As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., laughs off the excesses of what she now calls “Woke 1.0,” it is worth remembering just how bad censorship was under that politically correct cultural regime, and how it got so bad that Hollywood conservatives needed to form their own secret club.
In a recent podcast interview, actress Patricia Heaton, of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ fame, spilled the beans on Friends of Abe, a secret organization for conservatives and independents in the entertainment industry, which she helped form during the Obama administration.
Abe, in this case, references the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln.
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A small core group that included stars such as Gary Sinise and Kelsey Grammar, soon turned into a loose organization of thousands, with a New York City chapter that I joined somewhere around 2012, and which was an oasis in a Gotham arts scene that made Mao look like William F. Buckley, Jr.
As Heaton put it, “You could ask someone if they are a friend of Abe, or FOA, and if they said yeah, then you know there was another conservative or independent, or someone who is not a Democrat, that you could talk to without feeling like you were going to get in trouble at your job.”
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It is hard to overstate just how dangerous expressing conservative ideas was 5 to 15 years ago in the entertainment industry. Take actor Gina Carano, who lost her role in a Disney TV show because she posted on social media that conservatives should not be treated as enemies.
In the New York theater scene at this time, in which many New York Friends of Abe toiled, to even question progressive shibboleths on the trans issue or, eventually, the evils of President Donald Trump, could garner a lifetime ban.
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A conservative in theater was so rare, that when I “came out” as a conservative, as host of a regular 10-minute series, and sparred with the Bowery Poetry Club’s hyper liberal audience, people — including good friends of mine — assumed for years that I was doing a bit.
For many in the arts at that time, including on the technical side of things, being known as right wing could have real consequences — as direct as not getting a job, or as indirect as just not getting invited to professional events.
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What made Friends of Abe’s monthly meetups so special for us was just that we could talk freely, something that, prior to the emergence of wokeness, we all took for granted. None of us take it for granted anymore.
When we look at how few liberals say they are proud of our nation, and how many — like Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico — say the American flag is a “complicated symbol,” can there be any doubt that the wholesale excising of conservative ideas from Hollywood played a role in that?
There was almost nobody in Hollywood writing rooms — save maybe for shows like South Park and a few others — defending the founding fathers, stressing how far race relations in America have come, or, God forbid, questioning the ability of men to transform themselves into women.
As meaningful and important as the fellowship that FOA provided was for its members, the fact that it was needed at all goes a long way to showing just how intolerant of conservative ideas the entertainment industry had become, and for many conservative Americans, how detached it was from their own realities.
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The mere fact that Heaton can talk about FOA today does show a real thawing from the censorious ice age we recently came through. Today, more celebrities are comfortable talking about conservative ideals, including their faith.
But, make no mistake, there is still a long way to go. Just because people aren’t being fired for tweets anymore, doesn’t mean that Hollywood isn’t still 95% progressive, and that its output won’t continue to reflect that.
Though I’m not in the industry anymore, I’m glad conservatives who still are don’t need to hide it so much anymore, and hope that their influence is soon felt on our screens and in our lives. Until then, and even after, I will remain a proud friend of Abe.
