Members of the American Writers Association voted for the expulsion of two writers accused of writing during the 2023 strike, but were to cancel public condemnation of writers who joked on Facebook.

The WGA board voted earlier this year to kick out Roma Roth and Edward Drake in a 148-day strike to perform the prohibited "writing service" (the so-called "SCAB writing" by the union). They appealed, but 54% of the voters ended on Friday to support the board's decision.

In 62% of -38% of the vote, members rejected Tim Doyle's public condemnation, who faced "biased guild benefits" behavior because they made a sarcastic joke. On the 100th day of the strike, Doyle posted the outline of a man hanging from a tree, which would have been a morbid reference to his own suicide. Doyle apologized for the joke, and some people think it is a term for lynching. The process has raised some internal concerns that the WGA has gone too far in the speeches of its members.

The members also narrowly maintained Julie Bush's discipline. Bush was suspended for one year and was banned from serving as lifelong strike captain. Members denied her appeal by 52%-48%.

"I'm so grateful for the members who voted for me," Bush said. "I believe the intimacy of the voting signal shows that members don't like what's going on here. I've never seen a guild vote below 90%, so it makes sense to me to lose only 59 votes."

She said she intends to continue to fight for the legitimacy of the WGA action. “Now we go to the Ministry of Labor and the NLRB.”

Roth was the executive producer of Sullivan's Crossing, a show filmed under the Association of Writers in Canadian Jurisdiction, Nova Scotia. She is a dual WGA-WGC member and works under exemptions, allowing WGA writers to work for non-signature companies in certain cases. The exemption was terminated at the start of the strike, which should stop her from writing on the show. Ross argued that she was just supervising the writer's room and denied breaking the rules. She also argued that under the constitution, violations should result in fines rather than evictions.

Ross said in a statement Friday that she found that WGA board members “decided to send large-scale emails during the voting round to increase the scale and unjustly impact what would have been fair appeals proceedings.”

"This result will undoubtedly shape the standard for the WGA and its board to continue moving forward," she said. "I hope members will submit candidate eligibility to run for the WGA board by the May 15 deadline to address these serious issues."

Drake wrote and directed an independent film Guns Up during the strike. He was accused of making incorrect script revisions during the filming process and refused to identify non-members who allegedly rewrite the ending. He argued that he made smaller script changes, which were explicitly not subject to WGA jurisdiction.

Asked about the response to the vote, Drake sent a YouTube clip of the final scene of a classic movie: "Forget it, Jack. It's Chinatown."

Under the Constitution, writers can propose any discipline to any discipline at their annual meetings. The WGA has not held its annual meeting in the past six years, so the board chose to vote online.

Bush opposed the process, believing that the board has no authority to change the appeal process without a constitutional amendment.

In terms of the original vote, the votes are as follows:

Rose: 778-639 Evicted
Drake: 769-652 Evicted
Bushes: 745-686, one year of suspension
Doyle: 915-557 to overturn public condemnation