Tim Allen Reveals His One Conversation With Donald Trump That Made President Ditch Hollywood

Tim Allen revealed that a single conversation with Donald Trump played a pivotal role in the businessman’s decision to walk away from investing in Hollywood.

"He says, 'If we got a studio together, let's say the movie costs a million six or a million twenty.' And then I said, ‘You've got to double that at least for the promotion,” Allen, 72, recounted during an appearance on the Monday, January 5, episode of the “Club Random With Bill Maher” podcast.

“So you got 210 into a movie, 200 million into a movie. He goes, ‘What if the ticket sales are low?’ ‘You lose,’” Allen bluntly told the businessman, 79, who asked how production companies “made up the loss” after a flop film.

“I said, 'Well, there'll be some tax benefit, but you lose the money. That's how come the studios struggle looking for winners. You amortize your loss with losers over winners,’” the Santa Clause actor explained. “He goes, ‘Oh.’ Like, he completely decided at that moment, I'm not going to get in this business. He says, 'If I buy a bad building and it won't sell, I still have the f------ building. If you have a sh---- movie…' This is not an easy business."

During the conversation, Allen also touched on DEI practices and why it made him hesitant to return to comedy. (DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, and promotes fair treatment for all people.)

Trump notably issued an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” at the beginning of his second term, calling for the removal of DEIA mandates across federal agencies.

Trump argued that DEI programs disadvantage America’s white majority and have encouraged them to report workplace discrimination, while Allen confessed former DEI practices could make comedy feel forced or performative.

"My wife says, 'Why do you keep saying that?' And I said, 'Somebody told me I was like the Tom Brady of sitcoms.' When they asked me to do a third one, I said, ‘I thought they were kidding,’" Allen told Maher, 69. "I don’t know whether my generation — because all the people that I know that I would make it with are either dead or not the right gender, you know, they’re all light-skinned European older men — and that doesn’t fit the DEI thing that everybody wanted. They wanted, you know, a potpourri of —"

Maher jumped in with a suggestion, adding, "DEI in the cast."