“Employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run,” formerstar and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in an impassioned speech that drew applause from union leaders in the room. “It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history.”
Disney chief Bob Iger warned Thursday that an actors strike would have a “very damaging effect on the whole industry.”“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said in an appearance on CNBC. “There’s a level of expectation that [SAG-AFTRA and the WGA] have that is just not realistic.”A nearly two-week extension of the contract, and negotiations, only heightened the hostility between the two groups.
Justine Bateman, right, speaks outside Netflix during a Writers Guild rally as a strike by The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is announced on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. This marks the first time since 1960 that actors and writers will picket film and television productions at the same time.