These 10 LGBTQ+ Actors Are Speaking Out Against Greedy Studio Execs

The SAG strike of 2023 is now official!

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has now joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on the pickets lines as the two Hollywood labor unions fight to get fair contracts after negations stalled with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Ahead of the SAG contract running out union negotiators were trying to get the AMPTP to agree to guaranteed streaming royalties, wage increases, and rules around the use of artificial intelligence, but the streamers and studio heads refused to budge.

SAG-AFTRA represents about 160,000 screen actors, stunt performers, broadcast hosts, journalists, and more. Now, some of your favorite queer actors are speaking out in favor of the historic strike.

Here are 10 of your fav fabulous actors clapping back against greedy Hollywood behemoths.

Colman Domingo

Out gay actor Colman Domingo — who you know from Candyman, The Color Purple and If Beale Street Could Talk — had a simple message he posted on Twitter, "We Closed. Period."

Bowen Yang

SNL writer and cast member Bowen Yang clapped back at Disney CEO Bob Iger’s comment that the strikes were “disruptive." In an Instagram story, he wrote, “whoa almost as if that’s the point!”

Mara Wilson

Child star Mara Wilson of Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire fame, took to Twitter to point out how hard it is to get paid enough to qualify for health insurance, citing her roles on BoJack Horseman and the Big Hero 6 as not being enough. “I haven’t acted much as an adult, but I WAS a recurring character on one of the most critically acclaimed animated shows of all time, as well as being an actual Disney villain," she wrote. "But thanks to streaming, I have never once made enough to qualify for SAG healthcare.”

Ashley Nicole Black

Ashley Nicole Black, from A Black Lady Sketch Show and Ted Lasso, was quick to point out the AMPTP's hypocrisy. "It’s interesting how first the AMPTP said WGA was unreasonable, and now that SAG may strike, SAG is also unreasonable. Everyone is unreasonable but them," she wrote on Twitter.

Jen Richards

Trans actor Jen Richards, who has acted in successful series like Blindspot and Mayfair Witches, took to Twitter to call out greedy studio execs like Disney CEO Bob Iger. "The unmitigated gall & arrogance of a small group of multi-millionaires representing multi-billion dollar companies to say the entire field of working-class writers and actors are "unrealistic" because we want to survive and afford rent and put food on our tables."

Nicky Endres

Nicky Enders is a genderqueer actor who had a role on Netflix's One Day at a Time. They took to Instagram to lambast the people in power in the industry: "The entire Industry (and the global market) has changed; contracts must evolve too! But even more than that, it is the PRINCIPLE OF THE THING for me: art is consumed as content by everyone, every day. Art connects us, makes us feel, allows us to escape, sometimes comforts us & sometimes challenges us... But throughout history, artists have been unappreciated. We are expected to suffer, to be in poverty, for the harshness of the world or of our conditions to somehow mix with our talent to create great works. This is bullshit!

Stephen Guarino

“I still have a pretty good passive income from residuals, so I’ve never really worried about that, but we’re moving toward streaming so that could be going away,” out gay actor Stephen Guarino told the Los Angeles Blade.

Guarino is best known for his roles on Happy Endings and The Sex Lives of College Girls, and the queer Netflix series Eastsiders. “I get no Netflix residuals, so ironically the thing I have my Emmy nomination for I get no residuals,” he said.

Guy Branum

Comedian and Bros star Guy Branum was already striking as a writer, but has now joined in as an actor too. "Now that I am also striking as an actor, my all my picketing movements will have purpose and my strike character will have a secret," he wrote on Twitter.

Daniel Montgomery

Daniel Montgomery, an openly gay actor you likely know from Jane the Virgin, Insecure or most recently HBO's Barry, told the Los Angeles Blade that actors live off of residuals in between jobs. “At least half of my income has been from residuals," he said. "I’ve relied on that. It’s been a lifeline,” he said. “As actors, most of our time is auditioning – essentially applying for jobs. We’ll get that one job and we need to make that job last as long as we can to support ourselves and afford to live in the meantime.”

He continued saying, “I’ve noticed a shift that, yes, I’ve continued to book jobs, but if it’s for a streaming service, it’s not paying a living wage. It’s made it non-livable as an actor."

Nicole Maines

Anonymous studio execs told Deadline earlier this week that their “endgame” was “to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and [...] houses." Trans actress Nicole Maines, who had a starring role in the second season of Yellowjackets, took to her Instagram Stories to call out this horrendous plan. “Said like a literal cartoon villain," she wrote.