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After weeks of member outrage over their silence on the terrorist attack against Israel, the Writers Guild is finally speaking out.
“All of us in the guild leadership are appalled by the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th,” WGA West President Meredith Stiehm, Vice President Michele Mulroney and Treasurer Betsy Thomas said in an email to members Tuesday morning.
Read the full letter from WGA West below.
The surprise attacks left over 1,400 people dead and hundreds taken hostage, with only four released in recent days. In response, Israel, with strong US support, has repeatedly bombarded Gaza with heavy airstrikes, killing thousands. In addition, the government in Tel Aviv ordered Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City while the IDF massed at the border for an expected ground invasion, leading to a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“The murder of so many innocent people in Israel is an abomination,” WGA leaders stated Tuesday. Top showrunners and others said they would never leave their fraternity despite expressions of support from the DGA, SAG-AFTRA and others. “We deeply mourn the deaths of innocent Palestinians caught up in the violence in Gaza. We feel for all our members who are directly and indirectly affected. We hope that wisdom prevails in the region – and that all innocent people affected by the escalating violence are safe. “
Even as other guilds spoke out about the attacks, companies like Disney, Comcast and Skydance have donated millions in humanitarian aid, and top talent like Shari Redstone, Dana Walden, Jeffery Katzenberg and others have made their support for Israel public. But the WGA West and WGA East had previously insisted they would not officially comment on the tragedy.
In a letter published exclusively by Deadline on Saturday, Steihm told showrunners who had expressed anger over the lack of support: “Like the members themselves, the board’s viewpoints vary, and we found that there was a consensus was unreachable. For these reasons, we have decided not to make a public statement.”
The resulting backlash, including the resignation of long-time Guild member and The Hurricane screenwriter Dan Gordon this morning, has obviously changed that perspective – whether it’s enough at this point remains to be seen.
However, in online chats and directly, some senior writers have said they wanted both a show of support and an apology, which they appear to have achieved with today’s letter.
The WGA East has still not changed its stance of not commenting. WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and others in leadership acknowledged that this “will seem inadequate to some of you,” and said yesterday that the guild would not officially comment on the matter, both for political reasons and for reasons of concern To prevent division among its members According to the guild, it is made up of 40% journalists.
Here is the full letter from WGA West:
Dear members,
The Guild’s decision not to comment on the events of October 7 has caused pain to our members that we did not intend. We believe it is important to both explain our process and attempt to rectify the situation, and to make it unequivocally clear that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have no place in this guild.
We made no public statement in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks, not because we were not horrified by the atrocities, but because it was beyond the purview of a U.S. union representing writers to comment. This was and is a difficult balance. We as a guild have made statements that go beyond our scope on other occasions and would like to provide some transparency about our thinking here. These incidents were mainly related to the defense of social justice in the USA or freedom of expression and, where possible, related to the working lives of writers. But the list of national and international tragedies that we have not commented on is long. For example, we did not comment on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or on the terrorist attacks in Somalia, Pakistan or elsewhere. It can be an inexact science for a union to pick and choose where to get involved in both domestic and global politics.
Our board is diverse in its composition and viewpoints. The Board’s opinions on whether a statement should be made did not fall along religious or sectarian lines and reflected what we have seen among our members as a whole and in the broader community. When we made the difficult decision not to comment, it was not because we were paralyzed by factionalism or the obfuscation of hateful views. We are American union leaders who are aware of our limitations and humbled by the magnitude of this conflict. However, we understand that this has caused enormous pain and for that we are truly sorry.
All of us in the Guild leadership are appalled by Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th. The murder of so many innocent people in Israel is an abomination. We deeply mourn the deaths of innocent Palestinians caught up in the violence in Gaza. We feel for all our members who are directly and indirectly affected. We hope that wisdom prevails in the region – and that all innocent people affected by the escalating violence are safe.
As we move forward, we ask everyone to be respectful and patient with one another during this terrible time. What each of us writes and says should not put authors at risk from one another. Thank you to everyone who reached out to us.
Of course, all of this has no impact on the Israeli and Palestinian people. What they need from us is not an expression of our anger and distrust of one another, but a shared commitment to peace and the value of every human life.
Solidaric,
Meredith Stiehm, President
Michele Mulroney, Vice President
Betsy Thomas, secretary and treasurer