NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened him in January to expel him for his role in the Capitol riot.
In a letter dated Thursday addressed to SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he was resigning from the union of which he had been a member since 1989.
“I do not want to be associated with your union anymore,” Trump wrote in a letter shared by the Actors Guild. “As such, this letter should inform you about my immediate retirement from SAG-AFTRA. You did nothing for me. ‘
The guild responds with a brief statement: “Thank you.”
Last month, the SAG-AFTRA council voted that the possible cause exists for Trump to violate his membership guidelines by his role in the January 6 Capitol siege. Trump, the guild said, has waged a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.
Trump’s case would be weighed by a disciplinary committee. In his letter, the former president said he had no interest in such a trial. “Who cares?” he wrote.
“Although I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on films 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’ – just to name a few! Trump wrote.
“I’ve also helped the cable news television industry a lot (a dying platform that doesn’t have much time left), and created thousands of jobs at networks like MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among others,” Trump continued.
The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday announced nominees for its annual awards.
The loss of guild membership does not disqualify anyone from acting. But most major productions comply with union contracts and hire only union actors.