Secret Hollywood GOP group “Friends of Abe” to celebrate Trump after his comments branding Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.”
You’d think that being in a profession that’s dependent on the public for ticket sales and TV viewership would make a group of people think twice before celebrating a man who has defamed a large portion of that audience. Which is why the secret organization of Hollywood right-wingers, Friends of Abe, doesn’t want anyone to know about its private big-money banquet this coming Friday night in honor of Mr. “Latino immigrants are rapists and criminals” himself, Donald Trump. Yes, the racist GOP presidential candidate is getting a warm welcome from the Abes, but no one outside the incestuous little circle of Hollywood right-wingers is supposed to know about it.
Sorry, but I think it’s only fair that moviegoers and TV viewers know who Hollywood GOPs choose to support. The L.A. Weekly’s Dennis Romero was the first to break this story, including a copy of the official invitation to Friends of Abe members:
For those of you who are not familiar with “Friends of Abe,” its founders and leaders include Gary Sinise, Clint Eastwood, Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, Patricia Heaton, TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and Dole Foods CEO David Murdock. B-list members include Kevin Sorbo, Scott Baio, Adam Baldwin, John Ratzenberger (Cliff the mailman from “Cheers”), Dean Cain, John Schneider (Bo Duke from “The Dukes of Hazard”), Jim Caviezel (Jesus from “The Passion of the Christ”), Kristy Swanson (the original “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Bo Derek, David Zucker (“Airplane” and the “Naked Gun” films), Powers Boothe, and Nick Searcy (of the hit TV show “Justified”).
Charges of white supremacy are not new to Friends of Abe. In 2013, Friends of Abe member Victoria Jackson (a former SNL performer) penned an op-ed on her website demanding a “white history month,” and lamenting “the end of white middle-aged Christian male dominance:”
Just for the record, white men invented rockets, space travel, airplanes, the automobile, the English language, the U.S.A., most medical advances, electricity, television, telescope, microscope, Ivy League Universities, the computer, the Internet, and on and on. I think white men should be praised and respected. White Christian Conservative Men especially, should be loved and adored. They were the backbone and originators of the greatest nation on earth. We need more of them now. In November, 2012 The Blaze reported that Alec Baldwin tweeted, “…Obama’s re-election signaled the end of white, middle-aged Christian male dominance.” Maybe that’s why our country is going to pot; our huge deficit, foreign attacks, crashing economy, racial and class warfare, immigration problems, bigger government, disappearing freedom, growing poverty, sky-rocketing unemployment, rancid immorality, more pregnant teens, etc. etc. – “the end of white, middle-aged Christian male dominance.” I’m just saying.
Friends of Abe continued to support her, regularly featuring her at its gatherings. Of course, it can be claimed that her racist, crackpot views don’t necessarily represent the leadership of the organization. But that same rationalization doesn’t exist in the Trump case. Friends of Abe leaders
invited Trump to speak,
after his racist remarks about Latinos. This is not a matter of one rogue member. This is the top Friends of Abe brass purposely and enthusiastically deciding to respond to Trump’s racist remarks by inviting him to be celebrated by the group. This is how Friends of Abe feels about Latinos. This is how Friends of Abe feels about immigrants. And the fact that the leaders of the group want so desperately for the event to remain a secret says a lot about how they feel about
you. They want your patronage, your ticket purchases, your viewership, your adulation. But they don’t want you to know how they devote their organization’s resources, and who they support.
Well, to hell with secrecy. The Abes have a right to free assembly, and you have a right to know who these far-right celebrities give their time and money to. By the way, you also have a right to protest outside the event, if you choose.
The event is Friday, July 10th, 6:30pm, at the Luxe Hotel in Bel Air/Brentwood. The banquet room will be closed to the public, but not the lobby, bar, and patio outside the banquet room, nor the sidewalk on Sunset Blvd. off of which all cars entering the hotel must turn.
For anyone wanting to lawfully and peacefully make their voices heard, the address is:
The Luxe Hotel Sunset Blvd.
11461 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 90049
(310) 476-6571
L.A. is a town that thrives due to the hard work of Latino immigrants. Why not take a page from the catchphrase book of Friends of Abe leader Clint Eastwood and tell racist, xenophobic, immigrant-bashing Trump to “get off our lawn" (and take the Friends of Abe with him)?