{"id":531032,"date":"2026-04-14T21:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/531032\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:56:07","slug":"florence-pugh-pedro-pascal-fight-to-block-paramount-warner-bros-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/531032\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal Fight to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFlorence Pugh and Pedro Pascal are adding their names to the now more than 2,000 Hollywood industry professionals who have signed an open letter opposing the Paramount<\/a>-Warner Bros. merger. New Signatories also include Edward Norton and Atsuko Okatsuka. Joaquin Phoenix,\u00a0Ben Stiller\u00a0and Kristen Stewart were among the original signatures<\/a> on the letter when it was initially released Monday, April 13.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are deeply concerned by indications of support for this merger that prioritize the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good,\u201d\u00a0the letter, which was\u00a0published by the New York Times\u00a0and available\u00a0on the website BlocktheMerger.com<\/a>, states. \u201cThe integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised. Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. So is thoughtful regulation and enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance\u00a0announced its intended $111 billion acquisition of\u00a0Warner Bros. Discovery in late February, following a battle with Netflix for ownership of the historic studio.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount issued a lengthy statement in response to the letter. \u201cWe hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity,\u201d the statement said, in part.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe response added, \u201cWe have been clear in our commitments to do just that: increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content, and preserving iconic brands with independent creative leadership \u2014ensuring creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original list of signatories also included Adam McKay, Alan Cumming, Alyssa Milano, Boots Riley, Bryan Cranston, Cynthia Nixon, Damon Lindelof, David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Elliot Page, Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, JJ Abrams, Jason Bateman, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Margaret Cho, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Wyle, Patti Lupone, Ramy Youssef, Rosario Dawson, Rosie O\u2019Donnell, Ted Danson, Tiffany Haddish, Tig Notaro, Yorgos Lanthimos and Yvette Nicole Brown, among others.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the Oscars in March, Jane Fonda wore a \u201cBlock the Merger\u201d pin<\/a> to advocate against the impending merger.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe know Trump wants to hurt\u2026 I mean, I slept with the guy who created it! I have a personal stake in it,\u201d Fonda told Variety about CNN, referring to her 10-year marriage to network founder Ted Turner. \u201c[CNN] did not take positions. It reported the news. To see what\u2019s happening now\u2026 we have to stop [it]\u2026 This pin is any merger, but the Paramount merger is really problematic. In order to get the permission to do the merger, they felt they had to cave to what Trump wanted. But we\u2019re going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florence Pugh and Pedro Pascal are adding their names to the now more than 2,000 Hollywood industry professionals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,3770,56,54,55,18200],"class_list":{"0":"post-531032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-paramount","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}