After Actor CENSORS Play, FBI Lovebirds Relaunches On YouTube
Play Forced Off Channel After Anti-Trump Actor Revoked Permission
Playwright pledges to fight censorship attempt and reveal truth about Russia Collusion Hoax
LOS ANGELES –The highly-acclaimed verbatim play FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers relaunched today on The Ann & Phelim Scoop YouTube channel after one of the play’s actors forced its removal.
The play, which has been praised by President Donald Trump, stars Dean Cain as disgraced FBI Investigator and Trump nemesis Peter Strzok in a dramatized stage reading of text messages between him and Lisa Page, played by Kristy Swanson. The play, written by journalist and writer Phelim McAleer, was crowdfunded on Indiegogo and can be accessed at FBILovebirds.com.
McAleer and his team were forced to re-edit the film after politically-inspired legal objections by one of the play’s actors, Christopher T. Wood. The anti-Trump actor claimed his contract meant he could refuse to allow the play to remain on YouTube. This forced the play’s removal meaning that the truth about the FBI plot to undermine the Trump candidacy and presidency was no longer available to the public.
The team behind FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers has re-edited the film of the play and removed Wood entirely. The edited version of the play is now available on YouTube. It can be accessed at FBILovebirds.com.
McAleer condemned Wood’s attempt at censorship, noting that it had only started after President Trump announced his support for the project and after he hosted Cain, Swanson and McAleer in the Oval Office.
“The play and the issues behind it attracted enormous attention and media. People were starting to understand and appreciate the seriousness of the story. We tried almost everything to get this actor to reconsider, but unfortunately he has decided that his leftist political views will take precedence and his priority is now to prevent this play – and the truth – from reaching more people. This is straightforward censorship,” McAleer said.
“Hollywood actors and art organizations have been begging for a bailout during the COVID-19 crisis and yet actors like Christopher T. Wood refuse work because of their radical political beliefs,” McAleer continued. “Not only is it a display of arrogance while millions of Americans are out of work, Wood’s actions also affect other actors. If Hollywood can reject decent jobs and roles and venues cancel productions then there is obviously plenty of work and money in the sector and they don’t need a bailout. Working America should just say no to the privileged class who reject work and try to stop their colleagues from getting work and demand the rest of us pay their wages anyway.”
Since the play’s taping, Wood has taken to Twitter to show his support for Lisa Page and his disdain for President Trump and his administration.
FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers is based on the transcripts of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page’s answers to prolonged questioning in private congressional hearings. The script is completely verbatim and derived exclusively from text messages and congressional hearing transcripts.
The play previously premiered in DC at the The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Politico labeled it “Hamilton for the MAGA crowd” and Vice News described it as “edgy…the most dangerous play in Washington.”
McAleer’s productions have experienced much censorship in recent years. His play Ferguson prompted 9 actors to walkout on the play. In the first scheduled showing of FBI Lovebirds, the original theater cancelled the production after a libera backlash to the play’s content. Similarly when McAleer and his wife Ann McElhinney announced they were crowdfunding for the Gosnell Movie about abortion, Kickstarter refused to host their campaign.
FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers was written by Los Angeles-based Phelim McAleer who has been at the forefront of introducing the Verbatim Theater format to the United States. Verbatim Theater, popular in the UK, is “a play constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic.”
About the writer:
Phelim McAleer is a New York Times best selling author veteran investigative journalist, filmmaker and playwright and one of the world’s most successful crowdfunders. His most recent movie, Gosnell, is the story of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, whom ABC News described as “America’s biggest serial killer.”
