NEW YORK CITY — Fran Drescher, the Queens native and “Nanny” star, brought her signature laugh to the City Council to rally their support in a serious fight: the ongoing actors strike.
But before City Council members Tuesday could hear Drescher, the president of the striking Screen Actors Guild, she experienced a minor technical hiccup when her microphone didn’t turn on.
A quick flip of a switch later, and Drescher’s self-described “mellifluous” New York accent filled the Council chambers.
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“You’ll be sorry,” she joked before giving her famous laugh.
Drescher’s laugh then faded into a grim account of what she said led the actors union, SAG-AFTRA, to join their Writers Guild counterparts in an historic strike that all stopped nearly all film and television production.
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Her testimony came as the City Council’s labor committee weighed a resolution in support of the strike.
Actors and writers are on strike in large part because they contend entertainment executives have stubbornly, and insultingly, sought to strip them of residuals from streaming media.
“We can no longer live on the old residual model,” Drescher told Council members.
Drescher also spoke against the “audacity” of executives she said seek to pay background actors for one day of work, scan their likeness and use artificial intelligence to forever use them in scenes.
“The buck stops here, we are at a very serious crossroads.” “This is a righteous fight, and they are on the wrong side of history.”
Actors, including many stars, have rallied and picketed across New York City as the strike has unfolded.
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