Amid the bad optics of appearing on social media with Kim Kardashian at a Dolce & Gabbana show in Puglia, Italy as SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP contract talks went down to the wire, the actors’ president Fran Drescher, along with the guild’s National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, blasted “employers” at the SAG-AFTRA Strike presser this AM for stirring up the bad ink against The Nanny actress.
“That wasn’t a selfie!” exclaimed Drescher in fielding a question about the incident earlier this week, which Deadline first told you about. Kardashian posted the photo with Drescher on her Instagram Stories thread.
National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland stepped in first to defend The Beautician and the Beast star in regards to her Italian fox trot.
“I want to say it’s outrageous that they would do that. What Fran was doing, was Fran was working. Which is what our members do. And for these employers to cynically try to turn our members against Fran, because she was doing a job that she was under contract to do, while by the way, she was zooming into our negotiations after-work hours, working 18 hours or more a day. It is outrageous, it is wrong, it’s despicable and they should be ashamed of it,” exclaimed Crabtree-Ireland.
Drescher piped up “I appreciate that. I’m a brand ambassador for a fashion company and so is Kim.”
“I had only met Kim seconds before that publicity picture was taken. It had nothing to do with being at a party or having fun,” continued the SAG-AFTRA President.
“It was absolute work. I was in hair and make-up three hours a day, walking in heels on cobblestones, doing things like that which is work –not fun,” emphasized Drescher.
“I’m sure Kim would have rather have been at her home in Malibu with her children, too,” said Drescher, “But we work, that’s what we do.”
She continued to defend, “At 10:30 at night, I would leave the event, go to my hotel room, and I’d call into the zoom. And when I couldn’t get through to them because I was on a plane, I was texting with them constantly throughout the plane ride. I worked around the clock in three different time zones because my parents live in Florida, though I keep asking them to move here and I managed their well-being as well.”
“I think that all of the people standing behind me, stand behind me!,” summed up Drescher in her defense.
Their comments today come amid SAG-AFTRA rejecting an offer from the AMPTP which the latter calls “historic” in its pay and residual increases and “groundbreaking” in regards to A.I. and thespians having creative control over their digital likeness. Crabtree-Ireland pushed back on the A.I. portion saying that the extras were bound to get hurt down the road, as they’d lose control of their digital likeness. The negotiator also mentioned that the current streaming model has “undercut” performers’ residual incomes.
In the wake of Drescher’s appearance on social media with Kardashian at the Italian show, rival SAG-AFTRA Presidential candidate Maya Dunbar, who’s running against Drescher, told Deadline: “This is a clear example of how out of touch the President is with the majority of the rank-and file-membership. While most members are currently wondering if there’s going to be a strike, and how they’ll pay the rent, their dues and afford to provide for their families during the worst economic stability in recent years, she’s off taking pics with celebrities widely known and shamed for crossing WGA picket lines.”
Deadline understands that Drescher and others will begin picketing tomorrow morning with a bus leaving SAG-AFTRA HQ around 8:30am, where they will go to Netflix, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and finishing off at Disney.