Fran Drescher Responds To Criticism Of Trip To Italy And Photo With Kim Kardashian Days Before SAG Strike

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Fran Drescher at the Los Angeles press conference announcing the start of a SAG-AFTRA strike Thursday.

CNN

Fran Drescher, president of the SAG-AFTRA union, responded to criticism on Thursday for traveling to Italy to attend the Dolce & Gabbanas Alta Moda festivities last weekend as her union of 160,000 actors faced a date limit to go on strike.

At a press conference that day in which Drescher officially announced the union would go on strike after talks with major Hollywood studios and streamers broke down, she was asked about the optics to be seen taking a selfie with Kim Kardashian at the event in Italy.

It wasn’t a selfie, Drescher said, later adding that I’m a brand ambassador for a fashion company, just like Kim. I had only met Kim seconds before this publicity photo was taken.

She added that it had nothing to do with being at a party having fun, it was absolute work.

The Nanny star said she left the event at 10:30 p.m. to go to her hotel room and meet union negotiators on Zoom, adding that she was working around the clock in three different time zones.

And if I couldn’t reach them because I was on a plane, I was constantly texting them throughout the plane ride, Drescher said, adding that she also flew to Florida to care. of her parents and that she had also worked there.

Drescher’s photo with Kardashian drew criticism from a number of SAG-AFTRA members, as well as members of the Writer Guild of America, which is already on strike against studios and streaming services.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Co-Chair of SAG-AFTRA, stepped in to defend Drescher on Thursday, saying Fran was working, which is what our members do, and was focused on our after-hours negotiations, working 18 or more hours a day. day.

SAG-AFTRAs speaks with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), the entity representing studios and streamers, on salary and benefits grids, progress on paid residuals when resuming movies or shows, including on streaming services, as well as protections on the use of artificial intelligence to create characters using voice actors or likenesses of actors.

At Thursday’s press conference, Drescher said the union won’t agree to changes to their contract that don’t align with changes happening in the industry.

Are we not going to continue to make incremental changes to a contract that no longer respects what is happening right now with this business model that has been imposed on us, she said, continuing to ask, what do we -We ? Moving furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy.

The SAG-AFTRA strike is set to go into effect at midnight PT Thursday night.

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