As the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ongoing strike begins to enter the spooky season, the union’s leadership has issued new Halloween-specific rules for its members to follow, including the forbidding of any costumes inspired by “struck content”.
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The guild’s leadership announced their new “guidance on how to celebrate Halloween this year while also staying in solidarity with the TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike” to members on October 19th via a one-sheet released to their official strike website.
Per the one sheet, SAG-AFTRA introduced three new rules for the upcoming holiday, those being “Choose costumes inspired by generalized characters and figures (ghost, zombie, spider, etc)”, “Don’t post photos of costumes inspired by struck content to social media,” and “Dress up as characters from non-struck content, like an animated TV show.”
In conclusion to their announcement, the guild asserted, “Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will no promote their content without a fair contract.”
Notably, these new guidelines would keep many of the year’s most popular costumes, including anything related to Wednesday, Barbie, and even the live-action One Piece, out of the reach of striking actors.
Further, it would also bar them from dressing up as a number of pop-culture mainstays, including any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s many characters or numerous horror icons like Michael Meyers, Jason Vorhees, or Freddy Krueger.
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Unsurprisingly, rather than applause, SAG-AFTRA’s announcement was met with ridicule from a number of personalities associated with the union.
“Is this a joke?” asked Kingdom Hearts voice actress Mandy Moore via her personal Instagram account. “Come on @sagaftra. This is what’s important? We’re asking you to negotiate in good faith on our behalf. So many folks across every aspect of this industry have been sacrificing mightily for months. Get back to the table and get a fair deal so everyone can get back to work. Please and thank you.”
Likewise, former SAG president Melissa Gilbert, who served in the role from 2001-2005, also took to her own Instagram to criticize, “THIS is what you guys come up with? Literally no one cares what anyone wears for Halloween.”
Sharing an image of The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage of the Halloween rules, as initially posted by Fear the Walking Dead star Kevin Zegers, Gilbert further mocked, “I mean, do you really think this kind of infantile stuff is going to end the strike? We look like a joke. Please tell me you’re going to make this rule go away….and go negotiate! For the love of God, people are suffering mightily and this is what you have to say…c’mon guys”.
Coating his frustrations with his signature brand of levity, Deadpool 3 star Ryan Reynolds declared, “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn.”
