Fran Drescher Follows Up Comments Made On Picket Line
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher took some heat for comments she made on the picket line May 8, including how she doesn’t think what is “very important to writers … is the kind of the stuff that we’re [the actors] going after.”
But while guesting Tuesday on SiriusXM’s The Julie Mason Show, the former star of The Nanny said both her union and the WGA were “all cogs in the same wheel” and that “it’s important that we sit by our sister unions in solidarity.”
“That’s what makes labor powerful,” she told the radio show. “And it’s a very interdependent and collaborative art form. And everybody’s contribution needs to be honored. And the industry at large has changed so significantly with the advent of digital and streaming that it’s inevitable that when this time where, you know, many of the unions are about to renegotiate, SAG-AFTRA included, that serious and significant adjustments have to be made to the contract because the whole business model of the industry has changed.”
Drescher also addressed the possibility of a 30th reunion for The Nanny this November.
“The Nanny reunion, I think, is the most imminent because it’s our 30th anniversary this November. At least pre-strike, we were in conversations with Sony, our parent company, to figure out what we could do that would be fun and exciting for the fans to tune into. And hopefully the strike will be over soon enough, a deal can be forged with the Writer’s Guild and the AMPTP, and we’ll be able to go back to figuring out what we want to do for a Nanny kind of reunion, maybe backdoor pilot. We don’t really know, but we have a lot of options on the table and we’re kind of open to all of them and everything else, you know, will kind of take a back burner to this right now because there’s only one 30th anniversary. And the show, you know, is the gift that keeps on giving and has tremendous longevity. It has certainly endured the test of time and it’s hotter than ever because it’s on HBO Max, it’s streaming. And, the families that are watching it today, the parents were children when we started in the nineties. And so it’s multi-generational as it was in the nineties, but continues to be, and the clothes continue to be a phenomenon….. Hopefully we’ll be able to dive in as soon as the strike is over.”
Here are Drescher’s comments last week on a possible actors strike and how WGA members reacted via Twitter:
Not on board with these comments from @sagaftra president at all. Residuals and AI are huge issues for actors – the gains that the WGA make will affect us all moving forward – it's not "a big, complicated conversation" – actors have to fight, we're next! @frandrescher #wgastrike https://t.co/HINBY1FYas — Dominic Burgess (@dominicburgess) May 9, 2023
This is the saddest and most horrifying position to come from the president of SAG-AFTRA. @frandrescher us actors are also fighting for streaming residuals, fair wages and not having AI take over our industry. #WritersStrike #WGAStrong https://t.co/1eO8IP207b — HeatherMatarazzo (@HeatherMatarazz) May 9, 2023
I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA, along with the WGA, and Fran Drescher’s statement was pathetic. pic.twitter.com/IqF6afjT73 — John Levenstein (@johnlevenstein) May 10, 2023
Incorrect, @frandrescher. The things important to WGA are the things important to actors: protection from AI (especially for voiceover), streaming residuals, & devaluation of our work. We need to take a tough stance, picket w/the WGA, and be prepared to strike with them in July. https://t.co/0QocOOSzjx — Vic Chao (@vicchao) May 10, 2023
Our @sagaftra leadership is so pathetic that even sending the president of our union to ANOTHER UNION’S STRIKE has somehow undermined our own bargaining a month from now. Truly impressive stuff from @frandrescher https://t.co/Hyq0rfL7p0 — Matt Gudernatch (@gudernatchos) May 9, 2023
Does Fran Drescher know she's head of a labor union? There's playing SAG cards close to the vest, and then there's noncommittal b.s. that indicates tepid support. Her priority here seems to be making sure the cameras get her best side while posing with a strike sign. — Den (@noldorian) May 10, 2023
.@frandrescher does not speak for me as a 19 year member of SAG. #wgastrong pic.twitter.com/7FikmH7S8O — the they/them causing may/hem (@kyliesparks) May 10, 2023
The Julie Mason Show airs weekdays on POTUS channel 124.
Source: Deadline
