Their agenda in the entertainment industry included a meeting with WaltDisneyCo.
Deadline spoke with Gallagher on Tuesday.
DEADLINE:In your meetings with Hollywood figures, were there any major surprises you came away with?
Wisconsin GOP Rep. Mike GallagherBill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Just how hard it is to do business there.
The other thing that surprised me is just how theres still a genuine fear of reprisal in Hollywood.
It seems like an un-American thing to do.
Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection
Disney claims that, having seen that blow up in their faces, they changed their processes.
I dont think they were lying to me about that.
Theres really two issues.
One is, lets say you make a movie or a TV show.
You submit it to the Chinese censors to make it get it into China.
And then they come back and they say, Well, you should probably change this.
And thats a case by case basis that each studio is going to have to deal with.
TheTransformersmovies edited to make the Chinese military look like the hero.
But getting at this issue of self-censorship.
Its really hard, and I think its really pernicious.
And nobody we met with denied that some form of it was happening.
I think its very real.
But they dont always get it right.
What was your reaction to that?
GALLAGHER:I dont want to characterize anything he said.
Im gonna talk about what I said.
But my understanding is that theres really no silver-bullet solution to this question of censorship in China.
But again, youre kind of talking about two different things.
And the other thing is self-censorship on the front end.
Ask yourself: When was the last time a movie featured a Chinese villain?
I cant think of one.
Maybe thats evidence that self-censorship is happening.
DEADLINE:What can the committee do when it comes to things like self-censorship?
What is the role of the committee?
GALLAGHER:Its not obvious to me that we could legislate a fix to this.
You dont want Congress to be in the business of telling Hollywood what stories can and cant be made.
But beyond that, I dont think we should get in the business saying, You cant do X.
You cant do Y.
[The latest defense authorization bill, passed in December,includes restrictionson such Department of Defense cooperation].
And its not just China.
It happens in the Middle East, it happens in other countries.
It may offend me in some cases, but I do.
They dont want anybody to know that theres a genocide happening in Xinjiang province.
They dont want anyone to know theres a cultural genocide happening in Tibet.
Thats ultimately what theyre after.
DEADLINE:Do you still plan on calling Bob Iger to testify?
You have mentioned that before.
GALLAGHER:This was the first engagement that weve had.
Its a conversation we want to continue.
I learned a lot from this interaction.
I have some some unanswered questions that well be following up with.
So Im not yet ready to announce any future hearings on this.
The conversation has just started.
Its nowhere near ending.
DEADLINE:Were you satisfied with what you heard from Iger?
GALLAGHER:Im glad he was willing to do the meeting.
Im genuinely interested in understanding his worldview and their worldview.
And where we disagree, Im interested in pulling the thread on those areas of disagreement.
I understand the logic of that sort of soft-power argument.
So I always leave these meetings just puzzled as to why our perspectives are so different on that.
And thats not just Disney.
Thats a lot of people.
And it could be that Im wrong.
So there are two areas where I sort of felt like we sort of agreed to disagree.
But again, I hope we can continue the conversation.
My 21/2-year-old daughter is addicted to Disney princesses, even though she has never seen a movie.
So I have a personal interest in ensuring that Disney acts like an American company that champions American values.
