Power Rangers creator morphs into Trump critic
Entertainment billionaire gets a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Entertainment mogul Haim Saban, creator of the Power Rangers empire, was honoured on Wednesday for services to television - and used the occasion to berate US President Donald Trump for his immigration policies.
The 72-year-old Israeli-American billionaire, who turned the teen superhero franchise into one of the longest-running children's shows of all time, was receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when his thoughts turned to Mr Trump.
"I'm heartbroken (at) the breaking up of families, the way it's happening right now," he told AFP of the president's crackdown on undocumented migrants and court-challenged 90-day ban on entry to the US by people from six Muslim-majority countries.
"It's a very saddening thing, it's not who we are as Americans. We are not that."
Saban, a father of four children and native of Alexandria, Egypt, moved to Israel when he was 12, attended school, served in the Israeli Defense Forces and built a tour promotion business.
He moved to France in 1975 where he began his media career, before relocating to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and creating Saban Entertainment, a producer and distributor of television programmes.
"From playing bass guitar in a covers band in Israel... to my various partnerships with media companies, investment companies, governments, et cetera, all over the world, I've been extremely lucky," Saban told fans on Hollywood Boulevard.
"None of it is - was - ever taken for granted. Au contraire, I count my blessings every day for a great America."
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - a television series first shown in 1993 and still on the air now - spawned one of the top-selling action toy lines in the US.
The US$105 million (S$147m) Power Rangers movie is now showing in cinemas in Singapore.
In 1995, Saban merged his company with the Fox Kids unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, giving his programmes a bigger global distribution.
When the Fox Family channel was sold to Disney in 2001, Saban pocketed some US$1.7 billion and began his Saban Capital Group, a private equity firm specialising in media and entertainment.
Forbes Magazine ranked Saban as the 660th richest person in the world on Monday, with a net worth of US$3 billion.
Music producer Simon Cowell, who has worked with Saban on various projects over the years, described how he felt honoured to have the mogul as a friend and business colleague.
Cowell said:"He's scary - he taught me how to be scary - but he is the most loyal person." - AFP
It’s a very saddening thing, it’s not who we are as Americans. We are not that.Haim Saban on US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
