So I guess Bryan Lourd is now the unofficial Mayor of Hollywood? First the CAA co-chairman and his partners went public when WarnerMedia failed to give them a heads up before going day-and-date with the entire 2021 movie slate. And on Friday, Lourd dropped a doozy of a statement on Disney after his client, Scarlett Johansson, was called “callous” and insensitive to Covid concerns after suing over Black Widow’s streaming roll-out. After a career of mostly operating just to the left of the spotlight as his chief rival, Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel, basked in attention, Lourd has now positioned himself as the most powerful advocate for talent’s role in the streaming revolution.

This isn’t too surprising. Beyond the social activism for which Hollywood is famous, there’s a long history of influential figures using their megaphones to push business positions that align with their self-interests, but also seem to capture the sentiment of the entire industry at a particular moment. Lourd’s broadside—in his words, Disney has “deliberately moved the revenue stream and profits to the Disney+ side of the company, leaving artistic and financial partners out of their new equation”—reminded me of Jack Valenti’s aggressive stance on piracy in the early 2000s, George Clooney defending Sony after the 2011 hack, Ava Duvernay and Shonda Rhimes making inclusion efforts part of their public profiles, and Ashley Judd speaking out on harassment post-Harvey Weinstein. Sure, CAA’s interests are served by Lourd anointing himself the defender of artists, and it’s not like all agents aren’t having heated conversations about streaming revenue all day, every day. But judging by the reactions I’ve been hearing this weekend, his public bomb-drop/mic-drop seems to be giving voice to a wide segment of Hollywood that is confused and angered by how the studios are handling the transition from linear to streaming.