Variety recently dropped a lengthy tantrum disguised as journalism, panicking over David Ellison’s growing influence in Hollywood. Their feature warned that the Paramount chief is “building a Hollywood juggernaut” and accused him of injecting the industry with something truly dangerous — success that doesn’t bow to left-wing dogma. They treated it like a doomsday prophecy. For anyone outside Los Angeles County, it sounds like a breath of fresh air.

The centerpiece of Variety’s meltdown is President Donald Trump’s plan to host a UFC event on the White House lawn in partnership with Ellison’s Paramount. They even threw in the detail that the fight would fall on Trump’s 80th birthday, June 14, 2026. The horror. Guests will eat dinner, watch some MMA, and celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said it will be “a spectacular event.” Naturally, Variety compared it to Idiocracy. That’s Hollywood code for “things normal Americans enjoy.”

Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, took over Paramount with two goals: make great movies and make money. For the left, that’s controversial. Variety treats him like a Bond villain for saying he wants to outpace Warner Bros. Discovery. He’s been criticized for cutting bloat, hiring competent people, and greenlighting movies that actual audiences might buy tickets to see. Every time he saves money or improves a product, someone in Beverly Hills writes a 2,000-word essay about “the MAGAfication of Hollywood.”

Variety wailed that Ellison has replaced old executives with people who hold “unfashionable” views. Translation: they’re not woke scolds. The horror continues. Some even admit to supporting Israel. Bari Weiss, now at CBS News after selling her Free Press outlet to Paramount for $150 million, is treated like a security threat because she refuses to bash her own country. The story points out she and her wife travel with bodyguards, as though that’s somehow sinister instead of just common sense in a town that punishes dissent.

Then there’s the pearl-clutching about layoffs. You’d think Variety just discovered how corporate restructuring works. These are the same people who cheered while Disney gutted whole animation units to chase streaming dollars, but now that Ellison dares to streamline Paramount, it’s a “Trumpian purge.” It never seems to occur to them that political activism doesn’t pay the bills. Ellison’s so-called “MAGA corporate culture” is really just accountability — something Hollywood hasn’t experienced since DVDs sold.

What truly drives them insane is that Paramount is turning back toward movies that Americans actually want to see. The studio is reviving crowd-pleasing stories like Top Gun and Days of Thunder, and developing more patriotic, adventure-driven projects. Variety sneers that some of them are “America-centric.” Right, because celebrating the country that pays your bills is apparently offensive now. Compared to endless reboots about “systemic injustices,” a motocross thriller like High Side sounds like a welcome change.

Tom Cruise stopping by the Paramount lot was treated like a coded political statement. He congratulated the new team and discussed potential collaborations. To Variety, that must be evidence of some MAGA sleeper cell forming beneath the Hollywood sign. In reality, it’s just what success looks like when politics take a back seat.

The irony is delicious. For decades, Hollywood mocked Trump voters as uneducated and out of touch. Now the same culture warriors are terrified that those same “deplorables” might become Hollywood’s biggest audience again. Variety’s hit piece read like a panic diary from an industry allergic to free markets. They’re watching the Ellisons win because they stopped apologizing for selling entertainment instead of lectures.

That’s the real story Variety couldn’t bring itself to print. The Ellisons believe in merit over messaging and competition over conformity. They don’t care if cocktail parties howl about “MAGA vibes.” Their focus is on the audience — the same forgotten millions who put butts in theater seats and elected a builder as president. Hollywood hasn’t catered to those people in years. If Ellison’s version of Paramount succeeds, it won’t just be a business revival. It’ll be cultural payback, and the critics will deserve every second of it.

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