Hollywood Braces for a Woke Backlash in the Wake of Trump’s Election

Hollywood, overwhelmingly liberal, is weighing the potential backlash to its business of a second Donald Trump presidency and a right-leaning electorate. 

After many years of embracing left-wing values — diversity and inclusion in Marvel and “Star Wars” storylines, empowering women in superhero movies and animated kids fare — Hollywood may find itself tipping rightward as the winds of change blow through the country. 

It’s a shift away from “wokeness” that was already underway. But some in the industry are clearly concerned.

“We know that Hollywood loves to follow and not lead,” Evan Shapiro, a film and television producer, told TheWrap. “It’s very likely you’ll see more of Jake Paul, more of Joe Rogan, more of Zachary Levi, more of Roseanne Barr. More of the right-leaning, conservative-leaning creator economy will get more airtime, because clearly that s–t works.”

On Friday, producer and former talent manager Cassian Elwes noted on X that the experience of putting together a new movie “has been painful because of the current environment in Hollywood where fear is rampant. But I’m a filmmaker … I need to lead by example. The audience is out there. We just need to figure out a way to reach them. I’m hoping there are distribution innovators dreaming of new paths.”

In the days after the election, TheWrap spoke to talent managers, producers, directors and consultants to get their take on how a rightward lean could impact Hollywood output. Their opinions varied, with some rejecting the notion that entertainment will be a target, while others insisted that – target or not – Hollywood will find a way to produce and distribute diverse stories.

“Hollywood won’t be a target,” said one top talent agent. “To think they’ll be specifically targeted is hubris personified. If they make good films and TV shows, like ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Twisters,’ ‘It Ends With Us’ [and] ‘Yellowstone’ that appeal to mass audiences rather than niche NYC-L.A. audiences, they’ll be fine.”

Emmy-winning producer Rob Eric noted his company Scout Productions debuted some of its biggest hits during the first Trump presidency, including “Queer Eye,” now the longest-running show on Netflix.

“Whenever you try to stifle the voice of a very loud and a very prevalent community, it just gets louder and harder to stifle,” Eric said of rebooting the reality makeover series in 2018. “It’s like a dam, right? You can only hold that water back so long.”

Trump and Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have repeatedly pushed back on “woke culture” as a core part of their political strategy. The president-elect has stated that he will push to defund National Public Radio and PBS, and potentially restrict the awarding and renewal of FCC licenses. That has some Hollywood veterans fearing an industry that becomes compelled to engage in self-censorship. 

“These studios should not be surprised when they get a knock on the door and they find out that there’s going to be a new code for movies and television shows that are going to be broadcast nationally,” Shapiro said, referring to Hollywood’s self-imposed Hayes Code from 1934 to 1968, which severely restricted profanity, suggestive nudity, suggestive drug use and “ridicule of the clergy.”

Hollywood was already becoming less “woke”

Diversity programming in Hollywood kicked off largely during the #MeToo movement, which took off in 2017 with the revelations of sexual misconduct involving former mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

By 2022, 31 of the top films featured an individual from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group in a lead or co-lead role, according to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. That was more than double the 13 in 2007 films but fell short of the 16-year high of 37 films in 2021.

And only 15% of 2022’s top 100 films featured a cast that was “gender-balanced” — that is, featured girls and women in 45-55% of speaking roles. That was unchanged from 2007. There was only one gender nonbinary character across the 100 top films of 2022, Annenberg found.

In the wake of Black Lives Matter, major corporations — including tech titans Amazon, Google, Netflix and Apple — became more publicly willing to wade into heated local and national debates over increased diversity, equity and inclusion. Amid a GOP backlash against “woke corporations,” they have since backed off, in the same way the commitment for BLM waned after 2020, a study by Loyola Marymount University found.

At the same time, Hollywood’s DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) executives have been exiting the major studios over the last year in droves.

So it’s not surprising that over the past year, Hollywood has been shifting to more conservative output — or at least a more heteronormative one.

More of the right-leaning, conservative-leaning creator economy will get more airtime, because clearly that s—t works. — Evan Shapiro, TV and film producer

Marvel, the maker of the biggest and most consistent franchise hits, made a push to create a more diverse lineup after the runaway success of “Black Panther” in 2018 and the Brie Larson-led “Captain Marvel” in 2019. Both films grossed over $1 billion at the box office. In their wake, the studio released “Shang-Chi,” featuring a nearly all-Asian cast, the diverse ensemble film “Eternals” from filmmaker Chloé Zhao and female team-up “The Marvels.” 

That was on top of a TV output that included “Ms. Marvel,” a TV show about a teenage Muslim superhero, and the Tatiana Maslany-led “She-Hulk.”

But upcoming projects from Marvel are less diverse. Next year’s “Fantastic Four” has only one person of color in its main cast, and the titular “Thunderbolts” team is majority white, with four out of the six. After Jonathan Majors was jettisoned as the main villain for the upcoming “Avengers” movies over his domestic assault charges, Marvel tapped Robert Downey Jr. as his replacement, bringing the Iron Man actor back as Doctor Doom.

And it’s not just Marvel. Most of the main characters in Warner Bros. and DC’s “Superman” reboot are white, a contrast from Zack Snyder’s diverse “Justice League” lineup that included Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher. After the previous regime cast Sasha Calle as the first Latina Supergirl in 2024’s “The Flash,” new DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran cast Milly Alcock as the character for their rebooted solo “Supergirl” film. And “Batgirl,” a $90 million film that starred Dominican actress Leslie Grace, was shelved entirely by Warner Bros.

Then there’s “Star Wars.” Racist backlash to Moses Ingram’s character in the “Obi-Wan” show became a powder keg for online criticism and prompted Lucasfilm to speak out directly against the attacks. The racist vitriol returned when “The Acolyte,” which focuses on the relationship between two Black female leads and their non-white mentors, premiered this year. Disney did not renew the show for a second season. It was the first “Star Wars” show to be canceled under Kathleen Kennedy’s leadership at Lucasfilm.

Prime Video’s “Lord of the Rings” series also faced backlash for its diverse casting, with Ismael Cruz Córdova receiving the brunt of the attacks as the franchise’s first elf of color. When the second season rolled out in 2024, Córdova’s character – one of the main characters in Season 1 – had reduced screentime.

These decisions were not wholly motivated by kowtowing to fan backlash. The Marvel movies suffered from overall superhero fatigue in the marketplace and “Rings of Power” faced an uphill battle to justify the show’s $1 billion price tag with an increase in viewership in Season 2. 

But it is a noticeable trend. Hollywood’s biggest franchise plays and IP-driven films and shows – which is where it puts most of its money – are getting less diverse.

“Look at the backlash to ‘Little Mermaid’ or ‘Lord of the Rings,’” said a different top manager. “This is only going to increase post-election.”

Will the studios exit the culture wars?

That shift underway could soften the blow of Trump’s second go-around as president, which will be accompanied by a Republican-controlled Senate, House and already conservative-leaning — and activist — Supreme Court.

“The woke backlash if any would be minimal,” a longtime entertainment industry consultant said. “This is a different time and a different country, and studios learned a harsh lesson by jumping headfirst into the culture wars. No studio will make that mistake again.”

Shapiro wondered if “Roseanne” creator Barr would have been fired from her show in 2018 in the current culture. “Everyone said Zachary Levi was committing career suicide when he supported Trump. I don’t think that’s as true a statement as it was three months ago,” he observed.

And will there be any blowback or retribution for the cavalcade of entertainment superstars — including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen — that supported Kamala Harris? 

Influencing Hollywood’s content may be harder today than it would seem. Industry leader Netflix produces international programs in many different languages and as a result is less vulnerable to pressure.

“This is a global network, so you have to appease such a huge number of people, and that includes people that do not want to suppress storytelling, because it doesn’t coincide with the thought ethics of a certain political group,” Eric said.

Meanwhile Alphabet-owned YouTube has exploded over the past five years, driven by user-generated content. The platform is so ubiquitous that even Russia allowed it to remain live when other Western content providers and streaming services were ordered out by Vladimir Putin’s government.

“Overall in American culture and society, yes, of course there was a backlash to woke culture,” the agent said. “It’s the entire reason for the explosion in standup comedy — in standup comedy, they can’t be censored like they would be in film and TV.”

He added that “Donald Trump was so right-wing crazy during his first term that the left and Democrats moved to the extreme left in culture and politics. It was like any other pendulum. Eventually it will settle in the middle where 80% of the American people reside.”

Sharon Knolle, Umberto Gonzalez, Jose Alejandro Bastidas and Kayla Cobb contributed reporting.

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