A group of high-profile actors have signed a public letter declaring that they would rather stay on strike rather than accept a bad deal.
Thousands of stars including Sarah Paulson, Chelsea Handler, Christian Slater, Sandra Oh, Daveed Diggs and Kal Penn have signed the letter, which is addressed to the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee.
“Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal. Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal,” the letter opens.
“We have not come all this way to cave now. We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed,” they added.
Other signatories include Carrie Anne Moss, Christine Baranski, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lizzy Caplan, Richard Schiff, Simon Pegg, Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, Titus Welliver, Simon Helberg, Jon Hamm, Rosanna Arquette, Pamela Adlon, Noah Wyle, Maya Hawke, Margaret Cho, Lena Dunham, Kim Raver, Joshua Jackson, Helen Hunt, David Harewood and Carrie Coon.
The move comes after a separate group of actors including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington, Tyler Perry, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Laura Dern, Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Reynolds, and Ariana DeBose made their own offer to help end the strike.
Earlier today, Deadline revealed that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP agreed to meet again on Friday with sources saying there is “cautious optimism” over talks.
Full Letter (see signatories here):
To Our SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee:
Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal.
Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal.
We have not come all this way to cave now. We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.
In any union, there will always be a minority who are not willing to make temporary sacrifices for the greater good. But we, the majority who voted overwhelmingly to authorize this strike, are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and to endure whatever we must in order to win a deal that is worthy of our collective sacrifice. We know that our union leaders are doing everything in their power to achieve that goal as they negotiate in good faith with the companies to arrive at a new contract that will protect us and our fellow performers, now and for generations to come.
Everything we have as a union – every minimum payment, health and pension benefit, residual, royalty, and workplace protection – it has all been won with the power of our members; the power of our solidarity; the power of standing together as one to demand what is right, what is fair, and what we deserve. You have our trust, our support, and our power behind you now.
One day longer. One day stronger. For as long as it takes.
In Solidarity,
