The New Hollywood Blacklist

The Screen Actors Guild’s battle over its strike authorization has taken an especially nasty turn, thanks to a suggested boycott of eight actors who are up for SAG awards. The proposed boycott came to light after a significant number of SAG members received a pair of anonymous emails forwarded by national board member Frances Fisher. The two emails proposed that the SAG members withhold their award votes for the eight thesps because of their public support for the opposition to the authorization vote. Nearly 2,000 SAG members — including George Clooney and Tom Hanks — have declared that they oppose the authorization due to the nation’s current financial crisis. In her email, Fisher said the letters were forwards and asked that her name and email be removed if the recipient chose to forward the letters. In a response issued Friday, former SAG president and current board member Richard Masur compared the anonymous email to a blacklist and called on Fisher to repudiate it. – From Variety

The fight over the impending SAG strike has gotten uglier, now with an anonymous emailer urging the Hollywood community to awards-boycott eight well-known actors who do not support a referendum that would authorize a strike. The fight over the impending SAG strike has gotten uglier, now with an anonymous emailer urging the Hollywood community to awards-boycott eight well-known actors who do not support a referendum that would authorize a strike. Variety reports that vocal strike authorization supporter Frances Fisher recently forwarded an email, to a “significant number” of Screen Actors Guild members, which encourages voters to cast their SAG Awards ballots for anyone but the several notable nominees who have publicly opposed the union’s possible strike, some citing the troubled economy. – From Gawker