Fact Check

Is Hollywood Going on Strike Until Donald Trump Resigns?

Reports that entertainment celebrities are going on an all-out strike until Donald Trump resigns the presidency are fake news.

Published Jan. 10, 2017

 (Juan Camilo Bernal / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Juan Camilo Bernal / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
Hollywood is going on strike until Donald Trump resigns from the presidency.

On 6 January 2017, the web site The Rightists published an article reporting that Hollywood was going on strike until Donald Trump resigned from the presidency.

The Rightists bills itself as a "hybrid" web site that publishes articles containing a mixture of fact and fiction. In this case, the article started off with a paragraph concerning a one-page ad published in the New York Times by the group "Refuse Facism," which was reportedly supported by celebrities such as Rosie O'Donnell, Debra Messing, and Ed Asner:

The bulk of The Rightists article, however, was made up of fictional quotes from a non-existent spokesperson. The following paragraphs, for instance, are complete fabrications:

Other Hollywood celebrities who have also joined the campaign, however, are calling for an all-out strike that would span the entire movie industry in the hopes that such a move would urge the President-elect to resign from his position as the newly elected President of the United States. “We’re calling for a general strike that would include every single person involved in making motion pictures in Hollywood, starting with the actors and celebrities themselves and encompassing companies in charge of making props, movie memorabilia and even souvenir shops,” a spokesperson for the Refuse Racism group told The New York Times. “It’s about time people understood that we’re the ones with the power and that the president is there to serve us, not the other way around.”

Asked to elaborate on why the group is targeting Hollywood out of all the industries in the country as their bargaining chip, the spokesperson argued that Hollywood “is, simply put, the base of the entire modern American culture. It is the foundation of the country, so to speak, the glue that’s holding it together. And think about what happens when you destroy the foundation of a house. It comes crashing down, right? Well, that’s exactly what’s going to happen to America unless Donald Trump realizes how real the danger of that actually is, and chooses to step down as President of his own free will. And while we’re on the subject, between you and me — nobody wants Hollywood to stop doing its thing, but this is a necessary move.”

The above-displayed passage was not published in an article by the New York Times, did not appear in any other credible publication, and were not spoken by a spokesperson for "Refuse Facism." They originated on a web site that publishes articles consisting of a  "hybrid" of fact and fiction:

TheRightists.com is independent News platform That allow People and independent Journalist to bring the news directly to the readers. Readers come to us as a source of independent news that not effected from the big channels.

This is HYBRID site of news and satire. part of our stories already happens, part, not yet. NOT all of our stories are true!

Refuse Facism has been endorsed by several celebrities, and the group has organized protests, but the quotes published by The Rightists stating that Hollywood was going on strike until Trump resigned are pure fiction.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.