SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher delivered an emotionally-charged speech at a press conference announcing the union’s plans to strike.
The strike is expected to cripple Hollywood with some 160,000 actors joining members of the Writers Guild of America who are already on the picket lines. This is the first joint strike since 1960.
Drescher, who is now the President of Hollywood’s largest union, said in her speech that actors 'victimised by a very greedy entity'.
“It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. But we had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimised by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly: How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them," she said in her speech as per Variety.
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“They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment. We stand in solidarity, in unprecedented unity. Our union and our sister unions and the unions around the world are standing by us, as well as other labour unions. Because at some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalised and disrespected and dishonoured. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI.
"We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee. We are labor and we stand tall and we demand respect and to be honored for our contribution. You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us."
The speech comes after Drescher was criticised by union members for attended a party in Italy with Kim Kardashian as the strike was looming.
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“My union president chilling in Italy while we’re in the middle of negotiations and about to go on strike,” actor Kirk Acevedo tweeted.
“We’re asking to be better compensated by the studios and Fran Drescher is mugging for cameras in Italy. The optics look f**king terrible.”
When the strike was announced on Thursday night, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt walked out of the London premiere of their new movie, Oppenheimer.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” director Christopher Nolan explained to the cinema audience.
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“Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”
Keryn Donnelly