BIG MONEY

Hollywood Producer Launches $15M Fundraising Campaign to Fight Anti-Abortion Laws: NYT

The ex-Murdoch lieutenant told other Hollywood heavy hitters his family has already donated $1M to the effort.

A Hollywood investor and producer behind projects like The Greatest Showman and Hidden Figures has started a fundraising campaign to legally fight six- to eight-week abortion bans in Georgia and other states. The New York Times reports that Peter Chernin—formerly Rupert Murdoch’s lieutenant as News Corp. president and chairman and CEO of the Fox Group—has urged a number of entertainment figures to donate to “ACLU’s legal efforts” to fight the abortion laws. In a fundraising email sent to the likes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rhimes, Chernin said $15 million would be needed for the effort and gave a July 1 donation deadline. Chernin said his company and family foundation have already given $1 million. “We have a moral responsibility to act immediately,” he wrote.

Chernin Entertainment spokeswoman Melissa Zukerman told the Times the email was authentic but said Chernin would not be available for an interview. Georgia offers generous tax credits to entertainment projects that film there, but some actors have called for a boycott in the wake of the abortion law being signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May. Chernin, who has two projects currently filming in the state, wrote in his email that he would keep shooting there but would stage a “highly narrow and targeted response” in the legal fight.