Disney CEO’s ‘Disturbing’ Remark Ignored by SAG-AFTRA as They Vote to Strike

Disney CEO’s ‘Disturbing’ Remark Ignored by SAG-AFTRA as They Vote to Strike: In an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” On Thursday morning, The CEO of Disney, Bob Iger said the writers and actor’s continues strikes in Hollywood are not being “realistic” with their expectations.

While having a conversation with CNBC’s David Faber from the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, The CEO of Disney commented on the Writers Guild of America’s ongoing strike and SAG-AFTRA’s impending decision to join them.

“It’s very disturbing to me. 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,” Iger said.

“I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver. We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the directors guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business.” Iger continued.

The CEO of Disney added, “We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”

Matt Damon and Jamie Lee Curtis are those who support the strike in the days before the decision.

Curtis wrote on Instagram, “I see a strike in my crystal ball. The souls of ghosts of performers long past urging us in this modern moment to fight for our rights to exist as creators,”.

“Since we will all stop utilizing social media to promote work that we are on strike for, this is my last offering from the wonderful new Disney movie @hauntedmansion and ironic because in order to put Madame Leota inside her crystal ball and trap her there for hundreds of years, they used a digital technique which was a first for me, acting with my head in a vise, but the results are magnificent.”

“A great combination of acting AND technology,” she added. “What I will say is that although I AM computer generated, it is FROM my PERFORMANCE, my sense of comedic timing and you CANNOT replicate that with a machine. I stand STRONG with my union.”

Damon said nobody wants a “stop working” but emphasized that actors need “fair” contracts.

Damon told The Associated Press before the strike was declared, “We got to protect the people [who] are kind of on the margins,”

“Twenty-six thousand bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance, and there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. If those residual payments dry up, so does their health care, and that’s absolutely unacceptable.” He added.

“We can’t have that, so we got to figure out something that is fair,” he continued. “Anyway, we’ll see where it goes. Nobody wants a work stoppage. … It’s painful for every other guild, really painful for IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) and all our brothers and sisters there. Nobody wants that, but we [have] to work under contracts that are fair.” (External link: Fox business)