Culver City protesters demand Sony, Amazon, other studios defend democracy

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Set us as preferred On a sweltering Saturday, around 100 people gathered in Culver City for a rally and march to deliver a message to several major media companies: Help us protect our democracy.Spotlighting Sony Pictures Studios, Apple, Pinterest and Amazon MGM Studios, all with local offices, protesters demanded that the companies sign on to the “Business for Democracy Pledge” ahead of the elections in November.After hearing from a few speakers outside Culver City’s City Hall, the band of demonstrators marched a few blocks to the offices of Sony Pictures Studios.

From there — walking by posters for the upcoming Sony release “The Social Reckoning” — they made their way back across downtown Culver City to stop outside the historic Culver Studios, now owned by Amazon MGM.Local groups Culver City and Friends Rising and Keep Showing Up led the protests.This week, they sent letters to the chief executives of all four corporations asking them to sign the pledge.

No response has been received.(Messages from The Times to spokespeople for all four companies also were not returned.)“Businesses and particularly large corporations like Sony, Apple, Pinterest and Amazon, who are our focus today, have a particular role to play in defending democracy,” Phil Ansell, leader of Culver City and Friends Rising, said before the rally.

“They have weight, and this administration cares what business says.”He added, “We’ve seen internationally that in situations where democracy has been under threat, that when the business community stands up for democracy, it can make a huge difference in preventing a full-on shift to authoritarianism.” California L.A.voting rights groups rally to recruit poll watchers, launch protection programs, and counter potential election disruption in the November vote.Bryan “Bubba” Fish,...