Book Review: Hollywood Hypocrites

Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama's Backers
By Jason Mattera (Simon & Schuster - Threshold Editions)

Reviewed by Frank DuBois

Jason Mattera is a young, associate editor-at-large for Human Events and has become famous for confronting the liberal elite.  In this, his second book, he takes on the Hollywood crowd, their political views and the reality of their life-styles.

Of special interest to readers of The Westerner is his skewering of the Hollywood "eco-crites" on their environmental pronouncements and no one is better at heaping disrespect on those who desperately need it than Mr. Mattera.

All the stuff on Al Gore is here, along with Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Sting and the other usual culprits. However, Laurie David and Leonardo DiCaprio are given special attention in his chapter Private Jets Against Global Warming.

Laurie David, the former wife of Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, used David's sizable collection of dinero to finance Gore's An Inconvenient Truth documentary.

Mattera writes:

Afterall, it was Gore himself who said, "Laurie David has done more than any one person I know to raise awareness of the climate crisis."  Indeed, prior to her divorce-inducing affair with her building contractor, Bart Thorpe, when she wasn't out condemning SUV owners as "terrorist enablers" or bragging that she forced her kids to take shorter showers, David could be found 25,000-square-foot house on Martha's Vineyard.  I mention this affair because it's relevant to the rest of the story.  You see, David's Martha's Vineyard has been cited as a serial violator of Massachusetts's Wetlands Protection Act.  The eco-fractions occurred while erecting her tennis court and, previously, "when construction of a stone fire pit, barbecue grill area and wooden stage for a children's theatre with seating was begun in a wetland without a permit."

I doubt they were barbecuing  tofu, so at least she was eating meat.

Next up is Mattera's "favorite Hollywood hypocrite", Leonardo DiCaprio.  One of many examples provided by the author is DiCaprio's involvement in a particular movie.  DiCaprio starred in a flick titled The Beach, which was shot on an island, designated as anational park, just off the coast of Thailand.  Local enviros were outraged but DiCaprio told them, "Preservation of the environment has always been of utmost concern to me" and "I would never be part of any project that did anything to harm nature."  He said "extraordinary measures" were being taken for protection of the island and he would "remain vigilant" in monitoring everything.

So what happened?

Mattera reports:

What resulted say Thailand's environmental protestors, nothing short of a pillaging of the beach.  Coconut trees were ripped up, dunes were bulldozed, coral reefs were damaged, and vegetation was yanked out.  Protestors camped out on the beach, several hundred miles southwest of Bangkok, and watched as DiCaprio's eco-pillaging took place.  When a dozen villagers tried to peacefully tried to peacefully stage a sit-in on the beach - something you would think Hollywood types would support - a group of "thugs" who villagers say were led by government officials forced them to leave...

Want more?  Say about Bruce Springsteen, Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz or Madonna?  Well then you'll have to read this book which is filled with Hollywood hypocrisy.

Mattera is a happy warrior, chunking spears at the "do as I say, not as I do" types in Tinsel Town.  I can tell he enjoyed writing this and you should enjoy it too.  Unfortunately, there is no index provided but there are almost thirty pages of footnotes for the nine chapters of excellent "chunking".

Not to be limited by the written word, Mattera is also releasing some videos on the making of this book. Check out this Fox News segment on his confrontation with Chris Rock: