It’s worth revisiting the media and entertainment industry’s treatment of Dr. Anthony Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic. During a 2021 CNN segment, reporters tracked down Florida physician Dr. Joseph Mercola over claims he was a leading source of vaccine misinformation, including statements questioning mask efficacy and promoting vitamins C and D. Actress Julia Roberts effusively welcomed Fauci onto a video call, arguing the episode illustrated a broader pattern of the Washington press corps and Hollywood working in tandem to elevate some public figures while discrediting others.
For more on the topic, Proft was joined by Christian Toto, host of the Hollywood in Toto podcast, who has written about Fauci hero worship in the entertainment industry. Toto said celebrities often lend their platforms to causes without independently researching them, largely following cues from a press corps he described as failing in its duties. He noted the irony of actor Brad Pitt being selected to portray Fauci and being nominated for a Daytime Emmy for the role, and recalled a separate CNN segment in which hosts discussed the nomination with enthusiasm.
Toto also pointed to late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert mocking Americans protesting COVID-19 lockdowns, arguing those hosts continued receiving their salaries while broadcasting from home even as many of the people they mocked were losing businesses and income. He said comedians largely avoided questioning pandemic-era policies, with a few exceptions such as Jim Breuer, while most declined to apply the kind of skepticism he associated with past generations of satirists.
Asked whether he sees a parallel between Hollywood’s COVID-era coverage and its current treatment of Democratic Socialists of America-aligned politicians, Toto said the dynamic is somewhat reversed. He said late-night television has largely avoided mocking DSA-aligned figures despite what he considers ample material for satire, and argued a more significant failure is the entertainment industry’s general reluctance to tell stories depicting the human costs of socialism and communism, citing the 2017 film “The Death of Stalin” as a rare exception and noting the absence of major films addressing conditions in Venezuela or Cuba.
The conversation closed with a lighter exchange on current film and television recommendations. Toto discussed the Netflix series “I Will Find You” and an upcoming dinosaur film, “The End of Oak Street,” which he compared stylistically to early Spielberg movies. The two also discussed the Apple TV pickleball comedy “The Dink,” Taylor Sheridan’s expanding slate of series including “Landman” and “Tulsa King,” and Christopher Nolan’s recent film adaptation of “The Odyssey,” which Toto said he enjoyed overall despite some reservations about the film’s tone and casting choices, adding that Nolan has earned enough goodwill from audiences that the casting debate should not overshadow the film.