Thanks for sharing!

But I have to to say: "read your contracts" or the script.

I mean, I can totally see this happening but my pitty of a (relatively) rich guy being taken advantage of is... Limited.

If this is so important then breach the contract.

I didn't see how this changes something?

He's 82 fgs! This totally sounds like they scammed him.

Maybe that's why you read the script and ask who is producing when doing a film explicitly political.

Didn’t the same thing happen to someone else recently? A female actor had no idea that the project she was signed onto was pro-MAGA and dipped out as soon as she realized. I forget who it was, though.

Stuff can come across vastly differently between the original script and the final product.

If they didn't find out Ben was involved until two weeks into shooting then he probably wasn't initially involved or they hid his involvement. Reading the contract doesn't help if they lie to you or change things after signing.

It happened with the America 250 celebration thing. Almost all of the musical acts dropped out when they learned how divisive and political it was. Pretty sure they were duped into thinking it was a bipartisan “celebration” of America or something.

They could’ve written both the contract and the description of the script in an obscured way that still passed the lawyer test. Not trying to give a rich person an out, and instead trying to illustrate how shitty the Daily Wire and Ben Shapiro are.

Wasn't told it was political, like most of the cast and crew (cause daily wire couldn't hire enough people if they were honest about what they're making)

"Complicated story about a complicated time," sure sounds like a movie that's going to have political elements. And then you ask your agent how exactly it's complicated and who is involved.

That isn’t how it work. Especially with facist. My local « facist club » rent a venue 2-3 years ago, on paper everything was legit. It took the hard work and the burning of one AntiFa mole to understand what was going on.

His representation should have caught this and should be fired. This is 100% their job.

While I fully believe the daily wire did some shady ass shit, I'm pretty sure Danny was more willing than he's trying to make it seem.

He chooses his roles, he owns resturants, he has hundreds of acting credits and plenty of money. He can afford to walk away if he actually believed what he says.

Thid is something everyone needs to understand the day their signature becomes legally binding (ideally before): it doesn't matter who gives it to you, it doesn't matter how trustworthy you think they are, it doesn't matter what anyone told you it says, it doesn't matter what you think it says, it doesn't matter how many other contracts you signed that look just like this one,

ALWAYS read the WHOLE contract BRFORE you sign it because once that ink is on that paper, there's no going back.

I guess the guy has a new agent now.

If they lied or changed things after signing, then it might be plausible they already broke the terms of the contract.

It was going to be, until trump won 2025 and wanted to put his stink on it.

My grandma taught me this is a child. She had me sign a blank paper. Afterwards, she wrote “I love grandma”. I did in fact not love her and she duped me into it. I learned my lesson that day.

He is still at fault for not researching about who is involved in the project

But I have to to say: "read your contracts" or the script.

Neither helps in situations like this. A script can be fully rewritten after you are contractually obligated, and a standard, boilerplate, movie contract would include language to not allow the actor to hurt or abandon the project.

Every side of this story is on brand. I 100% believe those MAGA fucks scammed an old man into making their racist trash by weaponising what he holds dear.

Its easy to believe that but then I think about how many people ended up on the Eric Andre show without having any idea about what it actually is and its like... That one you can just look up, if you're really trying to hide shit it seems like you can get away with it by just being vague as hell.

One thing AI is really good at is evaluating contracts. I am not saying to use it with the big name commercial tools, but running it locally and having it evaluate contracts, it's been amazing. It's like I actually read terms of service now, and I've been able to avoid some shady organizations whose contracts seemed just fine until I had them evaluated.

Every single one of these actors could choose, at any moment, to just walk off set.

They're wealthy as fuck. Back out of the contract and Take the hit. Have some fucking morals, you can absolutely afford it.

No respect for any of these actors who continued working after finding out who was behind it.

In fact, if they really did dupe them, they might be able to get out of the contract without having to pay anything. And they'd probably get a ton of great press to boot.

From what I read, a significant number of the crew bailed as soon as they found out. Working people who most certainly need the money more than any of the actors I've seen listed.

Shameful.

Oh no guys, the contract says he can't do anything. I guess the contract supercedes his ethics and morals and physically prevents him from leaving the set.

Give me a fucking break. Fuck the contract.

And you know how contracts are, they use ancient magicks to physically bind an actor to the set, not allowing them to leave.

Yeah, but also, you can break the contract and accept the consequences

Especially if you're as financially secure as someone like Trejo.

And if they actually were duped, they might even be able to get out of it clean.

Scripts can change constantly throughout development from what I understand. They probably used this fact to their advantage and only provided "an early version" of the script where they purposely left out the stuff they knew would be red flags.

Regardless, a contract is ultimately just a piece of paper; an agreement that can be broken. It happens all of the time. Nothing was forcing any of these actors to continue once they found out. They can afford to break the contract and walk off.

Oh my god shut up

And that's why unionizing is always important.

Yeah, I feel he actually has a case he can win if they do sue for breach of contract.

They handcuffed him. Handcuffed!!!

Do you know [for sure] that he [doesn't want to walk] away from it?
It's one thing to quit a job, it's another one entirely to put yourself at unnecessary legal risk for violating a contract that says you can't badmouth your employer.

Edit: in brackets for clarity

Danny is a member of SAG-AFTRA

Yes, AI is good at summarizing text, but it’s not perfect and it’s not deterministic.‘that’s why they want to build out as much AI as possible while collecting and storing all online communications, so they can see who their political enemies are, so thwy can corner the markets before new innovations are announced, so they can have insider knowledge when to buy and sell their investments. So they can hold onto power forever.

It’s not a miracle machine, it’s not smart,
It doesn’t think. It’s a ruse to get you to give up your autonomy.

I think the Eric Andre show has the benefit of being thrown into people’s schedules AND I highly doubt anyone didn’t know they weren’t going to get some shock publicity out of it.

I wanna take Trejos side here, because this generally fits my world view and fuck Ben Shapiro but 🤷

I’ll err on the side of fuck Ben Shapiro.

i am honestly curious what you mean by "political" here.

from my perspective, it's a celebration of america declaring independence 250 years ago and the continuance of it as a state in that tradition. i can't imagine anything more inherently political no matter who or what force is behind it. like, it's tautological. so what do you mean by it?

Yeah. Fucking stand up for yourself

It’s a thing that should be considered bipartisan but because it was run solely by the current fascist admin, it was very much a lopsided shit show. It’s political regardless but the artists on the roster didn’t realize it was really just Nazi bullshit dressed up like it represents everyone.

There was a video on it, maybe Legal Eagle? They covered that it had an independent group running it initially, and I think when the contracts were signed. Then they basically stripped all their powers and gave it to a different Trump appointed group to manage.

If he contractually can't say anything bad about the movie, production, Shapiro, etc. he needs to heavily lean in to very publicly trashing everything else around it. Every appearance about the movie should be immediately redirected to how horrendous this Administration and everything it is doing is. Make it known how hateful and cowardly he thinks all of them are, making sure to only refrain from mentioning the things he's contractually obligated to stay silent on.

Every press junket for this movie that Danny does should come out looking like a rally commercial for Talerico.

he could (or threaten) to sue for fraud to break contract if this is true. He doesn't have to say anything bad about the movie if his lawsuit is based on being tricked by genocidal zionist supremacist demon who is pushing replacement theory fascism to prevent any diminishment of treasonous Israel first rule over Americans. "Satan failed to reveal himself in the contract for my soul" is a lawsuit Satan settles.

I feel like that's something the actors' union can and should fight against

By using AI to read contacts for you, you're tacitly supporting unparsable, complicated contract language, which is the real problem.

ah, i see. i think i'd say "divisive" or "politically divisive" in that case, but i understand where you're coming from

Duped? I find that hard to believe. I mean, has no one seen some of the other movies he's been in? Machete in an ICE uniform... ICE has never been "good guys" and to be honest I already assumed he was a shithead just from that. This whole "good guys vs bad guys" crap was why Latino support for ICE and Trump had been so high leading into the 2024 election (also, Latino membership in ICE is fairly high). I think Trejo knew exactly what this movie was about. And if he's having second thoughts it's only because of how bad the optics have become for ICE, not that he doesn't still believe in it.

Alternatively, sure, let's say he was tricked. I mean, he's not getting hired for roles based on his acting skills so much as what he symbolizes, given his backstory. And I do think that's part of the problem here because it might cloud his judgement: he might think he's just playing himself for the umpteenth time, but I'm not sure he quite gets that for racists, his roles are confirmation of their stereotypes.

I can't sympathize with a man this rich lol. Good gods, I agree with everyone else here saying that he can't really be this helpless. I am sure I have heard about actors breaking contract, becoming un-directable, sabotaging productions, etc. He could push to get fired. Hell, if it's all as fishy as people claim, sue. Why care? Even if Shapiro has enough clout to ruin his chances of acting again (yeah, right), he's in his 80s. He can't retire already?

I'm kinda' hoping he's only temporarily biding by the contract while he has a lawyer find a way to walk away without breaking the contract. After all, he can afford to hire a lawyer to look for an escape, so walking away with breach of contract is potentially a pretty dumb move:

Don't pay the people you don't even want to work with just because you're offended. Find a way to walk away clean and actually screw them.

Only reason I would agree on a moral level to not immediately walk off set would be to wait a few days to see if a good lawyer can find a clean break from the contract.

After all, why pay the people you don't even want to work with? Don't give them a penny and actually screw them instead of a knee jerk reaction.

Wow, that’s even worse than I realized. They did a bait-and-switch because they knew they couldn’t sell the real plan.

It’s like the Ed Sheeran thing all over again. What’s the point of having “fuck you” money if you don’t say “fuck you” to fascists?