Jamie Lee Curtis and More SAG Members React to Strike and Get Ready to Fight: It’s Time to ‘Pick Up the Signs’

Charna Flam

With the news that SAG-AFTRA will now go on strike, members of the acting guild have taken to social media to express their support for the union and to commit to the fight. SAG-AFTRA members are joining the Writers Guild of America in striking for fair compensation, making it a “double strike,” which hasn’t happened since 1960. The WGA has been on strike since May 2.

George Clooney released a statement to Variety expressing his solidarity with the union. “This is an inflection point in our industry,” he said. “Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living. For our industry to survive that has to change. For actors that journey starts now.”

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Jamie Lee Curtis took to Instagram and championed the strike by posting a photo of the comedy and tragedy masks. “It looks like it’s time to take down the MASKS. And pick up the SIGNS,” she wrote in the caption. Curtis’ post comes after SAG members awarded her the supporting actress prize for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” at the SAG Awards earlier this year. She has Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” set for release in August, but she will not be allowed to promote the film during the strike.

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A post shared by Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis)

Bob Odenkirk responded to Tweet with a quote from SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher “Holy Cow. Go Fran Go! This was a powerful statement. I stand with Fran and everyone in SAG and WGA in this extended moment…onwards.”

Odenkirk response followed Drescher’s “How they plead poverty that they are losing money left and right when they give $100 millions to their CEOs.” She continued, “If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines”

Cynthia Nixon, “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That” actress also sent out messages of solidarity, she wrote, “The @sagaftra strike has at last arrived. I am proud to be standing tall with the @WGAWest and @WGAEast as actors and writers together demand a fair share of the record-breaking profits the studios have been reaping from our labor for far too long. We will win this!”

Matthew A. Cherry, creator of “Hair Love” and former NFL player wrote on Twitter, “Similar to issues found in most sports I feel like one of the biggest fights SAG/AFTRA will have to get ahead of to make sure that people are emphatic towards a vast majority of actors plights is that only a small percent of actors and performers make millions of dollars.”

He contiuned in a thread, “Most actors have multiple jobs and live check to check like in most other industries. If they can keep that in the forefront they’ll win the battle in the media and online because there a lot of people that don’t know the harsh realities of the majority of workers in Hollywood.

Ashley Nicole Black, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” cast member and writer, created a Twitter thread expressing her frustration with the AMPTP. The initial Tweet said “This is an attempt to destroy the union. Make every background actor’s career one day long, and and you also remove a large group of actors from the union (and pension and healthcare).”

She followed it up with a second tweet, “The press will surely only interview stars about this strike (and they deserve compensation commensurate with the value they bring to the project too), but most of this is about the middle and working class actor who contribute to the success and are just trying to pay the bills.”

“The Boys'” star Jack Quaid used Twitter ahead of the strike being called to rally his fellow actors, writing: “If we must strike…THEN WE SHALL STRIIIIIIIIKEEEEEEEEE!!!!! #SAGAFTRA.”

Yvette Nicole Brown, best known for her role on NBC’s “Community,” wrote on Twitter that she plans to be on the picket lines. A day prior, she helped announce the 2023 Emmy nominations. None of this year’s nominees will be able to participate in FYC events during the strike.

“We will be joining the WGA on the picket lines starting tomorrow,” Brown wrote. “We all got together last week to create our signs. I was on sticks! When you’re out there without a splinter thanks to the duct tape, think of ya girl!”

Comedians Paul Scheer and Chris Gethard both thanked SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher for her passionate speech announcing the strike and made nods to her hit CBS sitcom “The Nanny.” Scheer wrote, “Don’t mess with The Nanny #SAGAFTRAstrong,” while Gethard, who is striking as both an actor and writer, added, “I am now in two unions that are on strike. That press conference was badass. I would not ever want The Nanny on my bad side. #SAGAFTRAstrong.”

Soon after the news was released, Josh Gad wrote on Twitter: “Very proud and impressed by @sagaftra and @frandrescher right now at this presser. #sagaftrastrong✊.”

In solidarity with the union, Emmy nominee and SAG-AFTRA member Kumail Nanjiani tweeted a photo of the official SAG-AFTRA logo accompanied by the copy “ON STRIKE!”

Comedian and “Bros” actor Guy Branum also wrote about how he will now be double striking, tweeting, “Now that I am also striking as an actor, my all my picketing movements will have purpose and my strike character will have a secret.”

David Simon, “The Wire” showrunner, quote tweeted Branum’s initial tweet and added: “Now that the actors are striking with me, we’re going to workshop the hell out of my rage and entertain picket lines with exquisitely profane one-act plays.”

Leonardo DiCaprio offered a simple message on his Instagram story: “I stand in solidarity with my Guild.”

SAG-AFTRA is seeking a streaming residual formula that would compensate the actors based on the success of the series. The union is also asking for regulations on the use of artificial intelligence as well as limits on self-taped auditions.

The 160,000-person union is led by president Fran Drescher. During strike announcement, Drescher said: “SAG-AFTRA negotiated in good faith and was eager to reach a deal that sufficiently addressed performer needs, but the AMPTP’s responses to the union’s most important proposals have been insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry.”

She continued, “The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal.”

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