Taking It to the Streets

Sporting their telltale blue shirts and smartly-written protest signs, WGAW members joined the throngs of protestors at multiple L.A.-area No Kings demonstrations on October 18. Nearly 150 Guild members participated in actions in Santa Monica, Culver City, Studio City, and Downtown L.A.

Their ranks included WGAW President Michele Mulroney who, with other labor leaders, was a featured speaker from the back of a flatbed truck that led the march through the streets of downtown. 

“This isn’t just about Hollywood,” Mulroney said during her speech. “This is about our fundamental right as human beings to disagree with those in power. To debate, to reason, to interrogate ideas. This is one of the foundations of a civil society.”

WGAW member Stephanie Streisand (left) at the No Kings rally in Studio City.

In the San Fernando Valley, Stephanie Streisand posed for photos with a group of blue shirt-wearing WGAW colleagues near the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Laurel Canyon. Then, accompanied by her dog, Briar (“she’s very supportive of unions and democracy”), Streisand joined two of her friends—an editor and a casting director—and made her way west down the crowded Ventura Boulevard.

“So we have three different unions—IATSE, WGAW and the Teamsters—right here walking around together,” Streisand said. “The energy here is filled with anger, community, solidarity and a little bit of fun. I was at the sign-making event at the Guild, and humor is a great tool for fighting attempted authoritarianism.”

The energy and the crowd size were equally massive downtown where the No Kings march began at City Hall and extended across multiple city blocks. 

Atop the rally truck along with leaders from UTLA and SEIU, Mulroney referenced the recent cancelation and suspension of late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, respectively, and the threat to free speech that those actions represent. 

“Make no mistake,” she said. “Megacorporations pushed for a pro-business administration that would allow them to consolidate their control over media at the cost of free speech.”

Here is the full text of Mulroney’s speech at the No Kings rally.

I’m here today representing our union, the Writers Guild of America West, and its 11,000 film, television, and news writers. 

As writers, our currency is words and stories. The freedom to express ourselves is a fundamental American right and the very core of our democracy. 

And it’s under attack by this administration. They are using every tool in their arsenal to silence voices of dissent.

These past few months we have seen direct attacks on Writers Guild members who use their platforms to criticize or question this administration.

WGAW President Michele Mulroney addresses the crowd at the No Kings rally in downtown L.A. Photo by Moises Marquez.

In July, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was abruptly canceled after Colbert made comments about Paramount’s settlement with Trump.

Then, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended in September over a monologue that was lightly critical of Trump’s followers.

Shortly after Kimmel’s suspension, the President of the United States openly called for the cancellation of two more Writers Guild members: Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon.

These late-night shows not only provide hundreds of good union jobs, and much-needed laughs in these troubled times; they entertain and inform audiences all over the country. 

They do far more than just tell jokes, they tell truth. And it’s clear that some people can’t handle the truth. 

This isn’t just about Hollywood. This is about our fundamental right as human beings to disagree with those in power. To debate, to reason, to interrogate ideas. This is one of the foundations of a civil society.

As is the existence of a free, independent media. Where facts can be reported without repercussions.

But we currently find ourselves in an era of consolidated media where an increasingly small number of gatekeepers control what we get to watch on television.

We’ve all heard the FCC claim that “the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views,” yet FCC Chairman Brendan Carr does not hesitate to support attacks on those who challenge the administration’s narrative.

Make no mistake: mega corporations pushed for a pro-business administration that would allow them to consolidate their control over media at the cost of free speech.

Instead of diversity of expression, we have the administration using media behemoths to impose a single, uncontested narrative and perpetrate acts of blatant political censorship.

Writers will not stand by and let these attacks go unaddressed.

The Writers Guild stands here today, with all of you, to say loudly and proudly that we will speak our minds, write our truths, tell our stories, and fight like hell for free speech and an independent media.

When our voices are strong and clear, when our words are powerful, we cannot be silenced. We’ve learned time and again that when we fight, we win!