Tatiana Maslany Says She Was “So Heated Up” When She Called Bob Iger “Out of Touch” on Picket Line

Christy Piña
·2 min read
7
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Tatiana Maslany opened up about calling Bob Iger “out of touch” during the actors and writers strikes.

In a conversation with The Independent, the She-Hulk star explained how she was feeling when The Hollywood Reporter asked her on the strike picket line what she thought about the Disney CEO saying that unions’ demands during the dual strikes weren’t realistic.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

At the time, Iger called on the unions to “be realistic” in their demands and referred to the strikes as “very disturbing,” which Maslany called “completely out of touch.”

“He’s completely out of touch with the workers who make his shows happen, who make people watch these shows, who bring viewers to him and him money,” Maslany said at the time. “Having worked on a Disney show, I know where people fall through the cracks and where people are taken advantage of, and it’s outrageous the amount of wealth that is not shared with the people who actually make the show. That’s crew, cast, writers.”

When reflecting on her comments, Maslany told the U.K. publication, “In those moments, you’re so heated up. It’s hard to articulate yourself in a way that you want when you’re on the picket line with everybody.”

She cited an example of the effort actors put into a job, often self-taping auditions in their living rooms without booking any paid gigs. The Orphan Black star echoed Olivia Colman’s sentiment to Interview Magazine in April about how self-tape auditions are “disrespectful” to actors.

“You send these tapes into the void, you never get responses, you never get any feedback, and you’re working,” Maslany said. “You’re filming yourself and having to edit yourself, which is also the stuff that makes you so self-conscious.”

The actress hit the picket line in New York City in July 2023 to support the actors and writers who were striking and struggling amid industry pay rates. She shared that she had friends who had been working in the industry for decades and lost their health care because minimum rates were so low.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter