Patricia Heaton Hollywood secret network
por Lucid Arthur: Gary Sinise
The fear of losing a job in Hollywood during the Obama administration created an environment where conservatives felt they couldn't speak openly. Patricia Heaton told Andrew Gold about a secret elite network formed to let people exist in media without repercussions. Members used code words like 'friend of Abe' or 'FOA' to identify each other, referencing Abraham Lincoln as the first Republican president. If someone confirmed they were FOA, it meant they were a conservative, independent, or non-Democrat you could talk to on set safely. Gary Sinise invited Heaton and her husband to host gatherings that started with plans for 20 to 30 people but grew to 80 attendees. The guest list included Kelsey Grammer, John Voight, and Ben Shapiro. Heaton described the industry culture surrounding them as a cult where nobody would talk unless they knew the person was safe. The group's purpose was strictly fellowship and free conversation rather than fundraising or protesting. Identifying as FOA allowed individuals to speak without feeling like they were going to get in trouble at their job.
Transcripción (en)
In Hollywood at that time, especially when Obama was president, it was kind of like Democrats ruled, and there were a lot of people that felt like they couldn't say anything who were conservative. And we ended up having to make a secret group. Did anybody tell you about this? Has anybody talked to you about it? Called FOA, Friends of Abe, as in Abraham Lincoln. So, you know, if you're in Alcoholics Anonymous and you want to find out if somebody else is in it, you say, are you a friend of Bill? Because Bill Wilson started. If you were gay in the 40s in Hollywood, they would say, oh, is he a friend of Dorothy? So ours was Abraham Lincoln, who was our first Republican president. So we were friends of Abe. So you could say to somebody, are you a friend of Abe? Or are you FOA? And if they said, yeah, then you knew there was another conservative or independent or someone who is not a Democrat that you could talk to without feeling like you were going to get in trouble at your job Anyone not sort of in the cult In the cult I would call it the cult Yeah It was actually Gary Sinise approached me and my husband and said hey would you guys host a couple just a couple people to come over? And it was like Kelsey Grammer and John Voight and Ben Shapiro. Oh, what I would have done to be there. Yes. And he was like, how many people are you thinking? It'll be 20, 30 tops. So 80 people later, we headed our house. And so it was really fun. And all it was, was fellowship. We weren't raising money for candidates. We didn't go protest anything. It was just to go hang out, be able to talk freely without worrying about losing your job and to let other people know who was safe on a set. So people would come to these FOA meetings and they would see people that they worked with. And they were like, you're FOA. And they'd be like, oh, you're FOA. So, because nobody would talk. If you were a conservative Republican or libertarian, you wouldn't talk about it. For more clips like this, follow now.
