WGA members on Friday overturned a 2024 censure of Tim Doyle for posting a “racist and offensive depiction of a lynching” on Facebook, Deadline has confirmed.
Doyle, the longtime showrunner whose credits include Rules of Engagement, Last Man Standing and Better Off Ted, has always maintained the drawing was a joke. It was posted during the TV and film writers strike and depicted a man hanging upside down from a tree.
Doyle quickly removed the post and apologized. But the union’s board of directors revealed last summer that a punishment was initiated, nonetheless.
“Mr. Doyle was charged with engaging in conduct prejudicial to the welfare of the Guild and unfair dealing with other members in violation of Article X.A., Section 1 of the Constitution,” according to a letter sent to membership last year. “After hearing evidence, including Mr. Doyle’s testimony, a trial committee of Current members in good standing found Mr. Doyle guilty as charged.”
Deadline has learned that WGA members received a ballot last week that gave them the opportunity to rule on Doyle’s censure. (That same ballot also asked members whether to uphold punishments against Julie Bush, Edward Drake and Roma Roth for allegedly working during the 2023 strike, said a source.)
Though Doyle’s censure was overturned, the trio’s punishment was upheld by their fellow writers, Deadline has learned. A spokesman for the WGA could not be reached for comment Saturday.
It’s unclear whether the decision to ease up on Doyle was influenced by a recent email campaign that was started by comedy writer Rob Ulin (Ramy, Young Sheldon). Deadline understands Ulin’s message was sent to showrunners who then distributed it to their writing staffs.
Here’s what it said:
If you are reading this, you are a colleague or friend of mine who is also a member of the Writers Guild. I want to urge you to please vote to overturn the WGA censure that was imposed on Tim Doyle last year.
On the 100th day of the strike, Tim posted a joke about how he wanted to hang himself along with a piece of clip-art of a man hanging from a tree. Potentially, this was insensitive toward families of suicide victims, but none of them were offended. However, some African American Guild members felt triggered by the image which, to them, looked like an image of a lynching. Tim took down the post and apologized profusely, and I know for a fact that he felt terrible about having hurt people. Still the WGA held a hearing. The Hearing Committee concluded that Tim did not intend to post a picture of a lynching, but he should have recognized the picture’s potentially triggering effect, and so they recommended that he be privately censured. The WGA Board then overturned the decision of the Hearing Committee and voted to chastise Tim publicly, sending out notices of censure to all 17,000 Guild members.
THE GUILD HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN ITS 92-YEAR HISTORY.
Predictably, Tim has been unable to get work since this happened. I know of at least one show that wanted to hire him but didn’t feel they could take the risk because of the censure. Yesterday all WGA members received a ballot, allowing them to vote on Tim’s appeal. I am asking you to please vote to overturn the Guild’s ill-advised and dangerous decision in the next 48 hours. Voting will close on May 9 at 2 pm PST.
I have known Tim for 35 years. He is a committed anti-racist and a devoted union member. He deeply regrets that he hurt some people’s feelings and he has learned from this experience.
I think it is vitally important that we do this. I don’t want my union in the business of blacklisting writers. If it can happen to Tim, it can happen to you,
Thank you,
Rob Ulin
-Peter White and Dominic Patten contributed to this report.
