NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened to expel him for his role in the Capitol riot in January.
In a letter dated Thursday and addressed to SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he had been resigning from the union of which he was a member since 1989.
“I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” wrote Trump in a letter shared by the actors’ guild. “As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You did nothing for me. ”
The guild responded with a short statement: “Thank you.”
Last month, the SAG-AFTRA board voted that there was a likely cause for Trump to violate his adherence guidelines for his role in the January 6 siege of the Capitol. Trump, the guild said, has sustained “a reckless disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are members of SAG-AFTRA.”
Trump’s case would be evaluated by a disciplinary committee. In his letter, the former president said he had no interest in such a hearing. “Who cares?” He wrote.
“Although I am not familiar with your work, I am very proud of my work in films like ‘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! ”Wrote Trump.
“I also helped the cable television news business a lot (considered a dying platform, with little time left until I got involved in politics) and created thousands of jobs on networks like MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others,” Trump continued.
On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild announced the nominees for the annual awards.
Losing membership in the guild does not disqualify anyone from acting. But most large productions obey union contracts and hire only union actors.