‘You just can’t make this stuff up’: Screen Actors Guild gives ‘terse’ two-word response to angry Trump letter

'You just can’t make this stuff up'

Louise Hall
Friday 05 February 2021 17:22
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Trump resigns from Screen Actors Guild in rant-filled letter after they threatened to expel him

The Screen Actors Guild has released a brutal official statement in response to Donald Trump’s bizarre resignation letter from the union after it was ruled he broke their guidelines.

On Thursday, the former president wrote a letter of resignation to SAG-AFTRA’s board after the union threatened to revoke his membership for his role in inciting the Capitol insurrection.

The brash correspondence quickly garnered attention as the president angrily cited his on-screen career highlights and impact on the industry in characteristically immodest language.

In the letter shared by the actors guild, the president announced his “immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA”, saying the union had “done nothing for" him.

On Thursday, in an official response to the somewhat comical letter, the guild responded with the blunt two-word statement: “Thank you".

Read Trump’s explosive resignation letter to Screen Actors Guild in full

Journalists were quick to signpost the union’s minimal response, with many pointing out the disparity in the two remarks.

“And the statement released from SAG-AFTRA in response: 'Thank you.' You just can’t make this stuff up,” ABC News reporter and producer Chelsea Hetherington said.

“SAG-AFTRA response to Trump's letter of resignation: 'Thank you.' (that's it ... that's the response),” CNN anchor, Jim Acosta said.

The union released a statement on 19 January saying their national board “voted overwhelmingly to find probable cause of a violation” of their constitution by the former president.

The union said that the matter would be heard by SAG-AFTRA’s disciplinary committee as required by the SAG-AFTRA constitution to decide on further action.

Clapping back at the organisation, Mr Trump boasted of his roles in Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Apprentice.

"I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDN and Fake News CNN, among many others," Mr Trump wrote.

After a copy of the letter was shared widely online, comedian Jon Stewart, who joined Twitter following Mr Trump's departure from office, quickly posted a tweet mocking him.

“I too, renounce SAG-AFTRA!!!” he wrote. “You have let me down as well, done nothing … I will no longer abide your gross abdication of… oh wait… I’m just s***ty at acting … never mind.”

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