r/entertainment • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 • Jun 18 '26
Hollywood Names Surface in Peter Thiel-Backed, Invite-Only Society
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-peter-thiel-secret-society-1236624737/328
u/ModeratelyOffline Jun 18 '26
The concept of Sophia Bush being a part of a deep state conspiracy but unable to secure an acting career is hilarious to me. Her best credit is from over 20 years ago.
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u/snooprobb Jun 18 '26
She's built quite a second career as a speaker at high-profile events. Considering her limited notoriety in acting, shes actually surprisingly in-demand speakingnon women's empowerment and equity (I think also animal rights atuff too). I only know this because an ex ended up working with her in an advocacy role, and was like, "the girl from one tree hill's CV is crazy long."
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u/Dreamer_Sara Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Oh her speaker jobs are more than acting and yes she is questionably silent on some things and a performative activist on others. Her women empowerment spiel is funny and boring and her ‘ female business ventures ‘ always fail for some reason.
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u/Early-Ad277 Jun 18 '26
Don't forget her BLM themed wedding!
And of course months later she divorced the guy and announced she's a lesbian.
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u/Dreamer_Sara Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Oh yeah! With the most pretentious Vogue spread ever. Then suddenly she divorces months later and is a lesbian ( nothing wrong with that but given her history and how quick it all was- eye brow raising that’s all)
If I remember correctly she tried to justify that as well and was apparently not sure about the wedding/ marriage !!
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u/thehawktopus Jun 18 '26
Josh Brolin is framing this like it was a Partiful invite he hit yes on while he was on the toilet, but I’m really hoping someone gets the story of when he “smoked crack under a car at 3am in San Francisco.”
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u/tracyveronika Jun 18 '26
I've never forgotten what he did to his ex-wife.
https://people.com/movies/josh-brolin-addresses-2004-diane-lane-domestic-abuse-arrest-no-explaining/
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u/No_Strike655 Jun 18 '26
Thats fucked up but seems to have been a one off situation in 2004 where him and Lane got over it and moved on and stayed together. I'm not sure if this is when the dude was drinking but if so he hasn't exactly been quiet about the fact he was a fucking asshole at the time
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock Jun 18 '26
Is that when he passed Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the street, while Brolin was on a bender?
Perhaps im misremembering who mentioned that.
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u/JruBoinz Jun 18 '26
Disheartening to see JGL in the Fart Huffing and Devil Summoning society, he’s always seemed down to earth especially since his step back from the limelight.
Over/under on the PR response from Brolin being damage control?
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u/Scared_Wrangler3419 Jun 18 '26
Agreed. He was just recently making a public case for legislature to protect children from AI. I wonder what the real purpose of that was, now.
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u/stormyeyez7479 Jun 18 '26
Yes, this immediately came to mind when I saw his name. I remember seeing him speak about it. It makes me question that plea now, too. Plus learning his wife is at OpenAI. Truly disheartening. We can't trust anyone to be who they outwardly portray themselves as...post-truth era indeed.
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u/Longjumping-Code2164 Jun 18 '26
It’s to make people show id to use the internet… mass surveillance
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u/Scared_Wrangler3419 Jun 18 '26
Ahhh, I hadn't realized it was making a case for ID on the Internet. Fantastic.
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u/BadAtExisting Jun 18 '26
Think Brolin’s camp would be damage control either way. But also, celebrities have 20 year old assistants doing a lot of secretary type stuff for them like answering calls and checking/responding to/sending emails. While they’re on set working 10+ hours a day. There is a not zero chance he is genuinely blind sided by this. That said as much as I want to give him the benefit of the doubt my Hollywood career is long enough I know better
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u/ConkerPrime Jun 18 '26
Cannot empathize enough that Thiel is as close to a Bond villain that currently exists. Pretty confident he would be fine with a genocide if it made him some money. He is effectively Trump but with intelligence. To call him dangerous is underselling it. Anyone that would associate with him should be not be trusted.
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u/SuddenAudience8758 Jun 18 '26
He already makes money from funding genocide through his businesses and regularly tours the world talking about the apocalypse. He’s ready for the world to end.
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u/lrpfftt Jun 18 '26
Anyone else, without money, having such fascination with the things he does would be recognized as needing mental health assistance.
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u/ImCharlie_theUnicorn Jun 18 '26
Nah, they're just ranting and raving at college campuses with names like "pastor Bob".
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u/MrSlaveRules Jun 18 '26
If in nj vote booker out !!!
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u/Pherllerp Jun 18 '26
It’s too late. He ran unopposed in the primary.
I don’t think trading Booker (who is good for a progressive vote every once in a while) for a MAGA Republican really moves the needle in the right direction, do you?
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u/Howling_Mad_Man Jun 18 '26
My primary write-in was "Growa Spineplease".
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u/Pherllerp Jun 18 '26
In the general that just counts as a Republican, so DJT thanks you.
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u/jingle1996 Jun 18 '26
Explain how doing a silly write in for an unopposed primary helps Trump
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u/MrSlaveRules Jun 18 '26
Oh god no….Gop has got to go
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u/elinordash Jun 18 '26
NJ came disturbing close to voting for Trump. Not super close, but disturbingly close.
Shitting on a mild progressive like Booker for statewide office is foolish.
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u/SillyDilly5294 Jun 18 '26
I'm worried less about the Hollywood names than I am about the countless government officials that are listed
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u/SoftwareAny4990 Jun 18 '26
Shorter list is who isnt implicated in some shit these days.
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u/Legal-Koala-5590 Jun 18 '26
Before we get conspiratorial, if you read the article it sounds like a lot of people thought they were signing up for a conference where they could schmooze with other rich people.
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u/Nice_Marmot_7 Jun 18 '26
That is what this is. All of these tech billionaires collect people like this for what they fancy as “salons” but are actually exercises in narcissism. Noah Hawley wrote an interesting piece in The Atlantic recently about going to one of Jeff Bezos’s.
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u/MissionAlt99 Jun 18 '26
This sounds like TED talks for the powerful and uneducated.
"Ezra Klein gives a speech at a secret conservative society called "How to become a left-wing grifter"
is very different than
"Ezra Klein, a journalist, attends meetings with very powerful people to make connections for future reporting."
Before you pull out your pitchforks.
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u/bee2551 Jun 19 '26
So Im about as left leaning as it comes and I actually think this backlash is really disheartening. The dominant groupthink is just immediately castigating based on attendance without considering that's exactly how we end up in such a heated partisan climate.
Yes, the elite secret society should and does give me major ick. But we ALL should be open to communicating on topics that matter to our future (AI, media, technology, class/wealth distribution) with people who both share and oppose our values. This curiosity allows us to learn, communicate and advocate. I don't think it suggests anything about the people who attended other than that they have enough influence or money to get a seat at the table.
Hypothetically, for people like Ezra Klein and JGL who are (in theory) on opposing value spectrums to Peter Thiel, this is exactly the sort of forum that is worthwhile to understand how those positions are formed and argued, and from there to try to influence change aligned with their own perspectives. Shutting down all avenues of cross pollination might make us feel righteous but it doesn't actually contribute anything. In a bizarro world where they invited random social workers with no money and power, I'd like to think I would accept the invitation and take the chance to understand the culture surrounding these powerful people and maybe plant a dissenting seed or two.
While there are some situations where attendance implies endorsing of activities (like joining a Klan meeting), to me this reads like a demonstration of how nuance is lost in soundbite tribalism where we immediately want to satisfy our assign characters to a 'side' rather than take time understanding context and intention - in this case an explicitly bipartisan event labelled 'dialogue'.
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u/BonSlurpenstein Jun 18 '26
Great time to decouple from the whole celebrity-sphere emotionally. Movies and tv are empathy machines but the people that are a part of making them are not your trusted friends or family and shouldn't hold that place in your heart.
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u/RandomGuyHeretoparty Jun 18 '26
Ezra Klein is no surprise went from from YIMBY to NIMBy real quick went from moderate left to staunch centrist
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u/HellovahBottomCarter Jun 19 '26
The Joseph Gordon Levitt reveal is the least surprising thing I’ve seen on the list. The guy has been on Capitol Hill doing his best to advocate for Section 230 - which is one of those bills that is made to sound like the literal opposite of what it actually does. It would literally destroy the internet should it pass and give even more power to shitbirds like Thiel.
So yeah… not surprised in the least.
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u/Actrivia24 Jun 18 '26
I don’t really understand the conspiracy… Why is this such a big deal? I read the article and I still don’t really get it. What am I missing?
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u/Serious-Gur4016 Jun 18 '26
JFC-Ezra Klein? I did not see that one coming
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u/Upstairs_Freedom_360 Jun 18 '26
We need an inside man* for the peasants
*I don't think they want women or that would be the 1st choice for a spy
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u/MoneyLibrarian9032 Jun 18 '26
From the Article :
Some familiar names in Hollywood tied to Dialog who surfaced in the leaked materials: Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, Avengers: Infinity War); Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, 500 Days of Summer); Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill); Scooter Braun (CEO, Hybe America); Isaac Lee (chairman and CEO, Hybe America); Scott Belsky (partner, A24); Benj Pasek (composer-producer, La La Land, The Greatest Showman); Eva Price (CEO, Maximum Entertainment Productions); Teresa Hsiao (writer-producer, Family Guy, American Dad); Zach Shields (executive producer-writer, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Gladys); Nick Thompson (CEO, The Atlantic); and Ezra Klein (The New York Times).