Veteran Actor Shares Horrors of Hollywood Blacklist 2.0
Matthew Marsden' right-leaning views went public - that's when everything changed
Hollywood’s blacklist against conservative talent is the industry’s worst kept secret.
It’s also one that inspires zero outrage from the usual suspects:
- Liberal actors
- Legacy Media platforms
- Special interest groups
- Entertainment reporters
- Film critics
If an actor lost work for being gay, black, Muslim or another protected class, the outrage would be palpable. And rightly so.
Artists shouldn’t be punished for their political perspectives, assuming they don’t involve the worst of the worst ideologies (like Nazism).
For every openly conservative actor who keeps on working – think established superstars like Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer and Tim Allen – many more either keep their views to themselves or suffer the consequences.
The latter group includes Oscar nominee James Woods, Nick Searcy, Kevin Sorbo and Matthew Marsden.
Woods essentially stopped acting over the last decade, turning his attention to occasional producing gigs (“Oppenheimer“) and music. Searcy continues to work in some mainstream films and TV shows while producing subversive documentaries that reflect his core beliefs, like “Capitol Punishment.”
Sorbo founded his own film studio, making movies on tight budgets that reflect his Christian conservative values.
Marsden no longer works as often as he once did. But he’s not staying quiet.
The “Black Hawk Down” alum shared a powerful X post on how being an openly conservative actor shattered his career. It’s a sobering essay that took courage to share, yet it’s one that likely won’t change a single heart and/or mind in Hollywood.
The Blacklist 2.0 will roll on.
In 2010 I had just come off doing Transformers (for 6 months) and had done a pilot as for a TV show as the lead with Walter Hill. I had done Rambo 2 years before and was on a roll professionally. An article came out in a big publication that I was a conservative, and the phone…
— Matthew Marsden (@matthewdmarsden) December 30, 2025
In 2010 I had just come off doing Transformers (for 6 months) and had done a pilot as for a TV show as the lead with Walter Hill. I had done Rambo 2 years before and was on a roll professionally. An article came out in a big publication that I was a conservative, and the phone stopped ringing. Shortly after, I lost my manager and agent after ten years of making a movie a year (which is what I wanted to do).
Author and podcaster Andrew Klavan has shared a very similar story. He found steady work as a Hollywood screenwriter (“A Shock to the System,” “One Missed Call”), but when his conservative views came to light his phone similarly stopped ringing.
Klavan refused to stay silent and segued to the publishing and podcast worlds.
Next, Marsden debunks charges that conservative actors behave badly, leading to their dismissal.
Hollywood will say that conservatives who have been ousted were a**holes on set. Let’s say that is true. Why hasn’t that ever affected the a**holes on the left? They say that the actors are talentless and not good enough. How did they get jobs in the first place, then?
Did Ezra Miller’s extra-curricular activites stop the star from steady work, including a massive DCEU project like “The Flash?”
Plus, Marsden convincingly argues that liberal stars who spout extreme views rarely, if ever, suffer professional repercussions. Just ask Jimmy Kimmel, Bette Midler, Alec Baldwin and Ellen Barkin, among others.
Marsden notes that other kinds of discrimination aren’t tolerated in Hollywood.
If you got pushed out of your job for being gay, liberal, trans, the color of your skin, people on the left lose their minds. Conservative? According to them now, it doesn’t happen…even though THEY KNOW they do it. This is the ultimate thumb in the eye for us. Do it, then deny it ever happened. Perfect.
The Blacklist 2.0 isn’t new. For years, right-leaning artists have met under the Friends of Abe umbrella. They network, share horror stories about chronic industry discrimination and, sometimes, cry about their experiences.
It’s blatant, unwritten discrimination, and it shows few signs of stopping.
Marsden has some new projects lined up for 2026, according to his IMDB.com. Perhaps as more right-leaning stars speak their minds, like Sylvester Stallone and Zachary Levi have done in recent months, the new blacklist will finally start to crumble.