Hollywood production companies — including regular Trump-hater Judd Apatow’s The Apatow Company — was among the production companies and agencies that received money from the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.
The report added that the Apatow Company — known for hits like Talladega Nights, HBO’s Girls, the Anchorman movie franchise, and the Amy Schumer-starrer Trainwreck — received a loan worth at least $150,000 to up to $350,000. Apatow, who was critical of the Trump administration’s program, said in April that “it’s sad we have a President who is a criminal and is cruel to people who have paid their debt to society. Soon he will have to pay his debt.”
It’s sad we have a President who is a criminal and is cruel to people who have paid their debt to society. Soon he will have to pay his debt. https://t.co/Gd1TcCIk9e
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) April 21, 2020
In March, Judd Apatow called President Trump and Republicans in Congress “murderers.” In May, the 40 Year Old Virgin director said Trump “normalized being insane” and the GOP has caused “thousands of deaths.”
The PPP was implemented in March to help keep small business wrecked by the Chinese coronavirus financially afloat. The Gersh Agency reportedly received a loan worth at least $5 million to up to $10 million, while Verve Talent & Literary Agency received a loan worth at least $350,000 to up to $1 million.
The report added that another agency, Agency for the Performing Arts, had received a $2 million to $4 million loan, with Brillstein Entertainment Partners receiving a loan worth between $1 million to $2 million.
Other Hollywood businesses to benefit from PPP loans during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic were the Entertainment Industry Foundation with loan worth between $1 million to $2 million, and the production company The Jim Henson Company with a loan worth $2 million to $5 million.
Moreover, the Time’s Up Foundation received a loan worth between $350,000 to $1 million.
Hollywood companies like Apatow’s are not the only businesses with owners critical of President Trump to receive bail outs from his administration this pandemic season.
Nobu, the posh, high-end restaurant and hotel chain — backed by left-wing actor and raging Trump-basher Robert De Niro — took more than a dozen loans from the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that the program was not meant to go toward companies that could reasonably tap other forms of capital during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the luxury restaurant chain Nobu was founded by De Niro, Matsuhisa, and film producer Meir Teper, who combined are estimated to have a net worth of roughly $700 million.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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