Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon and more urge SAG-AFTRA to protect pro-Palestine colleagues from getting blacklisted

A group of hundreds of SAG-AFTRA members, including Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Susan Sarandon, Riz Ahmed and more have penned an open letter calling for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) leadership to protect pro-Palestine members from being blacklisted.

They also condemn the violence against journalists and reiterated their call for a cease-fire in Palestine. Additionally, they claim that their numerous attempts to get the union’s leadership to speak out on the cease-fire have been “repeatedly ignored”.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, SAG-AFTRA has declined to comment on these claims or the content of the letter.

The union had released a statement last October following Hamas’ attacks on Israel, in which the union stated that it “deplores and condemns the horrific acts of aggression against the Israeli people.”

 

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The letter highlights that, since last year, “the Israeli government wages a war of collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza — killing over 40,000 Palestinians, injuring over 90,000 more, forcibly displacing 2 million people, and openly targeting members of the press and their families.”

The letter goes on: “As the IDF continues its assault on ‘safe zones,’ schools, and hospitals, and as civilians in Gaza die from starvation, dehydration, and lack of medical supplies and fuel, major human rights groups have labeled these acts as war crimes, human rights atrocities, and even genocide. The UN has described Gaza as a ‘graveyard for children.'”

They continue by calling out the unions' “blatant double standard”,  as well as calling for a public statement from leadership advocating for a permanent ceasefire.

Celebrities and some guild members who have publicly advocated for a ceasefire claim they have faced blacklisting, job loss and harassment for their views. Irish actress Nicola Coughlan, for example, revealed to Teen Vogue in April that she had been told that she wouldn’t get work over her support for Palestine.