Hollywood Celebrities Ariana Grande, Mark Ruffalo, Billy Porter Support Soros-Backed Initiative Spreading ‘Book Bans’ Hoax

Hollywood celebrities including Ariana Grande, Judd Apatow, and Chelsea Handler are lending their support to a George Soros-backed initiative that is trying to re-frame the removal of sexually explicit and other inappropriate books from school libraries as “book bans” — a now ubiquitous semantic hoax that the left is deploying to smear conservatives.

Other stars joining the effort include familiar left-wing Hollywood voices Rob Reiner, Mark Ruffalo, Billy Porter, Ellen Barkin, Patton Oswalt, John Leguizamo, and Piper Perabo.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro also added his name to the list of Hollywood supporters.

The “Banned Bookmobile” is going on a multi-state tour to “sound alarms” about so-called book banning, with stops including the key battleground states of Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The project is backed by MoveOn, the far-left political organization that has received millions of dollars in funding from George Soros.

Star Trek actor LeVar Burton — who was the host of PBS’ Reading Rainbow — is also a major organizer of the “Banned Bookmobile.”

The semantic deception at the heart of the project is the left’s claim that conservative politicians including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are engaging in “book bans” and “censorship” when they call for the removal of certain books from public school libraries.

But the targeted books are frequently sexual and sometimes pornographic in nature, like Gender Queer, which teaches about masturbation and oral sex. During a recent Senate hearing on the matter, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) read passages from All Boys Aren’t Blue and Gender Queer.

“I put some lube on, and I got him on his knees,” Kennedy quoted. “And I began to slide into him from behind.”

Other books in question promote critical race theory — the belief that skin color is the most important aspect of a person’s identity and should be the organizing principle in American society.

Gov. DeSantis has repeatedly defended Florida’s decision to remove certain inappropriate books from school libraries.

“Exposing the ‘book ban’ hoax is important because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination,” he said in a statement back in March.

“In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards. Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate.”

The removal of books deemed inappropriate has been going on for decades — often with Democrats leading the charge.  Democrats have tried to get Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn yanked from school library shelves in numerous counties, claiming the classic novels are racist, when in fact they are the opposite of that.

The “Banned Bookmobile” is also serving as a fundraiser for MoveOn, with Mark Ruffalo urging his fans to give money to the left-wing political group.

MoveOn attempted to remove then-President Donald Trump from office in 2019 when it organized numerous pro-impeachment efforts.

Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.