In recognition of the 113th day of the WGA strike and the 40th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike, rally was held in Los Angeles. This rally, known as the National Day of Solidarity rally, was put on by the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and AFL-CIO. According to Deadline, The West Wing actor Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, The Way) gave a speech during this Solidarity Day. Paris Barclay (America’s Dream, The Street Lawyer), who directed a few episodes of The West Wing, gave a speech as well.
Sheen, a member of SAG-AFTRA, began his speech by first speaking about The West Wing, which came to an end in 2006.
As Deadline notes, Sheen stated, “I was affectionately known in some quarters as the acting president of the United States. When the show ended its run in 2006, I became known in some quarters as the former acting president of the United States and I’m proud to have been part of that extraordinary company.”
He continued to speak about the longevity of the strikes, stating, “The Irish tell a story of a man who arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in and St Peter says ‘Of course, just show us your scars’. The man says ‘I have no scars’. St Peter says ‘What a pity, was there nothing worth fighting for.’ Clearly this union has found something worth fighting for and it is very costly. If this were not so, we would be left to question its value. Now we are called to support the union and stand together for the long haul and stick to it like a stamp.”
He continued, “Let us continue to dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’. There’s so much going on in our country, it is so dangerously divided and quite often we come to gatherings like these and we’re inspired because we see the effect of unionism and unity.”
Sheen then concluded his speech with a poem while being joined by other The West Wing cast members, such as Allison Janney (Mom, Juno), Dulé Hill (The Wonder Years, Holes), and more.
As Deadline notes, Sheen was not the only one who gave a speech. Actors, such as Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) and Kerry Washington (Scandal, Little Fires Everywhere), also weighed in.
Additionally, according to Deadline, The Directors Guild of America has already reached a deal in June. However, director Barclay explained that his union was still standing with members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
Barclay stated, “It’s not enough that one of us has a meal on the table, until everybody has a meal on the table, nobody eats. [The studios] cannot take an AI generated script, put it in front of a camera and have an algorithm direct it, and have some weirdly shaped people acting it out, that’s not going to work. We need to look at the future and the future is ours.”
He continued, “The world is not doing great on its own, it needs us to tell the stories about how we can find love, how transgender youth can be appreciated and respected, how families can raise their kids, those are the stories that we need to be acting out right now and the longer the AMPTP takes to bring us all back, the longer it will be before we can start telling the world what we imagine the future will be. Let’s join together, let’s not stop, let’s continue until this is over, we want to get back to work.”
As the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue, many individuals, including Sheen and Barclay, speak out during the National Day of Solidarity rallies.