They promised to launch before the end of the month and they’ve done so. Megan, Joey, Clarence and David have started their new site, The Contending.com. It’s essentially all of the AwardsDaily TV (ADTV). Mark Johnson and Good as Gold is staying here, at least for now, and Ryan Adams is bobbing back and forth between the two sites. That’s all I know so far. So if you loved their content here, you can most definitely get it over there. And this time, they will be discussing movies and the Oscars too.
We wish them the best of luck in their new site. This was a long time coming. The idea is that they will not be “blacklisted” like I have been and will start with a clean slate. I’ve been telling them to do this since I became a target many years ago, before the Hollywood Reporter hit piece.
No one should have to feel the cold chill of the cold shoulder by the powers that be as I have in the past few days. Suddenly, all of those publicists who used to send you invites no longer do. Not that I ever went but you know, it’s funny how 25 years of support and advocacy goes out the window if you commit thought-crimes, as I have done.
One of the reasons I am glad I held onto my website as my own business all of these years. I somehow knew that as long as you own it, there isn’t much people can do to you, which makes you feel more free. Or at least it has for me. I can only go where my curiosity takes me. When I see hypocrisy I have to point it out. When I see group dehumanization, I can’t stand on that side. What made my site stand out all of these years also makes me a heretic in a time of conformity. It is what it is. I accept my part in this ridiculous farce playing out.
Much of the polarization in our country is driven by one-sided media (on both sides) that dumps a firehose of hate about the other side. The difference is that the Left owns more real estate – the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc. The right has Fox and independent press. The Left (of which Hollywood is part) has walled itself off into what I see as a Royal Court, leaving the masses completely out of it. I know both worlds very well. I just got bored only writing about, watching stories about, caring about one of them. I also couldn’t join them in their hatred of the side of the country with less power.
I also wanted to move this site in a different direction. That doesn’t mean Trump and MAGA or Conservatives. But it does mean not using the Oscars or Hollywood as a propaganda delivery device for one political party pushing a “woke” agenda. I remain uncomfortable every time I see a documentary that only depicts one side of an issue — it is not a documentary at all. Everything the Communists hunters feared back in the 1940s and 1950s is coming true now. Indoctrination disguised as entertainment. They love it inside the Royal Court. Outside of it, not so much.
All of this to say, you can see why we needed to part ways. The ADTV side, and nearly everyone who worked for AD, wants to do something other than what I am doing. It’s uncomfortable. Many of them have jobs and can be fired (the tolerant liberals!) and if they’re going to do this at all, they’d prefer to make money. You have to have a pair of low-hanging brass balls to advertise at this site right now, and trust me, that does not define most of Hollywood. They are and have always been ruled by fear.
But we’re all still friends and I will be linking to them a lot. I hope those of you who are angry at me for how my voice has evolved — I would say two things. Content is boring if it stays the same for 25 years. The thrill and privilege of being a blogger (as opposed to a journalist) is being able to write the truth. Straight up publicity, as many of the trades have become, is agonizingly dull and everyone knows it. In a climate of fear there are very few places to find the truth anymore. Not if the studios are advertising. Look at what they do – look at who they are.
Secondly, if you don’t like reading this site, The Contending will be a place to talk about movies and TV shows, controversy-free.
Hollywood is dying on the vine. There is a crisis of storytelling and they’ve become a toxic brand to many Americans. They can blame me all they want but the fact is, it’s long past time to lower the drawbridge and let the peasants back in. We are not a better country with a culture dominated by insulated, isolated elites. It only gets worse from here until they realize that those monsters over there are just like they are: Human beings.
Some have asked if AD is accepting new writers. The answer is YES. But we have to see how things go in the next few months.
I started my site with Gladiator. I might end it with Gladiator II. But only after going through the Oscar race at least one more time, and this time to tell the honest truth about all of it. Fasten your seatbelts…
