On its surface, actor John Cusack’s Wednesday appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon may have been seen as a laudable tribute to the First Amendment, but given Cusack’s work in trying to thwart the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger simply because he disagrees with Paramount CEO David Ellison’s politics, it was actually an exercise in hypocrisy. Unfortunately, Fallon failed to question him on it.
Fallon began by noting Cusack’s involvement with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which led him to inquire, “And you have a new prize called the Penlight Prize. Can you tell me about this?”
Cusack responded by waxing poetic, “We started this First Amendment organization protecting, you know, First Amendment covers a lot of ground. It covers freedom of speech and freedom of press and the right to assemble and all that. And I think everybody knows that a free press is, kind of, vital to democracy, right? Don't you think?”
John Cusack, whose First Amendment advocacy group is currently trying to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger because it doesn't like David Ellison's real or perceived politics, says the organization exists because "Freedom of the press is being attacked and we are fighting… pic.twitter.com/y71UrPi4B9
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 24, 2026
After Fallon affirmed that he does, Cusack continued:
It's a good thing if journalists and, you know, papers dig into what the powerful and the government is doing in your name. And as they say, news is something that they don't want you to print and all the rest is public relations. So, you've got to print stuff that make powerful people angry. And that's the way democracies work. So, we have announced—we do lots of great stuff. And if you check out the org, you can join. There's webinars and seminars. And you can join in. But we're doing this award based on Freedom of Information Act reporting, which is, kind of, the toughest reporting to do. We have to go get government records and do that. So, we're giving a monetary prize and trying to highlight that.
Fallon responded by gushing, “Fantastic. Thank you for doing that.”
Cusack then warned, “So, freedom of the press is being attacked, and we are fighting back in all the ways they're attacking.”
Fallon then moved on to other topics, but not before concluding, “Thank you for doing that work. Keep up the great work. We need our journalists out there.”
Cusack was one of the Hollywood bigwigs who signed Block the Merger’s open letter opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Ostensibly, it was related to concerns about its effects on the movie and TV industry, but for groups like the Freedom of the Press Foundation, there were other concerns.
After California folded and shortly after Cusack’s appearance on The Tonight Show, Block the Merger filed an emergency motion in federal court trying to stop the merger. FPF, which portrays itself as a First Amendment organization, lamented that the Ellisons have the wrong politics and that the editorial boards created as part of the settlement are both “worthless” and problematic in their own way. Therefore, as part of the Coalition’s statement on the matter, Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern declared, “The solution for the Ellisons letting Donald Trump and Brendan Carr police journalism is not to let attorneys general and judges police journalism too. It’s to keep the government out of the newsroom, period. No one seriously believes the Ellisons (or their rumored new investor Elon Musk) will do that, with or without a self-appointed sham editorial board, which is why this merger cannot proceed.”
Using the power of the government to stop a merger because you don’t like the CEO’s real or perceived politics is more of a threat to the First Amendment than banning journalists from a specific building. There’s a time and a place for Fallon’s usual chumminess with his celebrity guests, but this wasn’t it.
Here is a transcript for the September 23 show:
NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
9/23/2026
11:57 PM ET
JIMMY FALLON: Before we get into the new book, I wanted to mention your work with Freedom of the Press Foundation. You're involved with this. And you have a new prize called the Penlight Prize.
JOHN CUSACK: Yes.
FALLON: Can you tell me about this?
CUSACK: Indeed, I can. I will endeavor to be brief. But we started this First Amendment organization protecting, you know, First Amendment covers a lot of ground. It covers freedom of speech and freedom of press and the right to assemble and all that. And I think everybody knows that a free press is, kind of, vital to democracy, right? Don't you think?
FALLON: Of course.
CUSACK: So, it's a good thing if journalists and, you know, papers dig into what the powerful and the government is doing in your name. And as they say, news is something that they don't want you to print and all the rest is public relations. So, you've got to print stuff that make powerful people angry. And that's the way democracies work. So, we have announced—we do lots of great stuff. And if you check out the org, you can join. There's webinars and seminars. And you can join in. But we're doing this award based on Freedom of Information Act reporting, which is, kind of, the toughest reporting to do. We have to go get government records and do that. So, we're giving a monetary prize and trying to highlight that.
FALLON: Fantastic.
CUSACK: Yeah.
FALLON: Thank you for doing that.
CUSACK: So, freedom of the press is being attacked, and we are fighting back in all the ways they're attacking.
FALLON: Thank you for doing that work. Keep up the great work.
CUSACK: Gracias.
FALLON: We need our journalists out there.
CUSACK: Yeah.
