Ben Shapiro responded after the Livingston City Commission halted production on his Daily Wire banner’s ICE film, “Pawn Shop,” which has since resumed filming. The political commentator called the decision “content discrimination” and a “violation of the First Amendment.”
“Let’s be clear: There is only one reason the city commissioners decided to shut down our street production: politics, plain and simple, and they’ve pretty much admitted it,” Shapiro said. “A commissioner named Cindy Daniels said, quote, ‘I’m not prepared to sacrifice resources related to safety, to the safety of the mental health of our community. Absolutely not. This wasn’t a Hallmark movie. It wasn’t, you know, Christmas time in Livingston, and it wasn’t a romantic story.” Well, I mean, I didn’t know we had to accommodate your idea of what the story required.
He added: “In fact, I’m pretty sure the First Amendment says the exact opposite of that. So they’re saying a Hallmark romance would have been perfectly acceptable. But a Daily Wire movie about immigration enforcement loses that. This is openly practiced content discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment.”
The permits were reinstated Monday evening after a meeting with municipal officials.
Filming of “Pawn Shop” in Livingston, Mont., was halted following a special city commission meeting Saturday, where residents complained about the production’s impact on the Livingston Food Bank and inappropriate warnings about dangerous stunts. The Commission concluded the meeting with “a motion to immediately and temporarily suspend the permit of Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC while seeking legal advice from the City Attorney in a timely manner to modify, suspend or revoke the permit in order to return to the commission no later than 5 p.m. on October 5.” »
“Pawn Shop” cast members include Myles Clohessy, Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, Henry Thomas, CJ Salvador, Noel Guglielmi, Paris Bravo, Joseph Lucero, Eddie Spears, Simon Rhee and Forrie J. Smith.
Michael Polish is the director.
The film’s official script reads: “When a riot in Minneapolis forces a young ICE officer to make a high-stakes arrest alone after the death of his partner, he is chased through the streets by a furious mob determined to free the prisoner and punish anyone who still upholds the law. Barricaded in a neighborhood pawn shop with a hardline Hispanic veteran and the man’s progressive, college-aged grandson, ordinary men must choose between the rule of law and the chaos that wants to burn it all down in a modern siege of honor and defiance.
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