The stolen valor of Ben Steinberg by Karen Bass and Hugo Soto-Martinez is shameful
It was a photo op that left many asking WTF.
Not because of who was included in the mayoral celebration of the reopening of the legendary Cinerama Dome — but because of who was noticeably missing.
Mayor Karen Bass was flanked by all sorts of people ranging from suits from Sony Pictures who will be taking over the screens on Sunset near Vine, Alamo Drafthouse who will be running the operations, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences whose vast archives are a block away, and other Hollywood movers and shakers.
But the actual person who was central to the LA landmark being saved was not only not there, he wasn’t even invited.
Ben Steinberg, the man behind Save Your Cinema, who for years kept beating the drum to reopen the theater, who in 2021 got thousands of people to sign his petition to reopen it, who went to the meetings and made the phone calls and did the research, and documented every detail on his Twitter account, and who brilliantly projected images of the owners of the joint onto the Cinerama Dome, was the immovable force that saved the theater from being shuttered for even longer than it already has been.
And everybody knows it — including those who said cheese next to the Mayor on Friday.
Just a few weeks ago, as a token of thanks, Sony recognized Ben by inviting him on the Blue Carpet for their new Spider-Man premiere.
They too must have been surprised when they didn’t see him at the Mayor’s photo-op.
Since everyone who has been paying attention knows how vital Ben’s tenacity has been, when the deal was cut a few weeks ago, it was no surprise directors like Edgar Wright and others gave Ben shout outs on Twitter.
“I also have to give huge kudos to @SaveYourCinema, who has campaigned tirelessly for the Cinerama Dome and the ArcLight to reopen. He never gave up, and I am guessing he is extremely happy and proud this morning,” Wright tweeted.
Not only was there zero reason why Ben shouldn’t have been invited to the photo-op (an invite he tells Hear in LA he never received), but to ignore him in the press release was unforgivable, and telling.
Clearly Karen, in her desperation to win another term as mayor, wanted to take all the credit for something she had little to do with.
“I brought City departments, developers, industry leaders together today to show our commitment to getting this historic restoration over the finish line,” Karen wrote in her statement that accompanied the photos beneath the colorful marquee.
“I want to thank our partners at Sony Pictures and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for sharing our vision for Los Angeles as the #1 place in the world for entertainment industry to invest, create, and thrive,” she wrote, intentionally leaving Ben out of the thank yous.
“I’m grateful to Mayor Bass, Sony, Alamo Drafthouse, my staff, and everyone involved in bringing this beloved institution back, because its reopening will mean so much to our neighborhoods, our entertainment industry, and the future of Los Angeles,” Hollywood’s councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez wrote in that same press release, also failing to give Ben his props.
If you put “Ben Steinberg Cinerama Dome” into Google you’ll see pages and pages of news outlets praising the 26 year-old for his efforts. When the news broke, all the local news channels ran to Ben to get his take on his hard work coming to fruition.
There is zero chance neither the Mayor nor Hugo missed all of those news clips or overlooked every single article about how when you put your heart into something and do not give up, good things can happen.
Hear’s the good things that needs to happen: Karen Bass needs to give Ben the key to the city. Hugo can sit at home like he did for the photo op.
And then Karen needs to give Ben a generous consulting job with the city for the remainder of her term so she doesn’t make terrible choices like this again hear in Hollywood.
Previously…
Our interview with Ben when the deal went down