Hollywood director Judd Apatow says Hollywood is now China's puppet: 'Chilling' censorship as China has 'bought our silence'

Judd Apatow, longtime writer and director on the Hollywood entertainment circuit, says Hollywood companies will not criticize China — all because of the almighty dollar.

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In a recent interview with MSNBC's Ari Melber, Apatow, 52, said that Hollywood is turning a blind eye to human rights violations taking place across the world — especially when it comes to China.

"What I perceive as more chilling is a corporate type of censorship that people don't really notice, which is a lot of these giant corporate entities have business with countries around the world, Saudi Arabia or China, and they're just not going to criticize them, and they're not going to let their shows criticize them, or they're not going to air documentaries that go deep into truthful areas because they just make so much money."

He pointed out that Hollywood would not develop a film project pitch based on a story about an escapee from one of China's Uighur detention camps or from North Korea.

Apatow said that "no one would buy the pitch" if a filmmaker came in and told executives, "Hey, I want to write a movie about the concentration camps in China and Muslims in concentration camps. I want to write a movie about someone who escapes."

"Instead of us doing business with China, and that leading to China becoming more free, what has happened is a place like China has bought our silence with their money," he explained.

"They have just completely shut down critical content about human rights abuses in China," he added, "and I think that's much scarier."

Judd Apatow On How China Gets Hollywood To Censor U.S. Films And Free Speechwww.youtube.com

U.S. companies won't 'speak up about concentration camps in China'

Disney has recently come under fire for one of its recent films, "Mulan," after several of the films' scenes were filmed in the Chinese province in which Muslims are held in concentration camps.

Apatow also tweeted about the Disney film, writing, "It is shameful that no U.S. companies and very few politicians speak up about concentration camps in China. The United States has abandoned the world when it comes to human rights."

Two days after that tweet, he added, "They are not 'detained,' they are being held in CONCENTRATION CAMPS. Apple uses that word because they don't want to anger China. Maybe Disney and Apple should SPEAK UP & try to help a million people who were abducted and put in CONCENTRATION CAMPS."

You can read more about the "Mulan" controversy here.