Stars who have slammed President Donald Trump are now asking the president for help with artificial intelligence copyright protections as Hollywood battles with the impact of AI on the entertainment industry.
Mark Ruffalo, Bette Midler, Ava DuVernay, and more actors have signed a letter to President Trump asking him to hold the line against tech companies who they said have pushed to “weaken copyright” rules, Deadline noted.
“We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries,” the group wrote the White House Office of Science and Technology in an open letter.
“America’s arts and entertainment industry supports over 2.3M American jobs with over $229Bn in wages annually, while providing the foundation for American democratic influence and soft power abroad,” it added. “But AI companies are asking to undermine this economic and cultural strength by weakening copyright protections for the films, television series, artworks, writing, music, and voices used to train AI models at the core of multi-billion dollar corporate valuations.”
Hollywood stars call on Donald Trump to make AI pay for their work amid tech row https://t.co/n3mq8qIwCE
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 20, 2025
“For nearly 250 years, U.S. copyright law has balanced [a] creator’s rights with the needs of the public, creating the world’s most vibrant creative economy,” the letter continued. “We recommend that the American AI Action Plan uphold existing copyright frameworks to maintain the strength of America’s creative and knowledge industries, as well as American cultural influence abroad.”
In addition to Ruffalo, Midler, and DuVernay, Ben Stiller, Cate Blanchett, Judd Apatow, Taika Waititi, Natasha Lyonne, Paul McCartney, Lily Gladstone, and Patton Oswalt joined a list of more than 400 people in the entertainment industry who have called on Trump’s administration because they claim OpenAI and Google “are arguing for a special government exemption so they can freely exploit America’s creative and knowledge industries, despite their substantial revenues and available funds.”
“AI companies can use our copy-righted material by simply doing what the law requires – negotiating appropriate licenses with copyright holders, just as every other industry does,” the letter read. “This issue goes well beyond the entertainment industry, as the right to train AI on all copyright-protected content impacts all of America’s knowledge industries.”
Ruffalo has been an outspoken critic of the president, labeling him once an “enemy of America” in response to an op-ed in The New York Times that claimed Trump was a threat to democracy.
“F***ing finally. Media starts to wake up…” Ruffalo wrote. “Presidential contender is calling for Americans to kill and harm Americans. Let that sink in. Enemy of America from within.”
Frequent Trump critic Midler previously shared a post on X from a writer who labeled Trump “a troll,” who has “no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth.” She captioned the post, noting how “brilliant” the writer was.
Following the 2024 election, director DuVernay blasted Trump’s re-election in spite of the criminal charges he faced, Deadline noted.
“My country is run by criminals, but that criminality is seen as completely different than a black kid on the corner who might buy, sell marijuana,” the actress said. “The black kid is in prison for years, while criminals are elected and make millions of dollars and sell electric cars.”
Related: Susan Sarandon Explains The Impact Of AI In Hollywood — And Why Younger Generations May Not Care
