Paramount declined to air a 30-second advertisement criticizing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery during the UFC Freedom 250 event on Sunday, according to Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), the nonprofit that submitted the ad.
The rejected spot, which ran during the Paramount+ livestream of the UFC event held on the White House lawn to mark President Trump’s 80th birthday and the nation’s semiquincentennial, featured Trump calling journalists “the enemy of the people” and suggested that Trump-allied Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison could force CNN, the flagship Warner Bros. news network, to soften its coverage of the president.
Ad Content and Rationale
The ad highlighted a New York Times report about Ellison hosting a private party in Trump’s honor as Paramount awaited regulatory approval of the merger, which the Justice Department cleared on Friday, according to FPF. It also quoted Scott Pelley, the correspondent recently fired from 60 Minutes, who alleged that new executive leadership wanted him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting to “curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”
“Let’s stop Trump’s censorship and block this merger,” the ad’s voiceover concluded, directing viewers to a FPF web page for sending letters to Congress demanding an investigation into “Trump-Paramount corruption.” FPF chief of advocacy Seth Stern said in a statement: “Ellison won’t air criticism of himself, his company, or his buddy Trump. These antics are bad for press freedom, bad for the public, and bad for Paramount—just look at CBS’s recent struggles under Ellison’s watch.” Stern was alluding to ongoing turmoil at CBS News since the Ellisons’ Skydance Media closed its Paramount acquisition last August.
Merger and Political Ties
Paramount and its chairman David Ellison have close ties to Trump. The ad noted a March comment from defense secretary Pete Hegseth: “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, billionaire founder of Oracle, also supports Trump and holds a majority stake in Paramount. FPF alleged that Paramount declined to air the ad due to a conflict of interest, a rationale Stern dismissed as hypocritical given the company’s “promising the Trump administration editorial concessions in exchange for merger approvals” and airing a UFC event that served as “an hours-long commercial for Donald Trump and Truth Social.”
Neither the White House nor Paramount replied to requests for comment. CNN declined to comment.
Legal Hurdles Ahead
David Ellison’s appearance alongside Trump at Sunday’s UFC event—Paramount secured exclusive UFC broadcast rights in a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal last year—had the air of a victory lap. But state attorneys general can still sue to block the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, and officials in California, New York, and other states are reportedly preparing to do so. Even if such lawsuits only delay the deal, they inject uncertainty into a transaction that has already drawn scrutiny over its implications for media consolidation and press freedom.
For C-suite executives and investors, the rejection underscores the strategic risks Paramount faces as it navigates a merger with significant political and regulatory exposure. The ad controversy may amplify opposition from state-level enforcers and public-interest groups, potentially complicating the deal's timeline and conditions.
Sources:
