WGA Members Letter Blasts Trump ‘Authoritarian Assault’ on Free Speech

More than 2,300 members of the Writers Guild of America have signed an open letter decrying recent actions taken by President Trump and his administration that they say represent “an unprecedented, authoritarian assault.”

The WGA East and WGA West union members signing the letter include Spike Lee, Adam McKay, Ilana Glazer, Mike Schur, Liz Merriwether and Tony Gilroy.

The letter cites Trump’s “baseless lawsuits” against news organizations that have “published stories he does not like and leveraged them into payoffs;” for example, it points to Paramount Global’s agreement to pay Trump $16 million to settle “a meritless lawsuit” against “60 Minutes.” In addition, the letter notes, Trump has “retaliated against publications reporting factually on the White House and threatened broadcasters’ licenses,” and has regularly called for the cancelation of news and entertainment TV shows that criticize him.

The WGA letter also says Republicans in Congress “collaborated” with the Trump administration to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting “in order to silence PBS and NPR.” The FCC, led by Trump-appointed chairman Brendan Carr, “openly conditioned its approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger on assurances that CBS would make ‘significant changes’ to the purported ideological viewpoint of its journalism and entertainment programming,” according to the letter.

“These are un-American attempts to restrict the kinds of stories and jokes that may be told, to silence criticism and dissent,” the letter reads in part. “We don’t have a king, we have a president. And the president doesn’t get to pick what’s on television, in movie theaters, on stage, on our bookshelves, or in the news.”

Variety has reached out to the White House for comment.

Among the signees are Tony Gilroy (ANDOR), Spike Lee (MALCOLM X), David Simon (THE WIRE), Lilly Wachowski (THE MATRIX TRILOGY), Adam McKay (DON’T LOOK UP), Ilana Glazer (BROAD CITY), Scott Frank (THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT), Liz Merriwether (NEW GIRL), Kenneth Lonergan (MANCHESTER BY THE SEA), Justin Kuritzkes (CHALLENGERS), John Waters (HAIRSPRAY), Desus Nice (DESUS & MERO), Gillian Flynn (GONE GIRL), Celine Song (PAST LIVES), David Mandel (VEEP), Amber Ruffin (LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS), Soo Hugh (PACHINKO), Sarah Sherman (SNL), Alfonso Cuarón (ROMA), Phoebe Robinson (2 DOPE QUEENS), Roy Wood Jr. (HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU), Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky (HACKS), Winnie Holtzman (WICKED), Shawn Ryan (THE NIGHT AGENT), Merrill Markoe (LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN), Mike Schur (A MAN ON THE INSIDE).

Here’s the text of the open letter:

We are members of the Writers Guild of America who speak with one voice to decry the dangerous and escalating attacks on the First Amendment, independent media, and the free press.

We are a union of screenwriters, television writers, and journalists built and sustained on the bedrock belief that bold storytelling, fearless comedy, and unflinching reporting are indispensable to a free and democratic society. We have always understood that fidelity to those beliefs could lead to attacks from our bosses, from corporate interests, or even from politicians. Still, we have always understood our role in a healthy democracy.

Now we face an unprecedented, authoritarian assault. In the last few months alone, President Trump has filed baseless lawsuits against news organizations that have published stories he does not like and leveraged them into payoffs, most notably at Paramount, which settled a meritless lawsuit against 60 Minutes for $16 million. He has retaliated against publications reporting factually on the White House and threatened broadcasters’ licenses. He regularly calls for the cancelation of news and entertainment television shows that criticize him in late-night and, most recently, The View.

Alarmingly, the bulk of the federal government has now joined these attacks. Congressional Republicans collaborated to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order to silence PBS and NPR. The FCC openly conditioned its approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger on assurances that CBS would make “significant changes” to the purported ideological viewpoint of its journalism and entertainment programming. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has echoed Trump’s threats.

And yet Paramount still asks us to believe that the cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was not about politics or merger approval.

These are un-American attempts to restrict the kinds of stories and jokes that may be told, to silence criticism and dissent.

We don’t have a king, we have a president. And the president doesn’t get to pick what’s on television, in movie theaters, on stage, on our bookshelves, or in the news.

We call on our elected representatives and industry leaders to resist this overreach. We call on our audiences, on every single person ready to fight for a free and democratic future, to raise their voice.

This is certainly not the first time that free speech has come under assault in this country, but free speech remains our right because generation after generation of Americans have dedicated themselves to its protection. Now and always, when writers come under attack, our collective power as a union allows us to fight back. This period in American life will not last forever, and when it’s over the world will remember who had the courage to speak out.