Fran Drescher: ‘What is happening to us is happening in all fields of labour’

Hollywood actors are set to strike alongside film and television writers beginning Friday, July 14 at midnight—the first time two major Hollywood unions are simultaneously striking since 1960. And Fran Drescher, president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), has something to say about it.

“What happens here is important because what is happening to us is happening in all fields of labour,” said Drescher in a press conference on Thursday. “By means of when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run.”

While 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since May 2 following the end of contracts and unsuccessful negotiations, productions will be forced to halt across the U.S. and beyond as actors stop work in solidarity.

“If we don’t stand tall now, we are all going to be in trouble,” Drescher said. “We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines.”

In Drescher’s statement, she calls out the studios for standing on the wrong side of history.

“We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” she said. “The jig is up, AMPMT. We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee.”

Watch Drescher’s full statement by clicking the video at the top of this article.