FRAN DRESCHER: 'THE JIG IS UP'

Fran Drescher condemns corporate greed and tells big business that 'the jig is up'.

FRAN DRESCHER, who many people will remember from the sitcom The Nanny, is President of the SAG-AFTRA Union. It represents approximately 160,000 workers in the US television and film industry including  actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, recording artists and singers.

It has gone out on strike after protracted negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down. It represents the major American studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros Discovery.

Drescher, in an emotionally charged speech, blasted the Hollywood executives and linked the struggle of her members to labour struggles throughout the United States and around the world:  

'What happens here is important because what’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labour, when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run.....We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family. Most of Americans don’t have more than $500 in an emergency. This is a very big deal and it weighed heavy on us. But at some point, you have to say, “No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” 

Drescher has described herself as a socialist and in 2020 she commented that 'Capitalism has become another word for Ruling Class Elite. When profit is at the expense of all things of true value, you know you gotta problem'.