Donald Trump personally lobbied Paramount to bring back the ‘Rush Hour’ franchise

Here are more photos of Donald Trump on Tuesday, where he bungled the White House Turkey Pardon, made horrible jokes and then skedaddled down to Mar-a-Lago. Something else happened this week, and it bizarrely involves Trump. Paramount announced that they’re reviving the Rush Hour franchise with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The first three films were directed by Brett Ratner, who was credibly accused of all kinds of sexual abuses in the #MeToo era. Ratner has been on the comeback trail, mostly because he’s turned MAGA and he’s currently making a documentary about Melania Trump. Well, put all of that together and you get Donald Trump personally lobbying Larry Ellison at Paramount to bring back the Rush Hour franchise, with Ratner attached to direct.

Rush Hour 4 is in the works, reportedly after President Donald Trump lobbied Paramount Skydance shareholder Larry Ellison on behalf of director Brett Ratner. Multiple outlets report that Paramount is reviving the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker action-comedy franchise with Ratner, director of the original 1998 film, returning to helm it.

The move comes “after prodding from Trump on behalf of” Ratner, Puck’s Matthew Belloni wrote on X. Per The Guardian, Trump, 79, lobbied for a Rush Hour 4 with Ellison, a billionaire and the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison. David’s father, Larry, is the company’s largest shareholder.

Ratner, 56, was accused by multiple women — including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge — of sexual misconduct or harassment in 2017 amid Hollywood’s #MeToo movement. After the explosive Los Angeles Times article detailing claims against him, Ratner denied all wrongdoing, filing and later dropping a defamation lawsuit against Melanie Kohler, who accused him of rape.

The filmmaker, who directed 1998’s Rush Hour and its 2001 and 2007 sequels, also has ties to the president. In October it was announced that Ratner has in development a documentary at Amazon MGM Studios about First Lady Melania Trump.

Ellison, 81, recently had talks with White House officials about Paramount Skydance making a deal to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a Nov. 20 report by The Guardian. Several insiders claimed that Ellison spoke with someone about potentially restructuring CNN, a network currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Those conversations allegedly involved firing reporters such as Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, who are not favored by Trump.

[From People]

This is insane from start to finish. Brett Ratner’s comeback trail via the MAGA Express, Trump personally lobbying for Rush Hour 4, perhaps even making corporate mergers contingent on a Rush Hour sequel. I didn’t even know that Trump gave a sh-t about the Rush Hour movies, which are… I mean, very problematic, to put it mildly. I know they were incredibly successful, but yeah… what a world.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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2 Responses to “Donald Trump personally lobbied Paramount to bring back the ‘Rush Hour’ franchise”

  1. Happy Peregrine says:
    November 26, 2025 at 10:42 am

    Man. I loved Jackie Chan- I did martial arts for over a decade and have always loved watching him. But I saw him do something that I can’t unsee.

    We recently rewatched the first Shanghai Knights movie to see if it was ok for our kids to watch.

    At the end was a blooper with Jackie Chan and Lucy Lui. The stunt didn’t work out and he’s fully on top of her then calls her by her character name and “jokingly” pretends to try to kiss her all over her face as Lui laughs and giggles. It’s goes on as on. Her reaction was such a classic female response to being in a very uncomfortable situation that you have no idea how to extract yourself from. Especially with the international movie star lead.

    My stomach dropped. It was so familiar and so so unexpected and uncomfortable to see. Years ago I would have given him the benefit of the doubt and thought it was a super cute moment, because he has always been presented in the media as such a good solid moral person. Now I see it for what it was.

    Lucy Lui wasn’t in the second movie even though her character was mentioned a couple of times. Noteworthy.

    Reply
  2. Mrs.Krabapple says:
    November 26, 2025 at 11:07 am

    Chris Tucker was a frequent guest of Jeffrey Epstein. And Ratner had Roman Polanski appear in the third Rush Hour movie. Sexual abusers like to hang out together, I guess.

    Reply

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