‘The Americans’ Showrunner Joel Fields Blasts WGA on Israel: ‘The Writers Guild Has Failed Us Deeply’
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Joel Fields, the showrunner of “The Americans,” blasted the Writers Guild of America on Wednesday for failing to issue a statement condemning the Hamas attack on Israel. “The Writers Guild has failed us deeply,” Fields said. “For an organization that constantly puts out statements to make sure that it’s on the right side of history, it has sadly issued its statements through its silence.” Fields was speaking on a panel at Variety’s Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit, presented by The Margaret & Daniel Loeb Foundation and Shine A Light.
His remarks followed up an open letter that was issued on Sunday, which argued that the WGA‘s silence on the issue showed that it had “lost the plot.” Fields was among the signatories, as was Joe Weisberg, the creator of “The Americans,” along with Jerry Seinfeld, Eli Roth, Susannah Grant, Steven Levitan, Scott Frank, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Jenji Kohan and many others.
SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America each issued statements last week condemning the Oct. 7 attack, which killed more than 1,400 people.
The WGA has not commented on why it did not issue a statement on the attacks. Some have floated the theory that the guild does not want to upset members whose sympathies might align more with the Palestinians.
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