海角大神

Tim Allen feels it鈥檚 so tough to be a conservative in Hollywood, it鈥檚 like living in Nazi Germany.

鈥淵ou know, you get beat up if you don鈥檛 believe what everybody believes,鈥� the comedian joked on 听鈥淛immy Kimmel Live!鈥� on Friday.听鈥淭his is like 鈥�30s Germany.鈥�

The comedian鈥檚 grousing was met with immediate backlash, with the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect from the star of 鈥淟ast Man Standing.鈥�

鈥淭im, have you lost your mind?鈥� Steven Goldstein, the executive director of organization, said in a statement. 鈥淣o one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews.鈥澨�

It鈥檚 unclear if Mr. Allen鈥檚 comparison was simply spontaneous shtick, or deeply-felt frustration. But听Allen is one of a number of conservatives in the entertainment industry who have previously spoken up about feeling politically "silenced." They feel uncomfortable expressing their views in Hollywood's liberal bastion, they say, fearing that they'll be shut out 鈥撎齛 shift, they say, from studio lots' more open political climate in the 1990s.

But from a historical perspective, Allen's comparison is at least misguided, experts say: Social pressures in Hollywood simply aren't comparable to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, culminating in the Holocaust, or even the blacklisting of left-leaning actors and writers under McCarthyism. And at the bottom line, Hollywood may not be such a stalwartly liberal bloc, they add.

鈥淐orporate Hollywood doesn鈥檛 know left from right. Corporate Hollywood only knows green. They鈥檙e interested in one thing only and that is making money,鈥� says Steven Ross, a history professor at the University of Southern California, and author of the forthcoming book, 鈥淗itler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America.鈥� 鈥淧olitics are secondary to what they believe the bottom line will be for a studio or TV network.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 talent, not politics that prevents you from working,鈥� Dr. Ross tells 海角大神 in a phone interview on Wednesday. 鈥淲hat [Allen is] complaining about simply doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

The comedian made his comment after Mr. Kimmel听asked him about attending President Trump鈥檚 inauguration in January. 鈥淚鈥檓 not attacking you,鈥� Kimmel told him, after his guest initially said he 鈥渨ent to go see Democrats and Republicans.鈥�

鈥淵ou gotta be real careful 鈥檙ound here,鈥� Allen replied as Kimmel laughed. 鈥淵ou know, you get beat up if you don鈥檛 believe what everybody believes. This is like 鈥�30s Germany. I don鈥檛 know what happened.鈥�

This isn鈥檛 the first time Allen has publicly criticized the entertainment industry for suffocating conservative opinions.

鈥淲hat I find odd in Hollywood is they didn鈥檛 like Trump because he was a bully,鈥� Allen told then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly in November. 鈥淏ut if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, for doing that. It gets a little hypocritical.鈥�

Ms. Kelly agreed.

鈥淚 know many of them who are part of the Hollywood conservative underground,鈥� she said.

Nestled in a county that for Hillary Clinton, Hollywood is considered a liberal hub. Some conservatives in the industry have opined that, while once more tolerant of minority political views, it is no longer an amiable environment.听

鈥淚n the 鈥�90s, it was never really an issue that I had to hide. I was always forthright,鈥� Gerald Molen, a producer whose credits include 鈥淪chindler鈥檚 List鈥� and two 鈥淛urassic Park鈥� movies, told the Los Angeles Times. That's no longer the case, he said. 鈥�. It鈥檚 front and center.鈥�

The climate is so bad, they say, that the largest conservative organization in the industry, Friends of Abe, keeps the names of its 2,500 members secret.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a McCarthyism coming from the left,鈥� one prominent TV and movie actor who requested his name not be used for fear of professional repercussions told the L.A. Times. 鈥淚n 30 years of show business, I鈥檝e never seen it like this. If you are even lukewarm to Republicans, you are excommunicated from the church of tolerance.鈥�

But historians who specialize in the entertainment industry and politics say comparisons to McCarthyism ignore how those on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s were treated.

鈥淭hese and other moments of repression of political ideas involved much more than social pressure like not being invited to cocktail parties,鈥� Kathryn Brownell, a history professor at Purdue University and author of 鈥淪howbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Politics,鈥� tells the Monitor on Wednesday. She mentions conservatives in the industry collaborating with the federal government during the "Red Scare" to prevent the hiring of those with liberal views.

Dr. Brownell acknowledges the current tension between the Trump administration and members of the entertainment industry. Actress Meryl Streep, for instance, devoted an acceptance speech at the Golden Globes in January to criticizing President Trump. But Brownell adds that Mr. Trump has directly benefited from the industry and his time as a reality TV star 鈥撎齮hen, as a president and candidate, depicted Hollywood as an adversary.

鈥淗e contributed to that environment Tim Allen talked about,鈥� said Brownell. 鈥淭rump has tried to intensify this 鈥榰s versus them鈥� debate.鈥�

But some of Trump's inner circle has come from Hollywood. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon were once film producers, part of the conservative corporate Hollywood that Dr. Ross at USC mentions. 听

Allen鈥檚 comments also come as evidence is mounting that a growing number of Republican men feel discriminated against, a cohort the comedian represents听as a vocal conservative on the 鈥淟ast Man Standing鈥� sitcom. According to the American National Election Study, 18 percent of Republican men in 2016 said , compared to 9 percent in 2012, according to data Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, cited in an article for the Harvard Business Review. In 2016, an additional 23 percent of Republican men said they faced 鈥渁 moderate amount鈥� of discrimination, for a total of 41 percent.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing men who have had privilege and were in charge of different elements of society no longer winning as much as they were,鈥� Dr. Cassino tells the Monitor. 鈥淣ow, because of the representation of women and the proportional representation of minorities, men are no longer running 100 percent of everything. They are running 60 percent of everything. It鈥檚 a relative loss of where we are.鈥�

He adds that Allen鈥檚 comments are an outgrowth of conservative claims that contemporary liberals' insistence on tolerance toward ethnic and religious minorities has produced intolerance toward any illiberal political opinions, such as those shared on college campuses or in TV interviews.

But Allen鈥檚 comparison is also reminiscent of an argument from the alt-right movement about the threat of white identity, say both Cassino and Charles Gallagher, a sociologist at La Salle University.

This argument has become more mainstream, with Breitbart News and nationalist rhetoric taking on more prominence as a result of the听2016 election and new administration,听he explains. Whether Allen鈥檚 comparison was heartfelt听or spur-of-the-moment shtick听(attempts to reach the comedian were unsuccessful), the normalization of the alt-right empowered Allen to make this statement, even if it was meant as self-deprecating humor, says Dr. Gallagher.

鈥淭hese are the folks he's tapping,鈥� Gallagher says of economically struggling areas, where his routine may resonate best.听鈥淏ut for him to suggest he is the victim of some kind of liberal Hollywood establishment is comical.鈥�