UK rally supporting SAG-AFTRA strike draws Emmy winner Brian Cox, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and more
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on July 21, 2023
At London’s famed Leicester Square on Friday, July 21, U.K. actors like Succession Emmy winner Brian Cox, Mission: Impossible partners Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell, and Selma and Silo star David Oyelowo attended a rally in support of striking SAG-AFTRA members.
The Hollywood Reporter notes the event was organized by the U.K.-based actors and performers’ union Equity, which has declared “total solidarity in this fight.”
According to the trade, Cox talked about how one of SAG-AFTRA’s sticking points, “scary” A.I. tech, personally affected him.
He revealed he was on a show for which he was apparently told an A.I. version of himself would be created. “The artificial intelligence Brian Cox was gonna do animal impersonations. I’ve never done a f****** animal impersonation…” he said. “This is gonna happen to everybody. Nobody’s exempt.”
American Rob Delaney served as an emcee of sorts; the comedian and actor — who was over The Pond working on Deadpool 3 before the film’s set went dark over the strike — also blasted the American Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) as “silly little toddlers.”
According to the trade, he said, “They’re like toddlers. So you’ve gotta show them, you gotta say ‘No.’ And they brag like toddlers. They have these earnings calls and they talk about the subscriber numbers and the blockbuster numbers. Then we ask for a nickel and they’re like, ‘No, no, we don’t have any.’ …”
Delaney also said, “We’re gonna win. We’re gonna…get our tiny little slice of the pie…that we made up the friggin’ recipe for…and posed for funny pictures beside [it]…”
THR reports that while Equity’s 47,000 members can pledge their support to SAG-AFTRA, there can’t be a sympathy strike by U.K.-based talent, as that would violate the country’s strict labor laws.
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