The rise of the internet put a greater emphasis on preventing piracy in Hollywood. In 2003, the Academy made members sign confidentiality agreements stipulating they wouldn’t share screeners, which was bad news for Carmine Caridi. He had befriended a man named Russell Sprague; the two kept in touch even though Sprague lived in Illinois, and before long, he asked Caridi to send him the VHS tapes that he would then copy. It didn’t take long for the pirated tapes to get linked back to Caridi, and early in 2004, the Academy reached out to him after his screeners appeared online.
The Academy acted swiftly, permanently banning Caridi that same year. He also faced lawsuits from Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, and he was interrogated by the FBI, where he gave up Sprague in exchange for immunity. Caridi told The Hollywood Reporter he wasn’t aware that movies could be put on the internet, and he ultimately agreed with the Academy’s decision, saying, “I did violate their law.” Even after his expulsion, Caridi continued acting in a variety of projects until he died in 2019, one of many actors from “Fame” who have since passed away.
Through such actions, Caridi joined a small group of people who have resigned or been expelled from the Academy. At the time of his THR interview, he mentioned still being in the Screen Actors Guild and getting some screeners from that organization. Somewhat amazingly, he added, “I lend them to my neighbor.”
