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Trump Rails Against 'Very Dangerous' Hollywood as Controversy Over Upcoming Movie 'The Hunt' Builds

By Bradley Evans August 9, 2019 at 1:53pm

President Donald Trump attacked Hollywood on Friday, saying that the industry is doing “a tremendous disservice to our country.”

According to Business Insider, the president told reporters on the White House lawn that “Hollywood — I don’t call them elites, I think elites are people they go after in many cases — Hollywood is really terrible.”

Trump may have been referring to the upcoming Universal Pictures film “The Hunt,” which has come under considerable scrutiny in recent days.

The film “follows a dozen MAGA types who wake up in a clearing and realize they are being stalked for sport by elite liberals,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, which describes “The Hunt” as a satire.

While Universal Pictures has not confirmed that summary of the movie’s events, The Reporter claims to have accessed the film’s screenplay, which it says includes characters hunting “deplorables,” a term used by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 to refer to “half of Trump’s supporters.”

A paragraph on the film’s official website describes the plot of “The Hunt” as follows:

“In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport,” the synopsis reads.

While the president did not reference “The Hunt” by name, his comments come after conservative outlets like Fox News have given the film attention.

WATCH: @BillHemmer and @guypbenson discussed “The Hunt,” which is billed as a satire about wealthy vacationers who hunt down “deplorables” for sport #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/0lKAC1mtzR

— America’s Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) August 8, 2019

Do you think satirical movies like "The Hunt" may be dangerous?

“You talk about racism, Hollywood is racist,” Trump said. “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.”

The president condemned Hollywood’s depiction of violence during his discussion of gun control and background checks, Fox reported.

Trump also said that Hollywood executives “treat conservatives, Republicans totally different” than they treat others.

Universal Pictures pulled ads for “The Hunt” after a pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend, according to Fox.

“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 said, according to Fox.

“The Hunt” is scheduled to be released on Sept. 27.

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