Stories of Us: Rogan O’Handley | Stories of Us

I made it a point to not bring up my political beliefs, and I just had to stay quiet and hope that wouldn't impact my career. My name is Rogan O'Handley, and this is my story. I was actually born in San Francisco, California. I was raised mostly in Massachusetts. I went to college at Northeastern University in Boston. My plan was to go into the military after, and then to be a police officer. Going to college actually exposed me to people who came from families that had lawyers and doctors, and I started to learn more about why they wanted to be a lawyer, and it started to resonate with me. In addition to studying criminal justice, I picked up a second major in political science, and that's when everything changed. I went from someone that didn't know the difference between a Democrat and a Republican to being the president of student government at a school of 15,000 with a single mom and three kids on welfare. I didn't even know that was a possibility, and it lit a spark in me. I went to law school because I knew it would be an incredible foundation for me to make a difference in the world. I also thought, okay, it's a great way to make a lot of money at a very young age doing something I'm very interested in. And so I graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2011, ended up getting a job in Los Angeles working in corporate finance for a very prestigious international law firm. I went from talking about the law to actually doing $500 million deals. After living in L.A. for three years, I actually really started to like it. I had a lot of great friends. I was making pretty good money. I was paying off my student loans. I thought I was living the dream. I actually found there was this thing called film finance, and I said, that's a perfect fit. Applied to some jobs and was fortunate to get one at a very good law firm that specialized in that. And so I went from doing $500 million private equity deals to $100 million movie deals. And it was really cool for a while. As the election got more heated up, California became the epicenter of the resistance against Trump. It felt like a lot of TV and movies were actually created as vehicles for social justice propaganda. And it spread and intensified to the point where you couldn't step out of line or you'd be ostracized. Despite having these very professional lawyers and agents and investors, you had a lot of these very outspoken actors that were very proud and vocal about their leftist beliefs. And what happened is it became the dominant culture. Some people ask whether there's a relationship between the Swamp and Hollywood. I say they've been married for decades because Hollywood is an ATM machine for D.C. And the part that really aggravated me the most was when these Hollywood superstars would get up at their award shows and would demonize middle Americans, the family that I grew up in, who just wanted to put food on the table and live a good life. Meanwhile, they go home to their gated mansions, they fly on private jets, and they have armed security everywhere. They've completely forgotten what it's like to live a normal life. So it didn't make sense to me that they would be blaming regular Americans. And I certainly didn't like that I was helping them make money so that they could continue doing this. But I think the worst part is I wasn't allowed to counter it. I made it a point to not bring up my political beliefs, and I just had to stay quiet and keep it to myself and hope that me keeping it to myself wouldn't impact my career. I was being forced into a little box, and if I stepped out of it, I'd be gone. Those years and thousands of hours of working would go down the drain because I voted for the person they didn't like. And I just couldn't believe it, that I was working in an industry that would condone literally fascism. You have to keep your mouth shut because you can get blackballed. You can lose jobs. You can lose friends. You can lose your entire career. I think there are thousands of people in Hollywood, be it superstars that you see in the movies and especially the people that work behind the scenes. What leads me to believe that there's a lot of secret conservatives in Hollywood is just because I was friends with a lot of them. But one of the things that really surprised me was that after the 2016 election, when their favorite candidate lost, my law firm, which is a very prestigious corporate law firm, sent around an email saying that there would be a support group meeting for people that were upset by the election. And I remember thinking, wow, okay. These are fully grown adults with law degrees and careers and families that need a support group, maybe. But also I felt it was very unfair because I knew they would not do that for the other side if that happened, nor would I want that, nor would I show up because I'm a big boy. After the election, I grew very frustrated with the fact that I could not support the president of the United States. I realized I needed an outlet. But I started looking on Instagram and noticed these political memes. So I started an account the next day, and I called it DC Drano, which stood for draining the DC swamp because I was really upset at all the corruption. And I could see it. I'm a lawyer. I know how the Constitution is supposed to operate, and I wanted to get my voice out there because not enough people were saying what was really going on. This is going to sound a little crazy, but I felt like I couldn't resist doing this. I felt like I was being called. I truly believe sometimes God calls people up to do his work and to be courageous. I was living a double life. I was a Hollywood attorney that kept his mouth shut in the work week, but then a social media activist on the weekends. I think I had maybe 40,000 or 50,000 followers. So I had to come to terms with what was going on, that I had stumbled upon something that was going to change my life forever. And I had to make a decision. Do I continue to work in an industry that I don't agree with, or do I go fight for what I believe in? And so that's what I did. I had to completely disentangle myself from this dream that I was living, but it was someone else's dream. I decided to sell my house. I broke up with my liberal girlfriend, and I put in notice at my job. I was just going with my gut, and I knew that if I committed myself to running my social media, I could turn this into something big. And then I got a call, and it was a partner who I very much respected, and they did a very big person in the industry, and they said, how about this? $500,000, and we make you partner in a year. It floored me. To get that offer actually really set me back because I was jumping into a completely zero-income environment, but at that point, the money just didn't matter to me. I was driven by doing the right thing to defend a constitution that was being eviscerated back home. Is that worth $500,000? No. There's no amount of money that can stop good people from defending those types of values. And so I said, thank you, but no thank you. I ultimately called my mom, but she said, you know what, Rogan? You can always go back to being a lawyer after this. Again, the problem is once you start putting your name out there, the Internet is forever. And so at a certain point, there is no going back. Was the risk worth it? Absolutely. Because for the first time in my life, I'm fighting for what I believe in. I'm truly happy, and I'm making a difference. I have a message for the people still working in Hollywood who are keeping their beliefs quiet. I want you to know that help is on the way, but I also hope that you do your part in the little ways. I want you to be bold. If I can do it, if I can leave all that money on the table to go fight for what I believe in, so can you. Conservatives are the new punk. Conservatives are the rebels, the rock stars. And my reward in doing this is not the millions of followers or getting invited to conferences or the White House, but my reward is making a difference. But this is the battle we face because America is at a pivotal point right now, and it's only going to lose if we stay quiet. But if we step up and fight, I promise we'll win.