Simon Pegg and Brian Cox participate in SAG-AFTRA’s London rally
British acting royalty Simon Pegg, Brian Cox, Imelda Staunton and Naomie Harris, have joined demonstrations in London supporting the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
The strikes were announced last week after it was revealed that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP had failed to reach an amicable agreement. The action marks the first actors’ strike against the film and TV industry since 1980 and the first time that both actors and writers are simultaneously striking since 1960 when Ronald Reagan was president of the SAG.
On July 21st, Brian Cox, who has enjoyed a boost in recent years with a stand-out role in Succession, will address the rally alongside Rob Delaney and Rakie Ayola later today.
Other famous faces in attendance include Pegg, who recently starred in the seventh Mission Impossible movie, Downton Abbey stars Jim Carter and Penelope Wilton and Naomie Harris of No Time to Die fame.
The demonstrations are reportedly ongoing in London’s Leicester Square and Manchester’s Media City, the home of BBC and ITV operations in the north. The British actors union Equity organised the protests in a show of solidarity with SAG-AFTRA.
Equity has announced that it will “stand in unwavering solidarity” with SAG-AFTRA, but UK anti-trade union laws dictate that “SAG-AFTRA members currently working under an Equity UK collective bargaining agreement should continue to report to work.”
Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, recently called the strike action “disturbing”. “It’s very disturbing to me,” the multi-millionaire stated, “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID, which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption”.
In response, the American actress and president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher, called out Iger for his comments. “I found them terribly repugnant and out of touch,” she said of Iger’s statement, “Positively tone deaf…I don’t think it served him well. If I were that company, I would lock him behind doors and never let him talk to anybody about this”.
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