Leonardo DiCaprio, Issa Rae and More Stars React to SAG-AFTRA Strike: ‘I Stand in Solidarity With My Guild’
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Leonardo DiCaprio is standing with his fellow actors. The “Revenant” star took to his Instagram Stories to show his support not long after it was announced that SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) formally approved a strike upon negotiations falling apart between the actors’ union and major Hollywood studios and streamers, who are represented by the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).
The actors will now join the writers on the picket line, marking the first time since 1960 that two major guilds will be striking at the same time. The writers’ strike began May 2 and is in its 10th week.
DiCaprio shared an image of the SAG-AFTRA logo along with a short message of solidarity for the guild amid the strike.
“I stand in solidarity with my guild,” he wrote.
Issa Rae also shared her honest reaction to the strike on her Instagram Stories, candidly declaring, “Well, everything is f**ked.”
In addition to Rae, a number of others stars are speaking out following news of the strike, including Josh Gad, Olivia Wilde, Rosie O’Donnell, Margaret Cho, Jamie Lynn Spears, Mandy Moore, Amber Tamblyn, Riley Keough and Kaley Cuoco, who posted messages of support for SAG on social media.
“And Just Like That” star Cynthia Nixon posted to her Instagram Story, “The @sagaftra strike has at last arrived. I am proud to be standing 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!”
Jamie Lee Curtis also posted about the strike along with some facial expressions taken while she was guest starring on FX’s “The Bear”. “The @sagaftra symbol used to be the masks of the actors face. 🎭REPRESENTING the EXPRESSIONS. The EMOTIONS. The FEELINGS generated by the WORDS of their UNION MEMBERS! Union contracts PROTECT our SAFETY and EXPLOITATION! We are UNION STRONG!” the Oscar winner wrote on Instagram.
Frankie Grande shared on his Story, “Proud to be a part of an incredible union fighting for what’s right for all actors and so proud to stand alongside my WGA family. Let’s make Hollywood a better and shinier place for us all!”
Here’s a look at how other stars are reacting to the strike decision:
Sweet Jesus.
You bet your ASS we’re on strike. #UnionStrong https://t.co/0rVwc3uBA0
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) July 13, 2023
Welcome @sagaftra brothers and sisters. You’ve had our backs since the strike began. Now we have each other’s. pic.twitter.com/UXPGQrIXXg
— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) July 13, 2023
If we must strike… THEN WE SHALL STRIIIIIIIIKEEEEEEEEE!!!!! #SAGAFTRA
— Jack Quaid (@JackQuaid92) July 13, 2023
#SAG #WGA ✊ https://t.co/MHJHXyaiQi
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) July 13, 2023
The federal mediator leaving the negotiations at 12:01 after 1 day of work knowing they were a prop at best but gave it the good old college try. #SAGAFTRA#UnionStrong pic.twitter.com/j5lK6J3jIW
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 13, 2023
It’s official @sagaftra has voted to strike. We will be joining the WGA on the picket lines starting tomorrow. 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! #UnionStrong ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/eQq78go6Ig
— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) July 13, 2023
Meanwhile, at the U.K. premiere of “Oppenheimer” on Thursday, director Christopher Nolan revealed that the cast, including stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and others, left the event to go “write their picket signs” for the strike.
“Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what I believe to be an imminent strike by SAG, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the union,” said Nolan, before receiving applause from the crowd.
Earlier at the premiere, Blunt told Deadline that she and her cast members planned to leave the event the moment the strike was announced.
“We’ll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone,” the actress said. “We are gonna have to.”
On Thursday, Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director/chief negotiator, announced the strike at a press conference.
“It’s really important that this negotiation be covered because the eyes of the world — particularly, the eyes of labor — are upon us. What happens here is important because what’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor,” Drescher said in a passionate speech, calling this “a very seminal hour for us.”
“I went in in earnest, thinking that we would be able to avert a strike,” the actress, best known for her role in The Nanny, continued. “The gravity of this move is not lost on me or our negotiating committee or our board members who have voted unanimously to proceed with a strike. It’s a very serious thing that impacts thousands, if not millions of people, all across this country and around the world. Not only members of this union, but people who work in other industries that service the people who work in this industry.”
MORE FROM ET:
‘Oppenheimer’ Cast Leaves UK Premiere to ‘Write Their Picket Signs’
SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes: All the Major Dates to Know
SAG-AFTRA Officially Declares Actors Strike
