Ed Royce Quotes
Once you capitulate to one dictator, does that mean that the next dictator or the next terrorist that says you're not going to make a comedy about - or a film at all about ISIS. All of us in public life have a responsibility right now to speak out and to say, 'No, Sony, you did the wrong thing' and to say to Hollywood, come behind - the other studios should come behind Sony and offer their support.
Royce, Edward R. Interview. CNN Newsroom, CNN, 19 Dec. 2014.
Video and pirated copies got out, and were more widely distributed than if the film had been released.
The Red Scare had affected much of the country. Congressman Thomas was the Chair of The House Un-American Activities Committee which had frightened much of the country claiming that the Communists had infiltrated the government. But when facts and proof were demanded, they came up with some workers in the Hollywood film industry who had gone to communist meetings and some who had joined the party before the War when The Great Depression was still plaguing the country. The Hollywood and TV executives caved in to the political demagogues and fired and blacklisted not only the communists but those who refused to testify. The actors and musicians could not work for several years until the country came to its senses, but the screenwriters wrote under false names. At least one Academy award was won that way.
The film won 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture. However, the Political Red Scare, Congressional Investigations, McCarthyism, and Hollywood Blacklist intimidated the Movie Studios and executives to avoid anything that was sympathetic to any reform views that the Communists also held, like anti racial discrimination, and empathy for the poor.
This was a description of the post WWII censorship in East Germany under the communists, but it applies to most political censorship in any country. The same dynamics functioned in the United States during both World Wars and during the red scare of McCarthyism.
Edward Randall Royce is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Royce served as Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2019. He previously served as a member of the California Senate from 1982 to 1993.
