Dan Gordon, the screenwriter of “The Hurricane” and “Wyatt Earp,” resigned from the Writers Guild of America on Tuesday over the guild’s silence on Hamas attacks on Israel.
Gordon has been a member of the union for 56 years and is also a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces. He grew up in Israel and the USA and is a citizen of both countries and Canada.
He wrote a letter to WGA West leadership on Tuesday saying he would choose Financial Core status. In an interview, he noted that the guild has previously taken stands in support of Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement and that its refusal to condemn the Hamas attacks was “appalling.”
“We didn’t have any issues we shouldn’t have had when we intervened after the death of George Floyd. We had no problem, nor should we have had, participating in the #MeToo movement. Back then, no one said, ‘I don’t want to offend Bill Cosby,'” he said. “And yet you are witnessing nothing less than the worst massacre of Jews since Nazi Germany and cannot find a word to condemn it.”
Authors who choose Fi-Core status will not be able to vote in WGA elections, compete for awards, or receive other membership benefits. You continue to pay a reduced contribution rate and work under the same economic conditions as for guild members. The guild does not allow members to rejoin after opting for Fi-Core status.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people. In the days following the attack, many celebrities and entertainment industry institutions – including the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA – issued statements condemning the attacks.
However, the WGA chose to remain silent. In a lengthy apology Tuesday, WGA West leadership said it distinguished between domestic social justice issues — on which it has spoken out — and international tragedies, on which it generally does not comment.
“We are American union leaders who recognize our limitations and are humbled by the magnitude of this conflict,” the leaders said. “However, we understand that this has caused tremendous pain and for that we are truly sorry.”
Gordon said the WGA has a moral obligation to express its opinion.
“We are not a union of pipe fitters. We are not the plumbers union,” he said. “We are the Writers Guild. We stood up to McCarthyism. We stood up to fascism. Part of our job is to bear witness.”
Some 383 authors have signed an open letter condemning the attacks and condemning the WGA for not issuing a statement.
On the other hand, more than 300 members of the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and DGA have called on the guilds to reject pressure to issue a statement that could be seen as endorsing Israel’s response to the attacks.
“While we fully appreciate the diversity of opinion within our guilds, we firmly believe that when our guilds issue such statements, they must be based on a deep commitment to justice and human rights FOR ALL,” the group stated in its statement open letter.
The signatories chose to use their initials instead of their full names because, according to organizers, they feared losing their jobs or being blacklisted because of their stance.
Following is Gordon’s letter of resignation from the WGA West.
October 24, 2023
To Patrick Cannon
CC Ellen Stutzman
Objection Notice – Choice of Financial Core Status
Dear Patrick:
It is with great sadness that I hereby withdraw my membership in the WGAw and choose “Financial Core” status. Please let me know the portion owed and the due date.
I have been a member of the Writers Guild of America West for 56 years. Lest anyone think I’m no longer an active author, I premiered four feature films this year, including “Irena’s Vows,” the story of a 20-year-old Polish Catholic girl who hid twelve Jews without her own in the basement of a German major’s house Knowledge for almost a year during World War II. Her selfless courage and moral clarity saved them all.
On October 7, Jewish men, women and children ranging in age from nine months to ninety years old were slaughtered, raped, beheaded and burned alive while hiding, like Anna Frank, from ISIS-like terrorists with a no less explicit fanatical ideology more adherent in its genocidal intent towards the Jewish people than that of Nazi Germany. This is from the Hamas alliance: “The Day of Judgment will not come until the Muslims fight against Jews and kill them, when the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Muslim, O servant of Allah, they exist.’ A Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’”
What is unclear about this ideology?
The failure of the Guild leadership to even mildly condemn the worst massacre of a religious minority in the Middle East since ISIS committed similar atrocities against the Yazidis is appalling. It is corrosive to me as a writer and repulsive to every fiber of my being as a conscientious human being.
I am resigning my membership, not because I want to work on non-union projects or cross a strike line, but because I no longer want to be a follower of those who hide behind the fetid veil of morally bankrupt wokeism and stand silently in the face of unadulterated evil.
Dan Gordon
Screenwriter – The Hurricane (Denzel Washington), Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner), Murder in The First (Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon), Irena’s Vow (Sophie Nelisse)