More than 700 members of the performance guild SAG-AFTRA, including celebrity actors like Susan Sarandon, Cynthia Nixon, and Mark Ruffalo, have signed an open letter addressed to SAG-AFTRA leaders asking the guild to protect them from being blacklisted over pro-Palestine views.
In the letter, which also calls for a ceasefire and condemns violence against journalists, members claim that leaders have ignored their attempts to discuss a second ceasefire statement.
SAG-AFTRA released a statement calling for a ceasefire last year. But the letter notes that it didn’t mention the violence against Palestinian people.
The letter also calls out SAG-AFTRA’s “ineffective and unsustainable top-down structure.”
A ‘double standard’
Actor Amin El Gamal claims that they have been “ignored for months” by SAG-AFTRA leaders, with the exception of phone calls “in hushed tones.”
“I saw this blatant double standard,” Gamal said in a press statement. “How can you mourn the loss of some kinds of people and not others — especially when you have such a diverse membership? You don’t get to cosplay equity and inclusion and then leave your most vulnerable members on read.”
In an anonymous interview with The Hollywood Reporter, one West Coast actor claims that those who speak out against Palestine are already experiencing harassment, job losses, and blacklisting. SAG-AFTRA declined The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment.
“We received a flood of hateful emails — some from well-known producers. I was scared for my career and my family’s safety,” they said.
“It’s our union’s duty to protect us from this new McCarthyism, especially when we’re speaking up for human rights and our labor colleagues. Instead, it’s been deafening silence.”
