CARTERIS PULLS A ‘TRUMP’ IN HOLLYWOOD, BUT MODINE IS NO AL GORE

By Vic Gerami

As of 2:00 a.m. PST, it appeared that Gabrielle Carteris’ flagrant and egregious antics might have gotten her re-elected as the President of SAG-AFTRA. But more shall be revealed as her victory will be undoubtedly challenged by the people’s actor, Matthew Modine.

Despite countless allegations against Carteris from various board members and staffers, the orchestra changed but the conductor might stay the same-at least for now. Carteris put on Andrea Zuckerman’s innocent smile and contrived acting skills to unsuccessfully defend herself against allegations of breaking federal laws, dictatorship style of governance, negligence, favoritism, toxic culture and much more. Nothing I write can describe Carteris’ SAG-AFTRA, much like Trump’s White House, better than board member Shaan Sharma’s heartfelt and brutally honest story. Contrary to clear and specific federal union laws prohibiting against employers paying for a board member’s election, directly or indirectly, Carteris allegedly got Fox to pay for her infomercial during the election. She has since had her ‘executive director’ credit removed from the revamped Fox Beverly Hills 90210. Cleverly timed to air at the peak of the elections, she appeared on the show in a scene that seemed like a carefully orchestrated infomercial for her campaign.

Despite Carteris’ efforts, the Membership First slate swept the local elections. Carteris’ Unite for Strength lost nearly most of their seats on the local LA board. I reached out to Brian Hamilton, a board member with Membership First, who was re-elected for another two years for a comment about the elections. He said, “I am very pleased by the extraordinary support shown by the members of the LA local. With respect to the national officers’ election, there will certainly be an in-depth investigation to ensure that all Federal Department of Labor Union Election guidelines were observed.”

I had the honor, privilege and pleasure to interview actor, activist and humanitarian Matthew Modine last year. Having interviewed him, I am not surprised that he is willing to take on the awesome responsibility to run the union and see that all 160,000 members get a seat at the table.

This is a footage of Carteris on the show, playing the President of the ‘Actors Guild of America.’ Watch for yourself.