<\/p>\n
A state attorney<\/span> general challenging the controversial mega-merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery is under attack from a newly created mystery nonprofit accused of being an \u201castroturf\u201d front group.<\/p>\n The group sent text messages in recent days calling on Californians to pressure Democratic state Attorney General Rob Bonta in support of the merger, which he has sued to block in court.<\/p>\n The text messages are the latest escalation of the increasingly bitter battle between Bonta and Paramount CEO David Ellison, who has threatened to move his movie studio to Texas<\/a> or Tennessee<\/a>, according to reports from multiple outlets, if a coalition of state attorneys general led by Bonta keeps fighting the merger.<\/p>\n The group behind the text campaign, Neighbors for Strong Communities, cited Ellison\u2019s threat in messages encouraging support for the merger.<\/p>\n \u201cThe behavior we\u2019re seeing is what powerful corporations do when they are losing control of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The group denied the allegations that it is mounting an \u201castroturf\u201d campaign, but declined to reveal its donors. The lack of transparency led free-speech advocates to issue a scathing press release this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe behavior we\u2019re seeing is what powerful corporations do when they are losing control of the story,\u201d Rashad Robinson, co-chair of the Committee for the First Amendment, said in a statement. \u201cThe more the public understands what\u2019s at stake \u2014 fewer jobs, fewer stories told, and even more power in the hands of a few billionaires \u2014 the harder the deal becomes for Paramount to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Neighbors for Strong Communities, Tanner Kelly, declined to disclose the group\u2019s donors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t disclose funders, but this campaign is operated independently of Paramount,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In a statement to The Intercept, Warner Bros. Discovery denied funding the text message campaign. Paramount Skydance did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ellison\u2019s merger plans have divided Hollywood unions<\/a>, leading proponents and opponents to engage in a heated war of words over who speaks for the entertainment industry\u2019s working class.<\/p>\n Into that fray jumped Neighbors for Strong Communities, which was incorporated in Washington in June, a little over three months after Paramount launched its takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n The national debate over the mega merger has focused on suspicions that Paramount CEO David Ellison might be willing<\/a> to tilt coverage<\/a> at Warner properties like CNN in favor of Donald Trump<\/a>. Ellison, whose billionaire father<\/a> is a close ally of Trump\u2019s, has courted favor with the White House as the merger moves forward.<\/p>\n The debate over the Paramount merger in California, however, has often centered on jobs.<\/p>\n In text messages to Californians that went out earlier this week, Neighbors for Strong Communities asked recipients to send Bonta messages raising the concern that his opposition to the merger will cost the state thousands of jobs \u2014 because of Ellison\u2019s reported threat to move Paramount to Texas.<\/p>\n Those messages and the group\u2019s generic website offer little insight into Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s origins. Its incorporation papers in Washington show that several listed directors have worked as political consultants.<\/p>\n In a statement to The Intercept, one of those directors, Tanner Kelly, described the group as a \u201ccommunity advocacy organization that helps everyday people participate in public decisions affecting their lives, livelihoods and futures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Neighbors and Nemeses<\/strong><\/h2>\n