Paramount Pictures’s X account has been hacked to display a very clear message seemingly regarding their recent move to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
The studio’s social media profile briefly said “proud arm of the fascist regime” in its bio Tuesday on X, as first reported byVariety. The bio has since been changed back to simply say “The official X account for Paramount Pictures.”
Paramount did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.
The hack on Paramount’s X account, which has over three million followers, came just one day after it was announced that David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, launched a hostile bid for WBD, rivaling Netflix’s $72 billion buyout offer.
Paramount is going straight to WBD with an all-cash offer, bidding $30 per share. Meanwhile, Netflix offered $27.75 per share Friday and a mix of cash and stock.
Amid growing fears from streamers and calls from labor unions to block the merger, others are worried that Ellison’s efforts to buy WBD are an attempt to impress his longtime family friend President Donald Trump.
Trump previously said a massive deal like Netflix and WBD’s could raise problems for the market, suggesting that he might need to intervene.
“There’s no question about it. It could be a problem," Trump said Sunday at the Kennedy Center Honors. He added that the deal had to “go through a process and we’ll see what happens.”
However, Trump made that comment before Paramount launched the hostile bid Monday. Throughout the bidding war, Ellison reportedly felt he had a “Trump card” in his back pocket due to his and his father’s close relationship with the president. Ellison, the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, has been consistently praised by Trump since he took charge of Paramount in August. Plus, Trump’s son-in-law is one of the investors on Ellison’s team.
The bidding war for WBD has become increasingly bitter as execs appear to be jumping through hoops to please Trump in hopes of clearing the president’s administration’s regulatory reviews. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos made a secret make a secret trip to the White House earlier this year to chat up Trump, while Larry Ellison reportedly had recent discussions with the Trump administration about firing hosts who Trump does not like on CNN, which is owned by Paramount.
