SAG-AFTRA Executive Condemns Threat Against President Gabrielle Carteris

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SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White has condemned a threat against President Gabrielle Carteris.

White issued the condemnation Sunday night in response to a now-deleted Tweet by actress Daria Rumi that said, “Let’s get rid of her once and for all!” in reference to Carteris, accompanied by an image of a man pointing a firearm at the viewer, then firing.

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“We are aware of the threat in question and we take this kind of conduct seriously,” White said. “We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior. This kind of activity can trigger tremendous fear and apprehension in our unique environment as many of our members have direct experience with being stalked and threatened during their careers. In an era of heightened scrutiny over threats in the workplace and public settings, we take each and every threat seriously and will respond aggressively to protect our members and employees.”

Rumi’s Tweet had been a reply to a tweet by Adam Nelson, campaign manager for Matthew Modine’s run against Carteris for the SAG-AFTRA presidency last month. Nelson had referred to a recent election protest that alleged Carteris violated federal labor union election rules by appearing in two episodes of “BH90210.”

Nelson told Variety that he had retweeted Rumi’s tweet accidentally without realizing that it contained the image of the man pointing a firearm.

“As you know, retweets do not imply endorsements,” Nelson said. “In this case we offered an apology to anyone who may have viewed the accidental retweet which was only posted online a short time before realizing the mistake.”

Rumi tweeted in response, “It was not my intention to cause you any trouble n unleash the dogs from hell, the tweet was mine n mine only. I will never do anything to jeopardize any of u as I respect the hard honest work ur doing for us, but I can’t say the same about GC.”

The Aug. 29 election of Carteris over Modine followed several months of acrimonious campaigning that including multiple allegations of federal labor law by each candidate against the other. Carteris’ allies in Unite for Strength and United Screen Actors Nationwide retained control of the national board but Modine’s allies in Membership First won 13 of the 16 national board seats representing Los Angeles members

Rumi did not respond to a request for comment. Nelson asserted that her tweet was not a “death threat” but UFS and USAN described it as such and noted that it was liked and retweeted by Membership First and Nelson.

“To say that we are shocked and appalled is an understatement,” the statement said. “They have broken trust and forsaken the personal safety of a SAG-AFTRA member volunteer to score political points. Regardless of any attempted damage control after the fact, it is simply inexcusable that a campaign would ever consider promoting this incitement of violence. Especially at a time in our country when the threat of gun violence is all too real. We will not back down in the face of hate. This is further proof of how important our union is to protecting the health, well-being, and safety of all members.”

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