“The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” star Christine Baranski joined SAG-AFTRA’s “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” in Times Square on Monday on behalf of her series co-stars and colleagues.
Baranski started by noting that she was speaking “personally” on her experience as “a working actor” as well as for the guest and background actors she has worked with over the years. For 13 years, Baranski has played a lawyer on two shows, one on CBS (“The Good Wife”) and one on a streaming service (“The Good Fight”) — first CBS All Access and then Paramount+. Concerns having to do with streaming residuals are a central sticking point for the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“On both shows, I consider these actors my colleagues and part of our creative family. Their contribution to the series’ success was indispensable, and I am here today speaking on their behalf,” Baranski said.
“We will not live under corporate feudalism. It is time, it is just simply time to make things right. Our contribution will not be undervalued, and we will not be robbed,” Baranski said.
“The Good Wife” star was far from the only top-tier celebrity to attend the rally. “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and Broadway star Tituss Burgess took the stage to sing “Take Me to the World” from the musical “Sondheim on Sondheim.” “Mr. Robot” and “Heathers” actor Christian Slater opened up about how the SAG-AFTRA union helped his father as he battled with mental illness toward the end of his life.
“A lot of people gave up on him. His union never gave up,” Slater said.
“The White Lotus” and “Mythic Quest” star F. Murray Abraham also took the stage to deliver a concise speech. “Without a union, there is no middle class. Without a middle class, there is no democracy,” Abraham said.
But, as is typically the case when it comes to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the boldest statements came from its leadership.
“Every statement released by the AMPTP, every quote by their overpaid studio heads… underscores how out of touch they are,” SAG East board member Nancy Giles told the crowd. Later in the rally, another leader yelled, “We will never be replaced by AI.”
The “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” Times Square rally came about on the 12th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike and the 85th day of the WGA strike.
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