Democrats are furious over Hulu’s refusal to run a number of Democratic ads that touch on abortion and gun issues.
The Disney-backed streaming service has a policy against running controversial content, with a source familiar with the company’s policies telling The Washington Post that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a political ad or not.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Governors Association apparently found out the hard way about Hulu’s undisclosed advertising policy when the ads they attempted to buy never ran, but identical ones bought on an ABC affiliate and ESPN were aired.
“Hulu’s censorship of the truth is outrageous, offensive, and another step down a dangerous path for our country,” the executive directors of the three committees, Christie Roberts, Tim Persico and Noam Lee, said in a statement provided to The Washington Post. “Voters have the right to know the facts about MAGA Republicans’ agenda on issues like abortion — and Hulu is doing a huge disservice to the American people by blocking voters from learning the truth about the GOP record or denying these issues from even being discussed.”
The party committees join a growing list of Democratic candidates who have had spots mentioning gun violence, abortion or political violence rejected by Hulu.
Suraj Patel, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York City, posted a letter of protest, first reported by Jezebel, to Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Hulu President Joe Earley complaining that a Hulu representative told his campaign there was an “unwritten Hulu policy” that deemed the topics in one of his ads too “sensitive” for the platform. The ad in question mentioned Republican successes around abortion, climate change and gun violence, while also showing footage of the violence from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“To not discuss these topics in my campaign ad is to not address the most important issues facing the United States,” Patel wrote. “Your ban on mobilization messaging has a perverse effect on Democracy.”
Patel said in an interview Sunday that the ad was allowed to run after he edited it, replacing the word “climate change” with “democracy” and replacing the footage of violence at the U.S. Capitol with footage of former president Donald Trump. He has not received a response from Chapek or Earley, he said. (WaPo)
Patel took particular issue with the fact that he faced such a hurdle reaching young voters where they are actually watching, which is no longer cable.
Hulu maintains its ad policy since digital providers are not subject to the Communications Act of 1934.
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