Paramount+ blocks FPF ad about Trump-Ellison censorship threat

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New York, June 16, 2026 — Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) revealed today that Paramount+ rejected an ad calling attention to President Donald Trump’s crooked meddling in media transactions to extract favorable coverage. The ad would have run on the platform during the same time as the UFC Freedom 250 event, broadcast live June 14 from the White House on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. The ad warns Americans about the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which would place CNN under the editorial control of David Ellison, a Trump-aligned investor who has already made documented concessions to the administration as a condition of regulatory approval. As the ad shows, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s secretary of defense, has publicl…