Blue State AG Gets A Warning As He Weighs Major Hollywood Move

Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday expressing “concern” over Bonta’s office reportedly preparing to sue to block the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

In a copy of the letter posted Saturday to X, Issa claimed that “for at least a decade, film and television production has fled the state once synonymous with the motion picture, television, and digital industries – repeatedly citing California’s anticompetitive 💼Business environment, burdensome regulatory rules, and excessive taxes, fees and costs.”

“The result has been the loss of tens of thousands of California jobs and the wholesale relocation of studios, facilities, and related businesses that built our entertainment economy,” he continues. “Nothing in your reported opposition to date seems to address this crisis head-on or offer a real solution.”

Neither Newsom’s office, Bonta’s office, nor Issa’s office responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

“The public record is that the authorities of more than two dozen nations around the world – including Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa – have formed a global consensus that this merger is pro-competition,” Issa adds. “In addition to gaining the regulatory approval of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the backers of the merger have publicly pledged significant new investment in production, including a commitment to annually release 30 or more films per year and prioritize domestic production for both film and television.”