{"id":1013656,"date":"2026-08-20T22:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1013656\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:27:14","slug":"wga-rips-la-mayor-karen-bass-for-supporting-false-choice-in-paramount-wbd-merger-tangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1013656\/","title":{"rendered":"WGA Rips LA Mayor Karen Bass For Supporting “False Choice” In Paramount-WBD Merger Tangle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Writers Guild of America fired back at Los Angeles<\/a> Mayor Karen Bass<\/a> on Thursday after she expressed support for a settlement in the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n\tBass joined other Democratic officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and his likely successor, Xavier Becerra, in urging negotiations in the antitrust lawsuit seeking to foil the $110 billion deal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the action taken by 12 states in parallel with a suit filed by the WGA<\/a>, has indicated no willingness to engage in talks with Paramount. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s not a surprise given the series of legal wins he has notched in the case over the past several weeks, including the setting of the trial date for next March<\/a>, far later than Paramount requested. The company is due to start paying WBD shareholders a \u201cticking fee\u201d of $650 million per quarter if the deal has not closed by September 30.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are disappointed that Mayor Bass has chosen to join Paramount\u2019s pressure campaign on public enforcers, to push through a merger that is being rightfully challenged as illegal and will lead to job losses in the entertainment industry,\u201d the WGA asserted, adding that she spoke after a report to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors estimated<\/a> that \u201cthousands of jobs will be lost if the merger proceeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBass made the comments earlier Thursday during a news conference (watch a clip of it above). \u201cWhile there are varying perspectives on the proposed transaction, today we are united around one clear message: It is time for all parties to come to the table,\u201d she said. \u201cThe continued uncertainty is not good for workers, it\u2019s not good for production, and it\u2019s not good for the future of this industry. Too many productions in L.A. are now at a standstill, which means Angelenos are out of a job and they\u2019re not getting paid. As mayor, I cannot stand by and watch as the job security of thousands of hard-working union members is put at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount CEO David Ellison and other members of his management team have been actively looking at options to move the company out of its longtime home in L.A. The possible move, unthinkable for legacy studios but in keeping with exits by businesses in other sectors, has only stiffened opposition to the merger in some corners. At the same time, as Deadline detailed at length on Thursday<\/a>, others inside the company and across Hollywood say reaching a settlement would be preferable to letting the process grind along for months as the industry keeps evolving at breakneck speed. <\/p>\n

\n\tBass highlighted the risk of statis, laying out her thoughts the day after participating in a mayoral debate which lacked any significant discussion of the entertainment business or the pending Paramount-WBD<\/a> transaction. Also on Wednesday, a report submitted to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors projected that the merger would result in the loss of thousands of jobs. Paramount has promised investors it will deliver $6 billion in cost savings related to the merger, but executives have insisted that layoffs will not be a key method of reaching that target. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIndustry workers deserve a mayor who believes in upholding the law and protecting the working people of Los Angeles, not serving the interests of powerful corporations,\u201d the WGA statement continued. \u201cParamount has created a false choice for entertainment industry workers: The company argues that enforcing antitrust law hurts us by creating uncertainty, which is of their own making as the company attempts to dominate the industry. We reject the claim that beleaguered industry workers must choose the possibility of a job today, in exchange for the certainty of job losses tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBass, reading from prepared comments today, insisted her statement is \u201cnot about taking sides \u2013 this is about fighting for Los Angeles, standing up for our union workers, keeping Paramount here and protecting the future of this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA settlement, Bass added, must include \u201cmeaningful and enforceable commitments\u201d to keep Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in L.A. as well as maintaining jobs, productions and investments in L.A. and in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe comments came after Wednesday night\u2019s mayoral debate between Bass and Democratic challenger Nithya Raman in Sherman Oaks.<\/p>\n

\n\tRaman said in a statement today that \u201cgiven what\u2019s at stake, it is shocking that Mayor Bass is pushing for the deal to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLos Angeles\u2019 film industry is already in crisis,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Paramount\u2013Warner Bros. Discovery merger would deepen it, costing an estimated 4,500 film and television jobs, more than 10,000 jobs regionwide, and billions of dollars in economic activity, according to a new County report.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe added that \u201cBonta should stay the course. A settlement should only be considered if Paramount ends its threats and agrees to meaningful divestments, protections against job losses, and an enforceable guarantee to maintain production in California. Until then, California must not roll over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Writers Guild of America fired back at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Thursday after she expressed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1013657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,5413,224,8396,269047,67,132,68,75576],"class_list":["post-1013656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-karen-bass","tag-los-angeles","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-paramount-wbd","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wga"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117130195649978062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1013657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}