Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has announced he is targeting Hollywood for its habit of allowing Communist China to censor its content.
Cruz will introduce a bill, titled the “Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies” Act, that would terminate Defense Department assistance for any film studio that capitulates to Chinese censors, the New York Post reported.
Cruz issued a statement asserting, “For too long, Hollywood has been complicit in China’s censorship and propaganda in the name of bigger profits. The SCRIPT Act will serve as a wakeup call by forcing Hollywood studios to choose between the assistance they need from the American government and the dollars they want from China.”
Last July, after it was revealed that Paramount Pictures had reportedly altered the film “Top Gun,” starring Tom Cruise, by removing two patches showing the Japanese and Taiwanese flags that were on Cruise’s jacket, Cruz blasted Paramount, telling The Washington Free Beacon, “Top Gun is an American classic, and it’s incredibly disappointing to see Hollywood elites appease the Chinese Communist Party. The Party uses China’s economy to silence dissent against its brutal repression and to erode the sovereignty of American allies like Taiwan. Hollywood is afraid to stand up for free speech and is enabling the Party’s campaign against Taiwan.”
A senior GOP congressional official echoed, “It’s going to take something people can understand to shake lawmakers awake. This Top Gun controversy isn’t a military attack or anything like that, but it’s so brazen and outrageous that maybe a few more people will pay attention. The current situation, where China slowly gets Americans to self-censor, just isn’t sustainable.”
Earlier on Thursday, The Daily Wire reported that Cruz “plans to introduce a bill that will put a stop to a particular Chinese propaganda station from reaching American listeners via a loophole in U.S. law.”
The Washington Free Beacon exclusively obtained a copy of Cruz’s legislation, which would put a halt to the Chinese Communist Party’s exploitation of U.S. law that allows them to use a broadcast tower in Mexico to transmit Chinese propaganda into the U.S. using Phoenix TV, and outlet that was purchased in 2018 by a group with ties to the Chinese government.
“China should not be able to set up shop in Mexico and blanket America with propaganda. Every year, the [Chinese Communist Party] spends billions of dollars purchasing news outlets and waging information warfare to extend the reach of its propaganda and whitewash the unflattering and politically inconvenient truths about its totalitarian regime,” Cruz told the Free Beacon.
In early April, Cruz ripped NBC News after the network tweeted, “U.S. reports 1,264 coronavirus deaths in over 24 hours. Meanwhile in China, where the pandemic broke out, not a single new coronavirus death was reported.”
Cruz responded, “Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 USC 611 et seq, I’m pretty sure NBC is now legally obligated to close every broadcast with—and append to every tweet—’this message paid for by the Communist Party of China.'”
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 USC 611 et seq, I’m pretty sure NBC is now legally obligated to close every broadcast with—and append to every tweet—“this message paid for by the Communist Party of China.” https://t.co/fmg11oJnDY
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 8, 2020
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