SAG winners slam Trump over controversial travel ban

Winners at the Screen Actors Guild Awards have lambasted the visa ban introduced by US President Donald Trump.

The 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards kicked off on Sunday with political notes from many American actors who expressed disdain at the newly-elected US President Trump’s recent visa ban.

SAG Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who read the Writers Guild’s statement against Trump’s immigration ban, spoke up as the daughter of an immigrant horrified by what she called the “un-American” ban.

On Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order refusing citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries entry to the US for a period of 90 days.

Another SAG Award winner, Taylor Schilling, said “representing generations of families who have sought a better life here from places like Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ireland — and we know that it’s going to be up to us and all of you to keep telling stories that show what unites us is stronger than the forces that seek to divide us.”

SAG Award winner Sarah Paulson called on viewers to donate to the American Civil Liberties Union, the organization that scored three victories recently with federal judges staying the ban in New York, Virginia and Massachusetts.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has also condemned the Trump travel ban.

Several Iranian cineastes have declared their intention to not attend the Academy Awards this year in protest of the Trump travel ban.

Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi and lead Iranian actress of ‘The Salesman’, Taraneh Alidousti, previously stated that they will not attend the Oscars despite their film receiving a nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film of the year.

Many people across the US have also protested inside or in front of airports, while some of them held Farhadi’s picture in placards, to criticize Trump’s visa restrictions for Syrian refugees and nationals of seven countries.

MG/AI