Twitter Is Losing It Over Fran Drescher’s Fiery Speech About the Actors’ Union Strike

Chelsey Sanchez
·3 min read
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los angeles, california july 13 l r ben whitehair, frances fisher, sag president fran drescher, joely fisher, national executive director, and sag aftra members are seen as sag aftra national board holds a press conference for vote on recommendation to call a strike regarding the tvtheatrical contract at sag aftra on july 13, 2023 in los angeles, california photo by frazer harrisongetty images
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In case you didn't know, Fran Drescher of The Nanny fame is the current president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)—meaning she's leading the crusade of actors who are striking against Hollywood executives, production companies, and streaming giants as the union fights for a fair contract.

Accompanied by a group of fellow SAG-AFTRA members, Drescher announced the strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in an impassioned speech delivered during a press conference yesterday.

“What happens here is important because what's happening to us is happening across all fields of labor,” Drescher said. “When employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run, we have a problem.”

Twitter naturally went wild over Drescher's speech, with many drawing comparisons between the SAG-AFTRA leader and the fictional counterpart she played in The Nanny (fans of the '90s sitcom may recall Drescher's character, Fran Fine, being a staunch pro-labor working class woman herself.)

SAG-AFTRA union members are demanding better pay and working conditions as the landscape of their labor is continually transformed by streaming and artificial intelligence (the AMPTP had reportedly proposed to scan background actors, pay them for one day of work, and then use their likeness in any project without further compensation for perpetuity).

“At some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored,” she said. “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI.... If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.”

Scroll on to see all the best Twitter reactions, and watch Drescher's full speech below.

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