Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) donated one million dollars to the Entertainment Community Fund this week. This fund helps aid the writers and actors affected by the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike. The strike for writers started on May 2, exactly three months ago, and SAG-AFTRA has been striking alongside those writers for less than month. According to Deadline, “Since May 1 – the day before the Writers Guild went on strike – the fund has raised more than $6.3 million from more than 7,500 donors including MacFarlane in support of film and television workers.”
Since July 28, the Entertainment Community Fund has provided over 1,500 affected filmmakers with more than two and a half million dollars to support them with their living expenses including bills, rent, groceries, insurance, and mental health support. MacFarlane isn’t the only actor that has made a charitable donation to those struggling financially due to the strike. Actor Dwayne Johnson (Black Adam) last week donated seven figures to the Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which is SAG-AFTRA’s foundation. This program, accessible to members of SAG-AFTRA, helps them with urgent financial needs such as an unexpected life crisis, health crisis, natural disaster, or accidents. Via Deadline, the program “also includes job training and development.”
Variety initially revealed the news of the large donation made by MacFarlane. The Entertainment Community Fund has seen an exceptional soar in requests for financial assistance, causing a weekly distribution increase by 5.33333333-6.66666667%, between four hundred thousand and five hundred thousand dollars, in contrast to the seventy-five thousand dollar average per week in the first half of the year. MacFarlane recently posted to Instagram (@macfarlaneseth) as he walked the picket line with some Family Guy crew. In his lengthy caption, he mentioned his solidarity with WGA/SAG-AFTRA, stating, “And most importantly, EVERYONE here deserves to make a comfortable living in the industry to which they give so much of themselves.”