David Spade has taken a firm stance against California’s Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, attributing Hollywood’s troubling decline to their Democratic leadership.
On a recent episode of his Fly on the Wall podcast, Spade lamented that “the Hollywood industry is dying,” expressing frustration and looking to assign blame. He referenced the bankruptcy of the CBS Radford Studio Center, noting its historic significance in the industry.
“Dude, I’m so old,” Spade reflected. “I was on the lot at CBS Radford when we were doing ‘Just Shoot Me.’ … And I’d see [Jerry] on his bike. It was the greatest lot. Of course, just filed for bankruptcy, the lot. Terrifying in LA. Thanks, Karen Bass. Thanks, Gavin.”
Co-host Dana Carvey concurred, asserting that the “Hollywood studio system is dying” and emphasized the need for the state to shift strategies to retain production.
“The amount of productions is dying, and so they have to do something so more production comes back, and that starts with negotiating with the union and also subsidizing the industry tax breaks to compete with Romania,” Carvey noted.
Actor David Spade just
EXPOSED a bill that PASSED
in California to audit where
the $20+ billion dollars in
missing homeless money
went, only to be VETOED by
Gavin Newsom. pic.twitter.com/2zFpr9PQp9— TaraBull (@TaraBull) March 18, 2026
Bass’s office countered by asserting that the mayor has been actively working to protect entertainment jobs while expanding incentives to keep filming in California.
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“Mayor Bass has championed the entertainment industry because it’s a bedrock of our middle class,” her office claimed. “The fact of the matter is that Mayor Bass oversaw the creation of California’s first Film and TV Tax Credit Program as speaker of the State Assembly and backed its expansion last year.”
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The challenges facing Hollywood have intensified political debates. Reports indicate that the industry lost 17,000 jobs in 2025, marking an 18% increase in job losses from the previous year. Christopher Nolan, president of the Directors Guild of America, noted that employment for his members has fallen by about 40%, labeling the situation as “very worrying.”
Production tracking service FilmLA has also reported a 16% decline in filming permits in Los Angeles over the last year, adding to an approximate 50% drop since 2018.
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