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Actress and activist Jane Fonda penned an op-ed in The Ankler on Thursday, warning that the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery “threatens” the First Amendment — especially considering how the Trump administration has “used anticipated mergers as tools of political pressure and censorship” in the past.
Fonda’s op-ed — published before Netflix confirmed its acquisition of Warner Bros. on Friday — contended that while it was not known at the time which company would end up buying the legendary film house, “we don’t need to know the final outcome to understand the danger.”
“The threat of this merger in any form is an alarming escalation in a consolidation crisis that threatens the entire entertainment industry, the public it serves, and — potentially — the First Amendment itself,” she wrote.
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Jane Fonda attends the closing ceremony red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2025, in Cannes, France. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
Fonda continued, “Regardless of which company ends up acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery or its parts, the resulting impact is clear: Consolidation at this scale would be catastrophic for an industry built on free expression, for the creative workers who power it, and for consumers who depend on a free, independent media ecosystem to understand the world. It will mean fewer jobs, fewer opportunities to sell work, fewer creative risks, fewer news sources and far less diversity in the stories Americans get to hear.”
As noted in Netflix’s Friday statement, the streaming giant has purchased only the studio side of the company, as well as HBO and HBO Max. The cable news side of Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN, TNT and Discovery, will be separated into its own publicly traded company, Discovery Global.
Continuing her criticisms, Fonda claimed that whichever company acquires Warner Bros. Discovery would “gain the power to steamroll every guild — SAG-AFTRA, the WGA, the PGA, the DGA, IATSE, everyone — making it harder for workers to bargain, harder to stand up for themselves and harder to make a living at all.”
The actress cautioned that no matter how dangerous the “economic fallout” might be, that is not what frightens her most about the sale.
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“What terrifies me — and should terrify anyone who cares about a free society — is how this administration has used anticipated mergers as tools of political pressure and censorship,” she wrote. “We’ve already seen this at work. During the Skydance-Paramount merger proceedings, the Chairman of the FCC launched an investigation into 60 Minutes over routine editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris — a move his own predecessor said was ‘fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment.’”
President Donald Trump speaks during a breakfast with Senate and House Republicans in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
The actress asserted that “the First Amendment is not partisan and neither is standing up to defend it,” claiming that even conservative leaders have warned that the Trump administration is “operating outside legal and ethical bounds.”
Closing out her thoughts, Fonda called for an organized effort to oppose Trump, warning that “if we don’t speak now, we may have no industry — and no democracy — left to defend.”
American actress Jane Fonda at Cannes Film Festival 2024. (Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
“This is not a partisan fight. It is a fight for our creativity, our livelihoods and our most fundamental rights as Americans. I choose to stand up. I hope you will join me,” she concluded.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix did not immediately return Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
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