Former President Donald Trump wrote a letter of resignation to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists after the union threatened to expel him after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!” Trump wrote to SAG President Gabrielle Carteris. “While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice — to name just a few!”
Trump also boasted that he “greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.”
“Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union,” Trump continued.
“Your organization has done little for its members, and nothing for me — besides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas — as evident by your massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors, who even recorded a video asking, ‘Why isn’t the union fighting for me?’” Trump said, referring to a video featuring Mark Hamill, Whoopi Goldberg, and Morgan Freeman criticizing the union’s recent cuts to health benefits.
Trump then made clear his intent to sever ties with the organization.
“I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” Trump wrote. “As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resigning from SAG-AFTRA.”
“You have done nothing for me,” he continued.
Trump’s letter was in response to the union’s board voting “overwhelmingly” that the former president violated membership guidelines in the lead-up to the Capitol riot.
“Donald Trump attacked the values that this union holds most sacred — democracy, truth, respect for our fellow Americans of all races and faiths, and the sanctity of the free press,” Carteris said of Trump’s actions. “There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers.”
“Our most important role as a union is the protection of our members. The unfortunate truth is, this individual’s words and actions over the past four years have presented actual harm to our broadcast journalist members,” said SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White. “The board’s resolution addresses this effort to undermine freedom of the press and reaffirms the principles on which our democratic society rests, and which we must all work to protect and preserve.”
Trump first became a member of the union in 1989.
SAG-AFTRA said in response to Trump’s announcement: “Thank you.”
