A May 28 Media Research Center post by Abigail Streetman dismissed actor Bradley Whitford — whom she was attacking for being “ignorant and Trump deranged,” “twisting the truth and spewing left-wing propaganda all over social media” and making “several unhinged and false claims” in a TV appearance — as a “C-lister.” But, as with Bette Midler, the MRC sure does spend a lot of time focusing on this supposedly irrelevent “C-lister.”
Whitford’s actual sin here was to note that the Republican Party “worships an insurrectionist” and calling Donald Trump a “disturbed sociopath.” For all her hateful invective “twisting the truth” and making “false claims,” the only evidence Streetman offers to counter Whitford is to huff, “I guess Whitford forgot that Trump specifically said ‘peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,’ during the rally on January 6.” But Streetman conveniently overlooks that Trump also said, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Whitford got another post devoted to him the next day, taken from the same TV appearance. Charlotte Hazard complained that “left-wing actor Bradley Whitford ranted to his fellow liberal that ‘we cannot get anything done if we don’t protect democracy and pass H.R.1.,’ referring to federal legislation being pushed by Democrats to rig all future elections in their favor.” Hazard then went on to recite right-wing talking points against the bill. Scott Whitlock cited Hazard’s post in a post that same day in a roundup featuring how “those silly celebs were at it again this month, attacking their favorite conservative Republican targets.”
That’s three posts in two days highlighting the views of a supposedly irrelevant “C-lister.”
That’s not all. The MRC has referenced Whitford in 25 posts since January 2020, largely in roundups of “hollywood” expressing opinions on things that the MRC disapproves of, under headlines like “33 Hollywood Elites Stoking Anger, Bigotry, Lawlessness Over George Floyd’s Death,” “Celebrities FLIP OUT Over Trump RNC Speech AKA ‘Dear Leader’s Illegal South Lawn Klan Rally’” and “‘How Fake Is It Now?’ 10 Hollywood Ghouls Mock Trump Having COVID.”
The MRC also took offense to Whitford joining his fellow actors on the TV show “The West Wing” reuniting to encourage people to vote in the election. Lindsey Kornick whined in August that the reunion is “just what America doesn’t need,” adding that “At this point, the only time The West Wing is brought up is for liberals to whine about the good old days with Democrats in charge.” Gabriel Hays melted down in a September post: “The real vexing aspect of this stupid reunion special, besides you now trying to disassociate what may have been one of your favorite TV shows, from the pro-civil unrest, Trump Derangement Syndrome-suffering left, is that in between each of the episode’s acts, an annoying liberal will lecture you about voting.”
Again: That’s a lot of digital ink being spilled on someone who the MRC wants you to think is nothing but an irrelevant “C-lister.”