‘Ellison Is Trump’s B!tch!’ Banner Flies Over Paramount Lot in Protest of Warner Bros. Merger

A plane on Thursday flew over Paramount Pictures’ lot in Hollywood towing a banner that read, “Ellison Is Trump’s B!tch!” It is not immediately clear who was behind the stunt.

The plane made passes over the Paramount lot as a group calling itself Neighbors for Strong Communities was planning to hold a press conference outside the Paramount gates to raise alarms about what would happen if the studio leaves California.

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CEO David Ellison has threatened to leave the state if the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is not closed by Oct. 1, when the company will begin to incur a $7 million-per-day ticking fee payable to Warner Bros. investors. The megadeal is being held up by a 12-state antitrust lawsuit, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, that is set to go to trial in March 2027 (unless the sides reach a settlement).

Paramount employees on the lot were taking pictures of the plane, according to a source who was on the ground. One of them commented that they thought the AGs’ lawsuit was “about antitrust, not about politics.”

At the same time on Thursday, spokespeople representing the Block the Merger coalition — which has strongly opposed the Paramount-WBD merger — were outside the Paramount lot Thursday to “thank state attorneys general for holding firm in their lawsuit to block the $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, and to call on them to continue resisting what they have called Paramount ‘blackmail,’” according to the group. Speakers from the coalition included Elyssa Phillips, actress, writer, comedian and Committee for the First Amendment member; Jessica J. González, co-CEO of Free Press; Konstantine Anthony, actor and Burbank City Council member; and Nikki Perez, Burbank City Council member.

A rep for the Block the Merger campaign said the group was not behind the plane. A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment.

Here’s a photo of the plane:

Trump is known to be friendly with both David Ellison and his father, Oracle founder and mega-billionaire Larry Ellison. This past April, David Ellison in threw a dinner party in Washington, D.C., “honoring” Trump and the First Amendment, which was attended by CBS News execs and journalists including editor in chief Bari Weiss.

The Ellisons’ ties to Trump have raised concerns that if CNN comes under Paramount’s ownership with the Warner Bros. deal, David Ellison will push CNN’s coverage in a more conservative or pro-MAGA direction. The CEO has repeatedly pledged that CNN will remain an editorially independent news organization if the Paramount-WBD deals goes through.

In a New York Times op-ed last month, Ellison said he believes the Bonta-led antitrust lawsuit isn’t about the market share of a combined Paramount- Warner Bros. but about “whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN.”

“There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions,” Ellison wrote. “Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle… Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause.”

At the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in July, Trump joked that David Ellison told him that next year Ellison will rename the WHCA dinner “the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” “He told me that, and I like that very much. We’re going to change the name of it, OK?” Trump said, alluding to his unsuccessful effort to add his name to the Kennedy Center.

Earlier this summer, a Paramount shareholder sued David Ellison and Larry Ellison, alleging they cut an “illegal” deal with Trump to secure U.S. governmental approval for the takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. In return, according to the lawsuit, the Ellisons offered “the opportunity to improperly funnel cash” to the president by settling his legal claims against CNN, and they allegedly promised that CNN anchors Trump does not like would be fired after the WBD takeover. In response, a Paramount spokesperson said in part, “This lawsuit recycles allegations that have already been reported and already addressed. As we’ve said consistently: no commitments from either David or Larry Ellison have been made to any government body, State AG, or federal agency regarding the future of CNN or any other news property, other than the goal to deliver truth-based journalism.”