SAG-AFTRA has joined the growing opposition in Hollywood to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger as the actors guild’s national board voted to formally oppose it over the weekend.
“The resolution affirms our strong support for the attorneys general from a dozen states and the Writers Guild of America, who have filed anti-trust lawsuits to block the massive leveraged buyout,” SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin and national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland wrote in a statement on Monday.
“Today’s board resolution officially puts on record our demand that the acquisition not proceed unless there are enforceable safeguards against reduced production by the studios with guarantees of increases in the percentage of productions made in the USA,” their statement continued.
The update comes after Paramount Skydance agreed to pause the merger to allow for a lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general to proceed to trial.
Astin and Crabtree-Ireland noted in the statement that SAG-AFTRA has been in continuous contact with Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros., California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other stakeholders as the acquisition process and litigation have played out.
SAG-AFTRA has also been in regular contact with the WGA, which filed its own lawsuit shortly following the filing of Bonta’s lawsuit earlier this month and which seeks to merge the two lawsuits together. The WGA has been a loud and frequent opponent of media mergers, warning that they create fewer opportunities for writers to find employment in film and television and to get their screenplays and pilots greenlit for production.
“While the claims in the WGA suit are specific to writers, we support their efforts in forcefully condemning the Warner Bros. buyout,” SAG-AFTRA wrote. “The timing of this action is designed to acknowledge the ‘pause’ in the AG’s case, and to make certain that all parties involved understand precisely how our union assesses the adverse consequences of this merger to our members.”
And while SAG-AFTRA did not directly mention CNN in the statement, it noted that the responses the union has received from its members urging opposition to the merger are not just rooted in film and TV employment but also in concern that Paramount Skydance, which has overseen a widely condemned overhaul of CBS News after CEO David Ellison hired right-wing editor and commentator Bari Weiss to lead the news division, would make similar changes to CNN at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is a close friend of Ellison and his father, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.
“We understand that this issue hits members extremely hard on many levels, given the nature of our country’s politics, the erosion of confidence in our public systems and the fact that this merger will impact storytelling in all its aspects, not only performance but also broadcast journalism and public affairs,” the statement read. “SAG-AFTRA will continue to vigilantly monitor the situation, and will exercise the right to comment further and/or take any action necessary in the interest of our members. This resolution speaks to this moment.”
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