The ‘Nanny’ actress tells on the red carpet ahead of the 2024 SAG Awards that actors are “celebrating who we are”
There may be no one more thrilled about the success of last year’s, months-long SAG-AFTRA strike than its president Fran Drescher.
The Nanny alum, 66, says she feels “victorious” as she attends the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, which she calls “the cherry on the whipped cream” after a challenging year.
“We’re here, we’re all together, we’re celebrating who we are,” Drescher says during PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly’s Red Carpet Livestream ahead of this year’s ceremony.
“It’s really a crescendo to what really was a stressful and difficult period, but a seminal one and a turning point I think for the SAG-AFTRA members,” she continues of their work getting a contract through in November to end the four-month strike.
Drescher called the actors’ union “the most powerful union in the world” before sharing how she helped “buoy” its members during the long-lasting strike.
“I gave them the permission to have an ego for themselves, to appreciate that they are the center of the wheels in this industry. That it can’t be done without them, they’re foundational contributors, they’re better than what they’re doing to us, and it’s a time of reckoning,” she says. “Everybody has to come to the table and accept that this is a turning point — and a seminal contract was required.”
When the actors’ strike began in July, Drescher, who has been president of SAG-AFTRA since 2022, told PEOPLE that there would be “no way to predict” how long the strike would last as she called it “a moment of history that is a moment of truth.”
“We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way that the people we have been in business with are treating us,” she said. “If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.”
Drescher noted that Hollywood execs “plead poverty that they’re losing money left and right while giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
She continued, “We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family. Most Americans don’t have more than $500 in an emergency. This is a very big deal, and it weighed heavy on us. But at some point, you have to say, ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy! What are you doing? Why are you doing this?'”
Upon being elected president of the union three years ago, Drescher said in a statement that she was “honored to serve.”
“Only as a united front will we have strength against the real opposition in order to achieve what we all want: more benefits, stronger contracts and better protections,” she added. “Let us lock elbows and together show up with strength at the negotiating table!”
The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will stream live globally on Netflix Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall.
