Fashion Police writer Larry Amoros reacted Monday after being kicked out of the Writers Guild of America by labeling the organization's actions a "smear campaign," adding that he did not participate in a trial concerning charges again him because "I am allergic to kangaroos."
His reference is to a kangaroo court, which is a term for a mock court where principles of law and justice are disregard or perverted.
STORY: WGA Expels and Fines 'Fashion Police' Writer for Writing During Strike
The WGA board expelled Amoros as a member for providing "scab" writing services to E! Entertainment's Fashion Police show while the guild was striking the program -- a violation of the guild's Working Rule 8 -- and fined him about $14,000.
Amoros countered in his statement that he isn't a member of the guild: "How can the WGA throw me out of a club I am not a member of? Next week, I look forward to being expelled from the NFL for not being a football player."
He said he has not been an active member of the WGA since 1998 and, with the exception of a "nominal dues payment" three years ago, has not paid dues for the past 15 years.
Under guild rules and legal precedent, according to a labor lawyer, Amoros can still be fined even if he did resign, so long as the alleged misconduct occurred before he resigned.
Amoros said he formally resigned last month in a letter to WGA president Chris Keyser after the WGA threatened to expel him if he did not meet with Keyser. Amoros described what the guild wanted as "ratting out the other writers on Fashion Police."
That may reflect guild Working Rule 9, which provides that "It shall be the responsibility of every member to report, in confidence to the Guild office, for appropriate action, any violation or abuses of the terms and working standards established by the current Minimum Basic Agreements and Code of Working Rules."
He said the WGA wanted information from him on the eve of its trial against host Joan Rivers. Those charges were later resolved.
Amoros said the guild held a trial against him for failing to participate in what the guild said was an investigation during a strike on a nonunion show.
VIDEO: Striking 'Fashion Police' Writers Slam Joan Rivers: 'We Were Shot Down'
He said that, as a nonmember, he felt he had no obligation to participate in what he calls "a witch hunt." He said he had a right not to walk off Fashion Police when the strike was called April 17, which he says was his right under NLRB rules.
"I didn't attend because I am allergic to kangaroos," said Amoros, adding: "The purpose was transparent -- throw the striking writers, who have been out of work for more than six months, a bone."
"I'm saddened that my talented colleagues are being used as pawns by the WGA West leadership in its war against E! and that this never- ending folly has cost them work and deprived people of their talent and humor," Amoros said. "The WGA West has been carrying on like this for months, and it seems that all it has done is wasted time, money, cost writers work, created ill will."
The WGA responded: "When the strike at Fashion Police was sanctioned by the WGAW on April 17 and the work stoppage order was issued, Mr. Amoros was a current member who, as he noted, was behind in his dues. That did not excuse him from the obligations laid out in the Guild's constitution and Working Rules. We acknowledge that he submitted a resignation e-mail on Sept. 21, 2013, however, the disciplinary action was based on conduct he committed before he decided to resign."
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