CMU School of Drama


Thursday, October 08, 2020

Trump halts stimulus negotiations, postponing possible theater industry relief

Broadway News: “There is no other way to say it. Without a subsequent COVID-19 relief bill, entertainment workers and their families face economic desolation,” the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said in a statement.

IATSE and Equity both emphasized the longevity of the shutdown and the uncertain timeline for a return to work.

7 comments:

Samantha Williams said...


I hate that idiot with every fiber of my being. Between the lack of care for ensuring people have access to basic human rights, the unprofessionalism, and the classism/racism/sexism/general xenophobia, he has got to go. So many people are suffering, the economy could take ages to recover, hundreds of thousands have died, millions have lost work. If he will not even green light something to help gig and entertainment workers recover, what makes anyone think he will do anything positive at all that is not in his own self interest? Broadway has closed through the summer of 2021. There are thousands of families who are in so much danger because there is no money coming in. People like 45, Jeff Bezos, and the rest of the 1% truly have no semblance of an idea what that means, and absolutely no drive to help. It is evil in its purest form.

Maureen Pace said...

He’s refused to pass a stimulus bill until after the election… We are talking about relief and aid to people who are barely making ends meet, organizations who are desperately trying to stay afloat and be able to open their doors to the public again. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not. It scares me to what lengths people (the top 1%) will go to for the sake of money or power, especially when it so plainly hurts millions of people. I know this article is focused on the entertainment industry; theaters, actors, designers, everyone in this industry is struggling to continue making ends meet. But this issue also goes far beyond the walls of a theater, as Samantha said, and even far beyond Trump. Usually in my comments, I talk about my hope for resolution or interest in seeing how something evolves. For this, there isn’t one resolution or anything I can say I hope to see other than systemic change and a change in leadership, come the election next month.

Harrison Wolf said...

All it takes is one global pandemic to pull down the veil and show how electoral politics has failed America. Republicans in Congress (the Senate specifically) have refused to compromise with Democrats on a second stimulus bill and then scapegoat them when it doesn't happen. They know the ruin that the average American family is going through right now, they're aware. But it doesn't help them stay in power if they immediately pass a bill, they have to goad the American people along, carrot-and-stick, all the way to the polls. In a country where military spending takes up more than half of all federal discretionary spending, one would think that the government would have a few billion to spare on the lifeblood of the country, the people who keep the gears turning and invest in each other. It's maddening and sickening, and I can only hope that more people begin to realize that they're not actually at fault for the failures of our over-bloated government.

Ari Cobb said...

Here we go with another article about this heinous man. People are dying and starving because of a virus he refused to control and he’s playing with their lives like they mean nothing. This president has the audacity to be pampered with luxuries every day, even when he’s in the hospital, and yet doesn’t think the poorer people around him deserve to live. But of course he did that. The narcissist only does things that are in his interests, and supporting the average person doesn’t do that for him. He along with the disgusting billionaires who sought to get richer during a time where everyone else was drowning. He can’t channel more money into helping out all of the artists and entertainment industry workers who are losing everything. It amazes me that anyone who isn’t filthy rich thinks that this man cares at all about them.

Allison Gerecke said...

The political world and the White House specifically has just been so absolutely insane for the past few weeks (or four years, depending on your perspective, but even then Trump just seems to be on a new level of insane decision-making) that I’m honestly finding it hard to be surprised by anything anymore. Like, not only is dangling necessary aid above the American peoples’ heads until after the election a morally wrong and absolutely childish thing to do, it’s also insanely bad, politically speaking. Republicans in the cabinet and in congress have been scratching their heads over why Trump is refusing to use what is probably his biggest weapon over Biden right now - the ability to provide national aid - for literally no reason. His followup to this, a tweet saying that he wants to give out ‘more aid than either the Democrats or Republicans are asking for right now’ is first of all nonsensical in the context of his earlier statements, and manages to piss off the Republican Senate, which has already been balking at the projected cost of the aid bill. Can someone competent please take over and make sure that the people and industries that need help, and have all year, are able to get it?

Kanvi Shah said...

Am I surprised? Not in the least. Am I still upset and angry? For sure. There is nothing unreasonable and absolutely ridiculous orders coming from the White House in order to just maintain power. This call to stop negotiations on the stimulus bill is infuriating - but somehow, it's just another thing that this country will forget about in the next news cycle. Somehow, all of the members of the entertainment industry and their families will be swept aside for focus on this political agenda of confirming Barrett as a SCOTUS Justice. Somehow, the president can TWEET to his representatives and this counts as proper instruction given to them to stop worrying about the thousands of people who will could lose health insurance. All I see in this article is another example of an administration that fails to even respect, let alone work for, the people that they signed up to represent.

Mattox S. Reed said...

How does this idiot stand without a spine? There are people in our industry and in countless others that need new stimulus bills, need not want need to survive and to get through this pandemic without being able to work. Due to a pandemic that was mismanaged by the very powers that won’t help them now. The thing that I hate most about is that this exactly what I thought would happen the last four years taught this what the agenda is. It's selfish its looking to put a supreme court nominee on the way out trying to change for a century vs. helping the people of today. This is why it's so important for us all to go out and vote this fall. These administration is more concerned about the maintaining their agenda after they’ve been kicked out then helping the very people that they were voted into to protect.