Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took part in picket lines alongside SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America members who are continuing to strike, encouraging workers to hold their ground while blasting executives such as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and their “insatiable greed.” Joining AOC was She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany, who took the opportunity to publicly slam Disney CEO Bob Iger for his distasteful comments about the striking workers.
In a surprising turn which is out-of-step with the usually switched-on Iger, the House of Mouse chief described the striking workers as “very disruptive” and added that the “level of expectation” workers have at receiving fair pay for their hard work was, in fact, “not realistic.” Iger‘s remarks have been widely derided, not least by Hollywood stars like Bryan Cranston, who unleashed fire and fury on Iger at a recent event. However, Maslany‘s comments are all the more notable given she is currently contracted to Disney and appeared in one of the year’s biggest projects for the company.
“I think he’s 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 his money. 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.”
As noted by Collider‘s Erick Massoto, Iger‘s stance is an unusual one and highlights the chasm between human relations and sheer greed. The Writers’ Guild recently issued a memo to streaming platforms and studios, providing a detailed breakdown of the annual cost that would be incurred by companies if they were to implement the proposed changes by writers. Specifically, in the case of Disney, agreeing to these terms would result in an estimated annual cost of $75 million. This figure amounts to less than half of the budget typically allocated for producing a movie like The Little Mermaid.
Iger is poised to maintain his position at the helm of the entertainment giant until 2026. In a surprising turn of events in late 2022, Iger made a dramatic return to the CEO role after the sudden and unexplained departure of then-CEO Bob Chapek. However, he will have an awful lot of work to do to build up goodwill once more when the strike comes to an end and the workers are given their equitable share of residuals along with guarantees that will safeguard them in the future against the threat of artificial intelligence in the filmmaking process.
via Collider