SAG-AFTRA’s New York and Los Angeles buildings were reportedly evacuated Tuesday after a bomb threat. Both of the actors’ union’s buildings, located in busy areas of both cities, were closed for the day as police investigated the threat.
“I can confirm that we have received a threat,” said Pam Greenwalt, the union’s spokesperson said in a release to media. “We are taking it seriously. We have evacuated our Los Angeles and New York offices. We have notified law enforcement. They are on scene and investigating. We have no further information at this time.”
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman confirmed to IndieWire that the threat was called in to a building at the 5700 block of Wilshire Boulevard in LA at 11:46 a.m. He declined to specify which building was the target of the threat or elaborate on its nature.
Building security officers made the call to immediately evacuate the premises after the threat was called in, he said.
TMZ reported several threats were made against the union building, including one related to President Donald Trump and the rising tensions between the US and Iran.
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SAG-AFTRA’s headquarters is located at 5757 Wilshire Blvd. in the city’s bustling Miracle Mile district. It’s among the prominent high rises in the neighborhood, which is also home to Museum Row that includes the La Brea Tar Pits, L.A. County Museum of Art, and Petersen Automotive Museum. The soon-to-open Academy Museum of Motion Pictures down the street.
The New York building is located at 1900 Broadway, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side near Central Park. It’s near Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera House, and one of Fordham University’s campuses.
Twitter users posed photos of police vehicles lining Wilshire Boulevard outside the union offices Tuesday afternoon.
SAG-AFTRA represents 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals. It’s the largest performers’ union in the world.
The incident comes after the Golden Globes ceremony, held in Beverly Hills, was reportedly met with increased security due to US-Iran tensions.
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