“Star Trek: Picard” actress Michelle Hurd, who’s also SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles vice president, doesn’t want you to cancel your streaming services, at least not yet.
Hurd, speaking to TheWrap from the picket lines in New York City, in an interview you can watch below, said that time may come when a consumer boycott is warranted.
“I am not going to say at this moment for everybody to cancel their subscriptions,” the actress said. “You know, that’s up to the individual. I will say, please amplify, stand up, let people know do research, understand what we’re talking about.”
Hurd said the strike was a labor issue and not a matter for “whiny elitist actors, you know, screaming for more money for their yachts.”
“We are working class people, we’re all journeymen actors,” Hurd said. “Think about all the actors that you see on TV, that you don’t know their names, but you are comforted every time you see them. Those are working class actors. So I would say, you know, do your research, amplify support, make noise.
“I’m not going to say, you know, cancel those streaming platforms yet,” she added. “Maybe there will be a rallying cry. And you know what, if there’s a time where we feel that it’s time for us all to take a step back and stop watching, we will let them know. And if that happens, I really do hope people follow us.”
It’s the same message former “Conan” co-host Andy Richter shared to social media last week.
“Unless the unions come out and call for that, though, please don’t,” he said. “Cancelling streaming services feeds their assertion that streaming is inherently volatile and risky, and that is why they should be able to hire fewer of us and pay us less.”
But Michael Gaston, a star and actor in such shows as “Prison Break,” “Jericho” and “The Sopranos,” had a suggestion for the money that people would save if and when a streamer boycott was undertaken.
“Take some of that money, if you’re saving on your subscriptions, take some of that money and give it to some of the charities that are helping out the artists,” said Gaston, who was also picketing Monday in New York and spoke to TheWrap. “There’s something called the Actors Fund. It is now referred to as A Life in the Arts. You can find it on Instagram, they will distribute your donations to people who are going to be most hurt by this strike action.”
