This Barbie supports unions! Margot Robbie stood on the picket line as she took part in a rally as part of the SAG-AFTRA strike on Wednesday, Sep. 13. The actress, 33, marched from Netflix Studios to Paramount Studios in West Hollywood as she showed her support for the strike.
The Barbie star wore an oversized white t-shirt with the union’s logo. It read “SAG-AFTRA On Strike.” She also rocked a pair of white sneakers and a face mask. In some other shots, she was seen wearing a pair of large brown sunglasses and holding a picket sign with the same slogan. She smiled as she spoke with some of her fellow union members.
The SAG strike began in July, just two months after the WGA had announced the writers’ strike, and right as the Barbie movie was set to hit theaters. At the summer blockbuster’s premiere, Margot did say that she would join the picket in an interview with Sky News. “I’m very much in support of all the unions, and I’m a part of SAG, so I would absolutely stand by that,” she said.
Despite the strike, Barbie has been the runaway hit movie of the summer. The film has earned $1.18 billion globally, according to Variety. It is Warner Bros.’s second highest-grossing film, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and it is the highest-grossing film by a female director.
📽️ | ON STRIKE! 💪🏻 #MargotRobbie #SAGAFTRAstrike
https://t.co/Yz3h5uh95o— sweet margot robbie ❥ (@sweetmrobbie) September 13, 2023
Actress and SAG President Fran Drescher first announced the strike in a passionate speech on July 13. She spoke about how the advancements in streaming and AI have been changing the landscape for actors, and she called for fair wages. “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us,” she said in part. “I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things; how they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs.”
With both the writers and actors striking, many Hollywood productions have come to a halt. Tons of stars, like Daniel Radcliffe, Kerry Washington, and many more, have shown their support for the strike by joining actors on the picket lines. As the other hit movie of the summer Oppenheimer premiered in July, the strike was announced, and the actors walked out of the premiere in solidarity with their union.