Dwayne Johnson donates record sum to Hollywood strike

LOS ANGELES: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has reportedly donated a “seven-figure” amount to the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) amid the actors union’s strike.

Soon after SAG-AFTRA declared the union was going on strike, president Courtney B Vance and executive director Cyd Wilson sent out a letter to the union’s highest-earning actors.

According to Variety, the letter said, “we rely on donations and grants to provide services – we have been very fortunate that we raised enough money to be able to cover all of our programs.”

“But when we hit a crisis like this and we’re going to spend millions and millions of dollars in financial assistance, this is when we need our high profile talent who can afford it, who are in a situation to help others.”

Johnson’s donation will likely help 7,000 to 10,000 members through the union’s Emergency Financial Assistance Program.

Read more: Hollywood actors, writers go on strike

This month, Hollywood witnessed a historic shutdown as the actors’ guild members joined writers striking for a fairer split of profits. They also want a guarantee that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used to replace actors.

SAG-AFTRA’s strike comprising 150,000 television and movie actors began at midnight on 13 July. The Writers Guild of America have been on strike since May.

This is the first time since 1960 that both actors and writers have picketed film and television production studios.

Read more: Hollywood studios say they offered actors $1b before strike