Local officials in tears over vote to give cops power to arrest illegal migrants
Some Fort Myers City Council members were in tears Monday over a vote on a memorandum of agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police.
The Florida city council met to discuss the agreement for city law enforcement to receive the training and authority to act as ICE agents to detain and arrest illegal immigrants, among other functions.
During the meeting, council members Darla Bonk and Diana Giraldo teared up as they voiced their opposition to the agreement.
Bonk’s voice broke as she described the risk of losing state and federal funds if she refused to agree.
“It is a tumultuous day and age. And this is a day I hate to be in this seat,” Bonk said. “But my city is not for sale.”
MAYORS, LOCAL OFFICIALS COULD FACE ARREST IF THEY DON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATIONS
Giraldo feared the memorandum would be used to racially profile Hispanic citizens.
“I can’t stand behind this as an immigrant, the only immigrant sitting in this council,” Giraldo said.
The two grasped hands at one point in their remarks.
Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson argued in favor of the memorandum, emphasizing that it would not give officers the authority to go out in search of illegal immigrants “kicking in doors,” but simply the ability to arrest and process illegal immigrants who had been charged or convicted of a crime.
The motion failed to pass on a 3-3 vote with one council member not in attendance.
CNN ANCHORS MOMENTARILY SILENT AFTER LEARNING WHY MIGRANT GANGS DON’T STAY IN FLORIDA: ‘THERE YOU GO TO JAIL’
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier responded to the vote on Tuesday with a letter demanding the city council change its position or risk civil or criminal penalties for being a sanctuary city.
“Sanctuary policies are illegal in Florida. Your vote last night makes you a sanctuary city. Fix this problem or face the consequences,” Uthmeier wrote on X, along with a copy of his letter.
When reached for comment, the Office of the Attorney General pointed Fox News Digital to an interview with FOX 4 where Uthmeier discussed the letter.
In the interview, Uthmeier said that not passing the memorandum could violate the state’s law prohibiting “sanctuary policies” that prevent the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
He added that penalties could include removal from office.
“We’re looking at all options. We put them on notice, but we’re not going to wait long. If they don’t immediately correct their problem, then we will take action,” Uthmeier said to FOX 4.
However, he did not give a clear timeline of when that could take place if the memorandum still wasn’t passed.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Anderson said the city has scheduled an emergency meeting on Friday to revisit the memorandum and hopefully come to a clearer conclusion.
“This is another tool for our police to keep our city safe. With that, City Management has been taking proactive steps to readdress the matter, and I hope Friday’s meeting leads to an amenable resolve with federal and state directives,” the mayor said.
The other members of the city council did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital in time for publication.
Comedian goes after ‘horrible, heartless’ Elon Musk in scathing takedown
Comedian Bill Burr sharply mocked billionaire Elon Musk in an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night amid a backlash against Musk’s efforts to cut government spending and waste.
“Billionaires are not happy having a billion dollars,” Burr told Fallon. “Why does Elon Musk dress like he just got out of a Hot Topic? I am so sick of that guy trying to rewrite his origin story like he was Matthew McConaughey pulling into the high school.”
Musk told Trump that he was surprised by the increasing severity of protests against his company Tesla, which have included multiple vehicles at a Tesla service center in Las Vegas being set ablaze on Tuesday morning.
ELON MUSK CONGRATULATES SPACEX, NASA FOR ‘EXCELLENT WORK’ RESCUING STRANDED ASTRONAUTS
The FBI is not ruling out terrorism as a possibility after multiple vehicles at a Tesla service center were set ablaze in Las Vegas. Officials say five vehicles were damaged in the incident, including the two that were set on fire.
FBI Las Vegas Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans told reporters on Tuesday that the incident “certainly has some of the hallmarks” of a terrorist attack, but that it was still too early to say for sure. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is currently investigating the incident.
The billionaire’s close involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made him a target of liberal commentators and politicians who argue that he should not exercise serious influence over public affairs.
Burr criticized Musk’s appearance and said that he was not paying his workers in the remainder of the interview with Fallon.
“It’s like, ‘You were a f—— nerd, nobody banged you, and now you have hair plugs, and your laminated face,'” Burr added. “And everybody is afraid of these nerds. I don’t get it. My whole life, feminists were focusing on frat boys and guys with their hats on backwards, and they left the nerds alone. And now look at them.”
“They’re horrible, heartless people,” he continued. “And for some reason, if you say that then you’re a communist, and we’re in bed with the Russians.”
COMEDIAN BILL BURR DEMANDS BILLIONAIRES BE ‘PUT DOWN’ LIKE ‘F—ING RABID DOGS’
“And then they try to politicize everything that you’re saying,” Burr said. “And it’s just like, ‘I don’t know, shouldn’t you pay your workers?’ Don’t you remember that when we were growing up, one week’s pay paid your rent? You had a little cottage, a little boat, you know? Maybe a second family down the road. That’s what you did. You had the money.”
Musk responded to a clip of Burr’s comments on X by tagging the account “IfindRetards.”
Burr has made comments about both sides of the political aisle. Last Monday, the comic previewed his upcoming Hulu comedy special “Drop Dead Years” for NPR’s “Fresh Air” podcast, describing it as a way “to get regular people to stop yelling at each other,” pushing back on the “select few group of nerds” keeping ordinary people down. He attacked liberals for having “no teeth whatsoever” to fight back against billionaires like Elon Musk.
During his podcast, Burr also attacked the Trump administration for renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Fox News Digital reached out to a representative of Elon Musk’s for comment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Plane involved in deadly crash was more than 1,000 pounds overweight, NTSB finds
The Bering Air flight that recently crashed in sea ice off Alaska, killing 10, was more than 1,000 pounds “over the maximum takeoff gross weight for flight into known or forecast icing conditions,” according to a new report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The commuter flight was traveling from Unalakleet to Nome when it disappeared on Feb. 6. The U.S. Coast Guard found the plane’s wreckage days later, on sea ice around 30 miles southeast of Nome.
“Post-accident examination of the airplane contents indicated that the baggage and cargo weighed approximately 798 lbs. Based on that information, the airplane’s estimated gross takeoff weight at departure was about 9,865 lbs, which was about 1,058 lbs over the maximum takeoff gross weight for flight into known or forecast icing conditions,” the NTSB said in a preliminary report this week.
“The final satellite tracking data point corresponded to a time of 1520:17 and an altitude of 200 ft,” it added.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ALASKA PLANE CRASH VICTIMS
The NTSB said in the report that the plane, a Textron Aviation 208B, “was equipped with a TKS ice protection system that included porous titanium panels along the leading edges of the wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and wing struts.”
“The TKS system was designed to provide ice protection fluid from a tank in the cargo pod to the panels, propeller, and windshield to prevent the accumulation of airframe ice,” it continued.
The NTSB cited a pilot operating handbook supplement relating to the TKS system as saying “that the maximum allowable takeoff gross weight for flight into known or forecast icing conditions was the same as that of the basic airplane, which was 8,807 lbs.”
READ THE REPORT BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE
“FAA records revealed that the airplane was equipped with an Aircraft Payload Extender III (APE III) system,” which “provided for an increased maximum gross takeoff weight of 9,062 lbs,” the NTSB added.
However, at the time of the crash, the plane was still “about 803 lbs over the maximum gross takeoff weight for any flight operation under the APE III flight manual supplement,” according to the NTSB.
ALASKA CREWS RECOVER REMAINS OF ALL 10 PLANE CRASH VICTIMS
“A senior NTSB aerospace engineer will conduct a detailed review of the airplane’s performance as part of the investigation, including an evaluation of the airplane’s center of gravity location,” it said in the report.
The NTSB also said the pilot involved in the crash “had accumulated about 2,500 hours total flight time, including 1,060 hours in 208B airplanes.”
Victims Rhone Baumgartner, 46, and Kameron Hartvigson, 41, boarded the flight to Nome after traveling to Unalakleet to work on a heat recovery system servicing the community’s water plant, The Associated Press cited the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium as saying.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The pilot killed in the crash was identified as Chad Antill, 34, of Nome. The other victims, according to the Anchorage Daily News, were Liane Ryan, 52, of Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, of Unalakleet, and Carol Mooers, 48, of Unalakleet.
ICE arrests doctoral student at elite university accused of spreading Hamas propaganda
A foreign exchange student studying at Georgetown University was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday over allegations that he spread Hamas propaganda online.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and doctoral student in the U.S. on a student visa, was accused of “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said in a statement.
“Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” the DHS statement continued. DHS did not name the suspected terrorist or Hamas advisor.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined on March 15 that Suri’s activities and presence in the U.S. “rendered him deportable” under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the senior official said.
‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’
The act is a rarely-used legal statute that gives Rubio sweeping power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Rubio has cited the same statute as grounds for the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by federal immigration authorities earlier this month. A judge has said Khalil can challenge his detention.
RUBIO DEFENDS DEPORTATIONS OF HAMAS SUPPORTERS AFTER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ACTIVIST ARREST
Suri was duly granted a visa to enter the U.S. to perform doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Georgetown University spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News.
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the university spokesperson said.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Suri, who is married to an American citizen, was detained in Alexandria, Louisiana, and is awaiting a court date in immigration court, his lawyer told Reuters.
Idaho prosecutors have revealed a selfie photo of Bryan Kohberger giving the camera a thumbs up just hours after they allege he went into a house and stabbed four college students to death in a home invasion massacre that rocked the country.
“The State intends to introduce a photograph of Bryan Kohberger taken from his phone on November 13, 2022, only hours after the homicides at 10:31 a.m.,” Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jennings wrote in a court filing revealed Wednesday evening. “Whether or not Bryan Kohberger can be described as having ‘bushy eyebrows’ is a factual determination to be decided by the jury.”
The photo shows Kohberger wearing earphones and giving a thumbs up in front of a shower. It would have been taken roughly an hour after police allege his phone pinged a cell tower near the crime scene following the quadruple stabbing inside.
BRYAN KOHBERGER ASKS JUDGE TO BLOCK ‘BUSHY’ BROWS EVIDENCE, SUGGESTS WITNESS’ ARTWORK SKEWS MEMORY
Kohberger’s defense team asked Judge Steven Hippler to block a surviving roommate from testifying about the intruder she saw having “bushy eyebrows” on the night three of her housemates and another friend were killed in a 4 a.m. massacre. In the motion, attorney Elisa Massoth denied that Kohberger has bushy eyebrows to begin with.
The surviving roommate, identified only as “DM” in court documents, is the only known witness to have encountered the intruder and lived to tell her tale after she froze in shock when he came within just three feet of her. He walked away, toward a back sliding door, and is believed to have left the house, according to court filings.
GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Recently unsealed text messages show she tried in vain to reach her murdered friends minutes after the intruder left.
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
Massoth’s filing revealed that DM had a wall of photos and artwork, some of which she drew herself, depicting detailed faces and prominent eyebrows.
Jennings countered in the prosecution’s latest filing that “[t]his only proves that D.M. would have a degree of attention to this facial characteristic thus reinforcing her reliability.”
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Prosecutors also included a photo of Kohberger’s driver’s license to support DM’s police interviews that described him as around 6 feet tall.
She repeatedly said he was a masked intruder with dark clothes, wearing a ski-mask style face covering, but she said she couldn’t call it an actual ski mask or balaclava.
BRYAN KOHBERGER DOESN’T WANT AMAZON SHOPPING LIST REVEALED AT TRIAL
Four students died that morning – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
DM told police she heard a “man’s voice, and it wasn’t Ethan’s. It was, like ‘It’s okay, I’m gonna help you’.”
Police arrested Kohberger Dec. 30 of that year at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania after they linked him to DNA allegedly recovered from a Ka-Bar knife sheath found under Mogen’s body.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
His Amazon shopping records allegedly show he bought a Ka-Bar with a sheath and sharpening in March 2022.
He faces a first-degree murder charge for each victim and a single felony burglary charge. A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
The trial begins on Aug. 11.
Dem senator refuses to address relationship with founder of Soros-funded news network
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is refusing to address reports he is romantically involved with a former Democratic political operative running a Soros-funded media network masquerading as independent media.
Murphy, who recently announced separation from his wife after nearly two decades together, was recently photographed having a cozy dinner with Tara McGowan, the founder and publisher of Courier Newsroom, a progressive media group that has received millions of dollars in funding from liberal mega-donors such as George Soros.
Fox News Digital recently asked Murphy on Capitol Hill about his involvement with McGowan.
“I’m not going to talk about that,” Murphy responded.
SEVERAL DEMOCRATS TO BOYCOTT TRUMP’S ‘PEP RALLY’ SPEECH TO CONGRESS
McGowan has long held ties with the Democratic Party, working on former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign before serving in top positions at Priorities Action USA, a Democratic super PAC, and ACRONYM, a Democrat-focused digital advocacy group.
The Murphy-tied strategist founded Courier Newsroom, a left-leaning media group that has received millions from the Fund for Policy Reform, an advocacy group founded by Soros.
In 2021, Gabby Deutch, who the Washington Post described as “the Washington correspondent for NewsGuard, a New York-based nonpartisan organization that reviews news sites to combat misinformation,” penned an op-ed criticizing Courier Newsroom as a “political operation” and argued it is “exploiting the widespread loss of local journalism to create and disseminate something we really don’t need: hyperlocal partisan propaganda.”
‘STUNNING AND BRAVE’: DEM SENATOR MOCKED AFTER HYPING ALL-NIGHTER STUNT IN PROTEST OF TRUMP NOMINEE
Fund for Policy Reform provided Courier Newsroom with three grants totaling $5 million in 2021 and 2022 to “support its non-partisan journalism, which aims to further the common good and general welfare of U.S. communities by providing access to information,” its grant database shows, as previously reported by Fox News Digital.
McGowan was also in close quarters with former President Joe Biden’s administration, visiting the Biden White House nearly 20 times by April 2024.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Murphy and McGowan were spotted getting close at a Washington, D.C., watering hole earlier this month, according to the New York Post, with a source telling the outlet the pair was getting “cutesy.”
The outlet reported that Murphy is still married to his wife, Washington, D.C., lawyer Cathy Holahan, and that neither has filed for divorce in Connecticut nor Washington, D.C. The couple did announce they were separating in November, shortly after Murphy won re-election.
Murphy has positioned himself as one of the most prominent Democrat critics of President Donald Trump, which has caused many to speculate he is interested in a run for the White House in the future.
“Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump,” a recent New York Times headline read with an article that was reposted on Murphy’s website.
Fox News Digital reached out to McGowan for comment.
Bruce Willis seen in rare new photos as he celebrates milestone 70th birthday
Bruce Willis is celebrating his 70th birthday.
On Wednesday, the legendary actor’s ex-wife Demi Moore, their three daughters and Bruce’s wife of nearly 16 years, Emma Hemming Willis, all paid tribute to the “Die Hard” star on his milestone birthday.
“Happy birthday, BW! We love you,” Moore, who was married to Bruce from 1987 through 2000, wrote alongside a carousel including some heartwarming, never-before-seen photos.
BRUCE WILLIS’ DAUGHTER GIVES GLIMPSE INTO ACTOR’S BIRTHDAY PLANS WITH ‘IRONCLAD’ FAMILY AS HE BATTLES DEMENTIA
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST
“To the King… I love you Daddio. Happy 70th Birthday papa,” Bruce’s eldest daughter, Rumer, wrote on Instagram alongside a throwback video of her parents dancing together.
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST
Tallulah Willis, Bruce and Moore’s youngest daughter, wrote, “Happy 70th to my favorite friend! You are a light that can never be dimmed! I love you so proud to be your baby Tallulah Belle Bruce Willis.”
In a few follow-up posts, she shared more photos of her parents.
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST
Tallulah praised her “hero” and expressed how proud she is to be a Willis.
“He’s a spaceman, a hero with a badge, a sassy detective with unparalleled banter – and it’s been a privilege to witness all these different characters enlived, and engraved into history because of his innate spirit and soul,” Tallulah wrote. “But really – this is my Dad. throughout my childhood I was so frequently asked what it was like to have capital B Bruce Willis as a dad, that somehow these people thought that when they saw him jump off buildings via a 20ft screen he remained EXTRA LARGE.”
BRUCE WILLIS, DEMI MOORE’S DAUGHTER SAYS FAMILY ‘RALLY AROUND EACH OTHER’ AS DAD BATTLES DEMENTIA
“He’s a person, a man, a son, a kid from Jersey who hit the mother f—ng jackpot of life by the stroke of luck he couldn’t even explain,” she continued. “I love this Jersey boy, who combed my hair in baths, and always made sure I layed a towel down before eating on his bed, and is known far and wide as the Corn Cake King to our safe circle of intimates.”
“For years I would get red in the face when people found out my ‘full’ name,” she concluded. “But I’m pretty damn proud to be Tallulah Belle Bruce Willis.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Scout Willis, the middle child of the eldest three Willis girls, dubbed her dad the “greatest of all time.”
“Happy birthday to the Greatest of all time,” Scout wrote. “Every day I thank the Gods that 50% of my DNA is from him. The music I make, the magic I create, and the magnetic mischief I incite, that’s my father’s legacy alive in the world.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Emma, mother of Bruce’s two youngest daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, shared a photo of the actor smiling on a four-wheeler, and in the caption, she asked her followers to send along birthday wishes for him.
“It’s Bruce’s birthday, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that there’s no greater fan than a Bruce fan,” she wrote. “So flood him with all the love today – he will feel it, I swear he will. You are one powerful bunch. I love how you rally for him, and I’m so grateful that he has you.”
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST
Last month, Scout opened up about the family’s birthday celebration plans for Bruce, as he continues to battle dementia.
“You know, as we always celebrate,” Scout, 33, told Fox News Digital at the Cure Addiction Now inaugural fundraising evening, hosted at The Beverly Hills Hotel, when asked about the family’s plans for Bruce’s birthday.
“We are a huge unit. We are very supportive of one another, and it’s sort of like ironclad… we are so loving with one another.… I think that is the foundation of everything we do.”
That same month, Rumer gave a health update on her dad.
“He’s doing great. I think, obviously, as many people in California, the thing we’re all kind of most scared of dealing with is just the fires and wanting to make sure everything is OK,” the 36-year-old said on the British talk show, “Loose Woman.”
“Because my family, we’re all so close, I think what’s so beautiful is the way that we rally around each other, [it’s] so lovely, because we really are a unit.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
How A-list Hollywood stars are now turning to Trump for help after rallying against him
Ben Stiller, Paul McCartney and Ron Howard were among the over 400 Hollywood stars and industry workers who signed an open letter this week urging President Donald Trump to protect artificial intelligence copyright rules.
“We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries,” the letter, addressed to Trump’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and shared by Deadline and Variety, began.
“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. 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.”
The letter was submitted as part of comments on the Trump administration’s U.S. AI Action Plan.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
OpenAI and Google recently put forth their own submissions to the Office of Science and Technology asking their respective companies to be able to train their models on copyrighted material.
“The federal government can both secure Americans’ freedom to learn from AI and avoid forfeiting our AI lead to the PRC by preserving American AI models’ ability to learn from copyrighted material,” OpenAI’s letter states.
Google’s states, “Balanced copyright rules, such as fair use and text-and-data mining exceptions, have been critical to enabling AI systems to learn from prior knowledge and publicly available data, unlocking scientific and social advances. These exceptions allow for the use of copyrighted, publicly available material for AI training without significantly impacting rightsholders and avoid often highly unpredictable, imbalanced, and lengthy negotiations with data holders during model development or scientific experimentation.”
Hollywood’s letter counters, “There is no reason to weaken or eliminate the copyright protections that have helped America flourish. Not when AI companies can use our copyrighted material by simply doing what the law requires: negotiating appropriate licenses with copyright holders — just as every other industry does.
SIMON COWELL WARNS AI ‘SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO STEAL’ HUMAN TALENT
“Access to America’s creative catalog of films, writing, video content, and music is not a matter of national security. They do not require a government-mandated exemption from existing U.S. copyright law.
“For nearly 250 years, U.S. copyright law has balanced creator’s rights with the needs of the public, creating the world’s most vibrant creative economy. 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.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Office of Science and Technology Policy for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
While a large group of A-listers are rallying against AI, a team of top-grossing directors is openly embracing the technology.
Joe and Anthony Russo, the brothers behind some of Marvel’s biggest hits, like “Avengers: Endgame,” recently released their film “The Electric State” on Netflix, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
The film tells the story of a world full of powerful robots dominating the landscape and touches on the subject of AI.
Joe told The Sunday Times this week that they used AI for some voice modulation in “The Electric State” and that AI use is more prevalent in Hollywood than people are willing to admit.
“There’s a lot of finger-pointing and hyperbole because people are afraid,” Joe said. “They don’t understand. But ultimately you’ll see AI used more significantly.”
He continued, “Also, AI is in its generative state now, where it has, as we call them, hallucinations. You can’t do mission-critical work with something that hallucinates. That is a reason self-driving cars haven’t taken over or why AI surgery is not taking place worldwide. But in its generative state, AI is best suited towards creativity.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
AI, especially generative AI, has been a divisive topic in Hollywood since before the strikes by writers and actors in 2023.
Both unions shut down the industry for almost six months, but it was “necessary at the time,” SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told Fox News Digital last year.
“Our members suffered. Other workers in the industry suffered. The industry suffered. It was necessary at that time. I wish it hadn’t been,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “I mean, to me, when I look at the ultimate agreement, I feel like the companies could have made this deal with us on July 12, and this entire thing could have been avoided, and yet they refused. And so that’s very frustrating.
“On the other hand, it was essential that we be out ahead of the implementation of AI. If we were trying to negotiate this after the industry had already started using it in a big way, it would be impossible to actually sort of put that genie back in the bottle. And so I feel really good that we successfully anticipated this challenge.”
At this month’s SXSW festival, SAG-AFTRA held a panel addressing the continued effect of AI on Hollywood.
WATCH: SAG-AFTRA REP ON WHY THE ‘DEVASTATING’ HOLLYWOOD STRIKES LAST YEAR WERE ‘NECESSARY’
‘THE BRUTALIST’ PRODUCER DEFENDS OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE’S USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AFTER CONTROVERSY
“The copyright issue is a very big deal to the studios, and, for our folks, it’s been good, in that [employers] do really want to hear from our people because if something isn’t [protected under] copyright — if anybody can make Superman’s suit, and you don’t own it anymore — that’s very bad,” Vanessa Holtgrewe, IATSE international vice president & assistant department director of motion picture and television production, said in a press release on the union’s website.
“So, they’re being very cautious and careful about AI.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
DGA Associate National Executive Director & Western Executive Director Rebecca Rhine added, “Ultimately, there has to be some federal legislation, and I think all the unions are discussing among themselves about what approaches may bear the most fruit.”