Actor Dennis Quaid told Joe Rogan on his podcast Thursday that there were “a couple of attempts to cancel me” while he was filming a movie in which he portrayed former President Ronald Reagan as the two men lamented ideological conformity in Hollywood, where conservatives are “blackballed.”
“One ideology dominates, especially in Hollywood, the entire business,” Rogan, host of the popular Spotify podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” told Quaid during a discussion Thursday.
Rogan, a stand-up comedian whose acting credits include a role on the ’90s-era NBC sitcom “NewsRadio,” said his experience in Hollywood taught him that “people who had differing opinions about things … would never speak out because it could damage their career.”
“They will f–king blackball you,” Rogan said. His conversation with Quaid was reported by the news site Mediaite.
Quaid, who is best known for starring roles in films such as “The Big Easy” and “Far from Heaven,” agreed, telling Rogan: “They will.”
“There were a couple attempts to cancel me while we were making Reagan,” Quaid said, adding that these attempts were “kind of half-hearted, I guess.”
“But it has become that, and it ain’t right,” Quaid said.
In the fall of 2020, Quaid did a public service announcement in which he is seen being interviewed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who at the time was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The PSA was intended to educate the public about COVID-19 and the importance of following health guidelines.
In an Instagram video, Quaid blasted the news media’s response to the PSA, saying he was “feeling some outrage and a lot of disappointment” after it was claimed that the actor was in effect endorsing then-President Donald Trump, who would go on to lose the election weeks later.
“It is being used by the cancel culture media that I was doing a campaign ad and endorsement of Donald Trump, and that I was paid handsomely for this by diverted CDC funds,” Quaid said in the Instagram post from September 2020.
He added that “nothing could be further from the truth,” stating that the PSA was about “raising awareness for COVID-19 and what we can still do to prevent lives being lost to this terrible, terrible virus.”
Quaid would later go on to endorse Trump, telling television host Piers Morgan in a May interview this year that the former president was “my a–hole.”
The actor also took aim at Meta subsidiary Facebook after the social network admitted to limiting advertisements for Quaid’s new movie, “Reagan.”
“They said it was a mistake,” Quaid told Rogan. “They said it was their automatic systems that had detected it.”
To which Rogan replied: “Oh, how convenient.”
Quaid earlier this week accused Facebook of “throttling advertising” for the film, which is due to premiere in select theaters on Aug. 30.
“Facebook is once again censoring the free flow of ideas, deciding what’s best for us to see and hear,” Quaid told Newsweek, adding that “only this time it’s throttling advertising and promotion for my movie about Ronald Reagan.”
“Like the old Soviet Union — are we turning into a country of tech oligarchs who control the platform of groupthink to silence the individual or ‘other’ groups?”
The controversy erupted when Eric McClellan, director of digital marketing for the film, tried to boost an ad for the film which consisted of a photo of Quaid portraying Reagan and a quote from the late former president.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her — that the American spirit has been vanquished,” the ad read.
“We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives not to believe it now.”
Facebook allowed McClellan to publish the post, but did not allow him to “boost” it as a paid advertisement to get greater audience reach because the ad “mentions politicians or is about sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.”
On at least two occasions, Facebook temporarily suspended the “Reagan” film’s official account after it posted video clips of Quaid discussing the movie, Newsweek reported.
A Facebook spokesperson told Newsweek: “This happened because our automated systems mistakenly determined that content about President Reagan required prior authorization in accordance with our policies for ads about Social Issues, Elections or Politics.”
“This was a mistake and the restriction on the ads has been lifted.”
“Reagan,” the biopic about the 40th president, stars Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller, who portrays Nancy Reagan. Jon Voight, a vocal Trump supporter, plays retired KGB agent Viktor Petrovich.
The movie chronicles Reagan’s life from the time he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild to his tenure as governor of California and president of the United States.
The Post has sought comment from Facebook.
