Return of the Blacklist

Posted on November 1, 2006 in Censorship Commons Theft

During the Washington tryout of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Harold Prince felt that some of the songs needed to be restaged. Stephen Sondheim, whose first score it was, insisted on bringing in Jerome Robbins, with whom he had worked on West Side Story. Robbins was known to have cooperated with the House Un-American Committee during the McCarthyite hearings, and Prince felt that this choice might cause some difficulties with the star of the show, Zero Mostel, who had been an unfriendly witness. But to Prince’s surprise, Mostel agreed that if Robbins could help the show, he should be asked to do so. “We of the left,” he explained, “do not blacklist.”

Yes but the Right and the Corporatists continue to do so. If you thought Air America went into bankruptcy because not enough people were watching it, think again:

The list, totaling 90 advertisers, includes some of largest and most well-known corporations advertising in the U.S.: Wal-Mart, GE, Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Bank of America, Fed-Ex, Visa, Allstate, McDonald’s, Sony and Johnson & Johnson. The U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Navy are also listed as advertisers who don’t want their commercials to air on Air America.

That agencies of the government took the political stand that their commercials should not air on Air America is chilling. We’ve gone back to the spoils system where those who don’t place their noses in the crack of those who hold the power — no matter how the powerful gained their power — are punished.

A complete list is available here.