It was a major surprise when Silicon Valley fan favorite T.J. Miller, who played Erlich Bachman, announced he was leaving the HBO sitcom for good. The actor recently shared that his departure was largely due to the current political climate and expressed anger and frustration that his castmates didn't donate to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Miller said that leaving Silicon Valley gave him more free time to be an active member of "The Resistance" against Trump.
"My position [to oppose the Trump administration] became more powerful when I left Silicon Valley,” he told the outlet. “I had more control over the content, the time, the schedule, the everything."
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But Miller didn't hold back in his criticisms of what he views as his castmates' failure to do their part in the effort to defeat Donald Trump.
Miller says that he asked his Silicon Valley colleagues how much they had donated to Clinton’s campaign before the 2016 presidential election.
"Everybody in the cast said nothing,” Miller says. “They hadn’t given a dollar. What did they think was going to happen? How had they not joined a fight that they had such strong opinions about? Meanwhile, I gave the maximum contribution to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not even really being a fan of hers, and further, paying money to pay more taxes. And we lost. So now we have to win.”
The Huffington Post confirmed that Miller indeed donated the maximum amount allowed, and the Center for Responsive Politics found that Silicon Valley stars Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, and Zach Woods were not on the donor list.
After leaving Silicon Valley, Miller starred in Emoji Movie, which hits theaters next week. And based on his interview, it seems like he's eager to become more politically involved than ever.
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