I think there are a lot more Conservatives in show business than most people do, especially in executive-type positions. I've always thought that's so but that they keep a low profile in large part because in this industry, most people want to be seen as one of the cool kids, and most of the cool kids of show biz are Liberal. If you were an actor, would you rather be in a group shot with George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep or Kelsey Grammer, James Woods and Scott Baio?
And I suspect they're keeping an even lower profile than ever in the era of Trump. It must be difficult to be in favor of the direction in which Republicans are trying to take America without being put on the spot to defend Donald's rudenesses, lies, personal dealings, stories that change on the fly, sexual conduct, etc. None of my right-wing pals even want to discuss that stuff but if they're going to say "I'm glad Trump's in the White House," it's hard to avoid it.
Look at what an impossible job Rudy Giuliani has. Right now, he has to go out and tap dance his way around the fact that the story used to be that the infamous Trump Tower meeting with those Russians was definitely not about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton and that it was only the lying press that said it was. Now, Trump's admitting it was just what was reported. How would you like the job of spinning that? You'd have an easier time trying to spin the Astrodome.